Illinois' basketball team enjoyed all the comforts of home Wednesday night at Iowa's Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
With the persistent chants of around 200 members of Illinois' Orange Krush student section badgering the Hawkeyes from start to finish from courtside seats behind the Iowa basket, the Fighting Illini earned a 57-49 victory.
The road win was the third of the Big Ten season in five tries for Illinois, which handled the Hawkeyes with defense.
"The defense did it for us. It's a win," Illini coach Bruce Weber said. "It wasn't the prettiest thing, but we're 7-3 and in second place heading into Michigan State on Saturday. We'll take it."
Illinois hit just six field goals in the second half, including three in the final 16½ minutes. But that, combined with a 5-of-6 touch at the line in the final 34 seconds, was enough to withstand a late Iowa charge.
"We gave ourselves a chance, which we didn't do Saturday at Michigan, but when it was time to win, we just couldn't come up with the right plays," Hawkeyes coach Todd Lickliter said.
The Hawkeyes trimmed an 11-point Illinois lead to three on three occasions late, including pulling within a 52-49 score on a pair of free throws by Aaron Fuller with 1:37 remaining.
Iowa came away empty after a drive by Cully Payne in the game's final minute and the Fighting Illini secured the win at the line, forcing the Hawkeyes to leave the floor to the chants of "You got Krushed" and "This is our house" from the vocal Illinois students.
"Those guys lifted us. It was like a home game," said Demetri McCamey, who led a group of three Fighting Illini in double figures with 15 points, an effort complemented by 14 points from Mike Tisdale.
Iowa struggled from the field throughout the game.
The Hawkeyes shot a season-worst 29.6 percent from the field, an effort that replaced the a 30.6-percent touch in a 59-42 loss at Illinois last month as the poorest outing of the season.
"I felt like we got a lot of opportunities," said Iowa sophomore Matt Gatens, who led Iowa with 12 points. "The open looks were there. Maybe we were just too used to having guys on us with a hand in our face. We just couldn't get enough shots to drop."
The Hawkeyes (8-15, 2-8 Big Ten) hit enough 3-point shots early to keep themselves in the game.
Iowa knocked down seven of its eight 3-point attempts during the first half, keeping the Hawkeyes within a 35-27 lead at the break but a 1-for-10 effort followed over the final 20 minutes.
"We needed to make a few more plays down the stretch," Payne said. "We're close, but just not quite there."
Iowa-Illinois items
- Iowa guard Cully Payne played 34 minutes and finished with five points on 2-of-9 shooting, but revealed after the game that he has been dealing with pneumonia in recent days.
- The Hawkeyes out-rebounded Illinois 38-32, but couldn't overcome Illinois' 30-14 edge in the paint and 10-2 advantage in fast-break points. The Illini outrebounded the Hawkeyes by nine in their first meeting.
- Iowa and Illinois each turned the ball over 10 times.
- The Hawkeyes visit Ohio State on Sunday at 11 a.m., while the Fighting Illini host Michigan State on Saturday at 8 p.m.
