CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) — Keaton Wagler scored 17 points and grabbed seven rebounds and Tomislav Ivicic scored 14 points to lead No. 16 Illinois to an 81-55 win over Rutgers on Thursday night.
Andrej Stojakovic had 12 points and eight rebounds, Jake Davis added 12 points and David Mirkovich grabbed eight rebounds for the Illini (12-3, 3-1 Big Ten), which won its fourth straight.
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Illinois made 18 of 21 free throws. The Illini lead the Big Ten and rank third nationally in free throw percentage.
Rutgers’ Kaden Powers scored 12 points and Harun Zrno added 11 points (8-8, 1-4).
Illinois went on a 20-0 run in the final 7.5 minutes of the first half, leading 43-16 at halftime. Davis scored all 12 points with 4 three-pointers in the first half, only 4 points less than the Scarlet Knights.
Rutgers shot 21% (6-for-28) from the field in the first half, including 2-for-13 from three-point range and 2-for-6 from the free throw line.
Rutgers’ leading scorer Tariq Francis had a bad night. He averaged 25 points in the Scarlet Knights’ first four games, scoring 6 points on 3-of-10 shooting in just 17 minutes.
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Francis has two 30-point games this season. He is the only Big Ten player in the past 10 seasons to score 30 points in multiple substitute games in the same season.
Illinois improves to 9-0 at home against Rutgers and 8-0 in Big Ten play since the Scarlet Knights joined the league in 2015. Illinois has a 14-5 overall record against Rutgers, although the teams have been tied through the first eight games.
Next
Rutgers: At home against Northwestern on Sunday.
Illinois: Play at No. 19 Iowa State on Sunday.
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