No. 16 Illinois builds big early lead, then holds off No. 19 Iowa, 75-69

Iowa guard Tavion Banks (6) fights for a loose ball with Illinois forward Ben Humrichous during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game, Sunday, January 11, 2026, in Iowa City. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

JOHN BOHNENKAMP | Associated Press

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Keaton Wagler scored 19 points, Andrej Stojakovic and Kylan Boswell each had 17 and No. 16 Illinois continued to win on the road in the Big Ten Conference, holding off No. 19 Iowa 75-69 on Sunday.

The Illini (13-3, 4-1) won their fifth consecutive game and stayed tied for third place in the conference. Three of Illinois’ wins in conference play have come on the road — the Illini also won at Ohio State and Penn State.

Illinois led 58-41 with 11:25 to play when the Hawkeyes (12-4, 2-3) began to rally. They got to within four points four times in the last two minutes of the game, including at 71-67 with 55 seconds left with a chance to cut the lead further, but Iowa’s Bennett Stirtz missed a layup.

Iowa made most of its run without Stirtz, its leading scorer this season at 18 points per game. Stirtz picked up his fourth foul with 11:36 to go and went to the bench for seven minutes. During that stretch the Hawkeyes outscored the Illini 18-10.

Tavion Banks led Iowa with 16 points. Tate Sage scored 13, Stirtz had 12 and Cooper Koch added 10.

(Photo: Illinois guard Kylan Boswell (4) drives to the basket over Iowa guard Bennett Stirtz (14) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Iowa City. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Illinois controlled all of the first half. The Illini led 8-0 after the first three minutes, getting open shots while Iowa was struggling at the other end of the court. The Hawkeyes had four missed shots and a turnover on their opening five possessions.

Illinois’ biggest lead of the first half was 29-11 with 7:34 to play before Iowa started to cut into the margin. The Hawkeyes hit three consecutive 3-pointers late in the half but couldn’t get the deficit to within single digits at halftime, missing their last five shots.

IOWA GAME NOTES

The 16th-ranked Illini handed Iowa its first home loss of the season, downing the Hawkeyes, 75-69, on Sunday afternoon inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
The crowd of 13,559 was a season high.
The Hawkeyes are now 9-1 at home and have lost consecutive games for the first time this season.
Iowa had four players finish in double figures: Tavion Banks (16), Tate Sage (13), Bennett Stirtz (12), Cooper Koch (10)
- Sage’s 13 points tied a career high. He finished 4-of-6 from the floor.
- Stirtz had 12 points and six assists.
Illinois’ 75 points are the most Iowa has allowed in a game this season.
The Hawkeyes used a 14-5 run midway through the second half to cut the deficit to five points (62-57) with 6:34 remaining and Iowa trimmed its deficit to four (69-65) with 1:15 left.
Iowa made nine 3-point field goals in the game – its 9th game with eight or more 3s.
It is the second time this season Iowa has been held to fewer than 10 free throws.
Iowa used its third starting lineup of the season and junior Alvaro Folgueiras made his first start as a Hawkeye.
Illinois opened the game on a 21-5 run over the first eight minutes, making eight of its first 14 shots.
- The Illini led by as many as 18 points (29-11) at the 7:34 mark of the opening half.

HEAR FROM HEAD COACH BEN MCCOLLUM
“First off, this is awesome as to what we’re starting to get going with the crowd and starting to get some excitement. We greatly appreciate it. Keep coming, keep fighting, keep doing those things, we will too. Disappointing we lost but happy to see what we’re slowly building and what we’ll continue to build and continue to fight for. Appreciate the cheering and all those things. It doesn’t go unnoticed.

“Disappointed in our start. I’m disappointed in a few guys in the start. Whether its sick or whatever, Tavion probably lost 10 pounds the last two days, was throwing up in the locker room afterwards, and he didn’t seem to have any issues. I’m disappointed in that, really disappointed. I’m happy with the comeback, but not overly, you need to win these. It’s time to win these games. We proved that we can, but we haven’t proved that we actually will and it’s time to do that. We’ve got a great opportunity next game, people think that when we took this over, it’s like man how can they get to a certain point that quickly and people probably still think I’m crazy, but I see it. It’s coming. We’re getting there. You see the crowd coming, you see us winning games, obviously we dropped two we probably shouldn’t have but its building. We’re going to keep fighting for that.”