Keaton Wagler paced the Illini in scoring with 17 points and added seven rebounds, while Tomislav Ivisic added 14 points and four rebounds.
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CHAMPAIGN – No. 16 Illinois (12-3, 3-1 Big Ten) beat Rutgers (8-8, 1-4 Big Ten), 81-55, on Thursday night at State Farm Center. Get The Latest News!
Jake Davis scored 12 points, all in the first half, on four made 3-pointers, a career-high mark against a Big Ten opponent.Andrej Stojakovic contributed 12 points.
Illinois jumped out to a 19-8 lead which was ignited by two quick three pointers from Davis after the first tv timeout. The Illini didn't cool off the rest of the half either as they held Rutgers scoreless for the final eight minutes in part of a 20-0 run to take their largest lead of 27, 43-16, into the locker room.
The 16 points scored by the Scarlet Knights in the first half marked the fewest allowed by the Illini in any half this season.
Rutgers came out of the halftime break knocking down a couple quick baskets to cut into the Orange and Blue lead, 48-28, but never got closer than 20 points the rest of the night.
Ivisic hit a pair of threes and made both of his free-throws to lead Illinois in scoring in the second half. Wagleradded seven points of his own while David Mirkovicand Stojakoviceach scored five in the second half as the Illini cruised to the 81-55 final to improve to 8-1 at home this season.
The Fighting Illini are back in action on Sunday, Jan. 11 when they travel to Iowa City to take on Iowa at 11 a.m. CT on FOX.
