Early on, it looked like the Iowa Hawkeyes were about to get run out of a sold out Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
Iowa (18-13, 10-10 Big Ten) missed its first nine shots from the floor and started just 1-for-14 from the field. That helped allow No. 12 Illinois (23-8, 14-6 Big Ten) to build a quick 17-2 lead.
Fifth-year guard Terrence Shannon Jr. was one of the Illini’s biggest catalysts as he scored 18 first-half points, knocking down 7-of-11 from the field and hitting on a pair of 3-pointers. At one point in the first half, Illinois led by as many as 21 at 30-9 with 9:31 remaining until halftime.
Behind a surge with freshman point guard Brock Harding on the floor, Iowa found its offense and actually closed to within 10 at halftime, 39-29.
Junior forward Payton Sandfort tried to give the Hawkeyes a chance in the second half, scoring 19 points and sinking five 3-pointers in the game’s final 20 minutes. Iowa cut the lead all the way down to four at 51-47 with 11:15 remaining on a jumper from Hawkeye sophomore guard Josh Dix.
Illinois responded with an 8-0 run to balloon its lead back out to a dozen and Iowa really couldn’t ever seriously threaten again after that.
The Hawkeyes did however take their fans on quite the emotional ride in the Senior Night finale. Here’s how social media took in the eventual 73-61 loss versus Illinois.
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