Illinois basketball picks up marquee home win over Texas Tech

Illinois basketball picked up a monster win on Tuesday night against the No. 11 ranked Texas Tech Red Raiders. The Illini were 3.5-point favorites going into the game and took care of business despite being without three key rotational players – Brandon Lee, Mihailo Petrovic, and Tomislav Ivisic.

This was an incredibly impressive win for Illinois without their star center, Tomislav Ivisic, who is sidelined with a knee injury. Ivisic is expected to be one of the team’s best players once he returns, but several Illini stepped up in his absence.

Andrej Stojakovic led the way with 23 points in just 25 minutes, shooting an impressive 11-for-16 (68.8%) from the field. Senior guard Kylan Boswell added 22 points and reached his 1,000th career point milestone.

Boswell won his matchup against Christian Anderson, holding the preseason All-Big 12 First Team guard to just eight points. Both Boswell and Stojakovic helped contain Anderson while also delivering on the offensive end.

“He (Boswell) doesn’t get near enough national credit for how good he is defensively. He went from guarding the point guard to the five-man. His fronting with help on the back side was huge,” said Brad Underwood.

The Illini survived JT Toppin’s onslaught.

National Player of the Year candidate JT Toppin scored a game-high 35 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. He heated up in the second half, but when Boswell switched onto him and Illinois began double-teaming, the Illini regained control. It was a great adjustment that ultimately sealed the win.

As a team, the Illini didn’t make a single three-pointer in the second half, but they dominated inside, shooting 75% at the rim and 46.2% from the paint overall. Illinois also made 16 free throws compared to Texas Tech’s three, which proved to be the difference.

The Illini will host Colgate on Friday night before heading to Chicago for another massive non-conference matchup against No. 8 Alabama.

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