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For more on the Indiana Hoosiers, check out The Crimson Quarry.
After being one of the more surprising teams in college basketball, the Indiana Hoosiers have certainly mellowed out of late. They were on a huge winning streak to start the season, winning 12-straight games and upsetting then-No. 1 Kentucky and then-No. 2 Ohio State in the month of December. Since then, they've have a three-game losing skid and, since that skid they've exchanged wins and losses in their last six games.
Still, they have a chance to get back to a winning streak with a game against Illinois coming up on Thursday, after beating Purdue in their last outing 78-61. Indiana doesn't have the toughest schedule to end the season, with a re-atch with the Michigan State Spartans on the docket for late February. MSU was the team to beat Indiana and snap their early-season winning streak.
Illinois hasn't been doing great of late, either. They lost three-straight games before an upset win over MSU at the end of January, but lost to Northwestern in their last outing. They've still got a slew of tough games on their schedule, with games against Michigan, Ohio State and Wisconsin still to come. Indiana is one of four teams remaining on their schedule who are currently ranked.
Despite playing tough competition, Illinois has fared well, upsetting the then-No. 18 Gonzaga, then-No. 5 OSU and the aforementioned win over MSU. They definitely play up to their competition, so this game isn't a sure thing for Indiana, by anybody's standards.
For more on the Indiana Hoosiers, check out The Crimson Quarry. You can also head over to SB Nation's main NCAA Basketball hub at SBNation.com/NCAA-Basketball.
Indiana Vs. Illinois Final Score: Zeller Leads Hoosiers Past Fighting Illini 84-71
The Indiana Hoosiers (19-6, 7-6) turned back a strong effort from the visiting Illinois Fighting Illini (16-8, 5-6) to put away an 84-71 win to the delight of a raucous Assembly Hall crowd.
The Hoosiers were able to withstand every run the Illini threw at them before eventually wearing out the visitors and seizing control of the game. Christian Watford knocked down a three-pointer with just under six minutes to play in the game to complete an 11-2 run by Indiana and put them up by double-digits.
From there the Indiana never let Illinois back in the game as they made seven of ten free throws down the stretch. Freshman Cody Zeller came up big in the middle, scoring a game-high 22 points with five rebounds. Victor Oladipo and Christian Watford added 18 points each as the Hoosiers shot 50% from the field including 7 of 12 from behind the three-point line.
D.J. Richardson led Illinois with 19 points with five three-pointers, while Leonard Meyers scored 17 points while battling Zeller in the paint.
The win moved Indiana to 7-6 in Big Ten play and in sole possession of fifth place. The Hoosiers have the weekend off with their next game at home against Northwestern on Wednesday.
For more on the Indiana Hoosiers, check out The Crimson Quarry. You can also head over to SB Nation's main NCAA Basketball hub at SBNation.com/NCAA-Basketball.
Feb 09 11:22p by Tom Lewis