BLOOMINGTON, Ind. --- Yogi Ferrell scored 17 points with 15 coming in the second half to lead Indiana to a 56-46 win over Illinois Sunday afternoon at Assembly Hall.
The Hoosiers took a two-point lead into the locker room at halftime, but used a couple of runs in the second half to earn the 10-point victory. Indiana (13-7, 3-4) exploded for a 12-0 run down 29-28 and never relinquished the lead.
"We know we were playing a desperate team, we played with the same level of desperation,” said coach Tom Crean, who said the Hoosiers might not have won a grind-it-out game like this earlier this season.
Noah Vonleh scored just four points, but ripped down 14 of Indiana’s 42 rebounds, helping the Hoosiers compile a 14-rebound advantage over the Illini. John Groce’s club (13-8, 2-6) shot just 33 percent (18-of-54, 5-of-23 from 3) and dropped its sixth game in a row.
Ferrell made just two free throws in the first half but in the second half, the sophomore from Indianapolis came alive. Ferrell went 4-of-5 from the field and knocked down all six of his free throw attempts in the second stanza to finish with 17 points in addition to five assists and four rebounds.
Rayvonte Rice scored 20 for Illinois to lead all scorers, but the redshirt junior transfer from Drake had just eight points after the 7:56 mark of the first half.
"We wanted to slow down Rice, take away his angles... I felt like we did great, that's on the coaches,” said Yogi Ferrell on his team’s performance in the 2-3 zone.
Both teams finished with 13 turnovers and it was Illinois’ 19 points off turnovers that helped the Illini cut a 40-29 deficit to three with 8:23 left. The Hoosiers went on a 6-0 run after that which was capped off by a Jeff Howard tip in with 5:55 to go and Illinois never got closer than six points after that.
“Probably the main thing is cutting down on turnovers… that'll come with us playing a lot of games. Us being young isn't a factor. It just comes down to us being patient, really,” Ferrell said.
Will Sheehey contributed nine rebounds and Stanford Robinson finished with 10 points, his fifth time scoring more than nine points in the last six games.
For Indiana, this was not a resume building win, but rather a necessary one as the Hoosiers try to stay afloat in the NCAA Tournament picture.
The win also pushed the Hoosiers ahead in the all-time series with Illinois. Following a loss in Champaign on New Year’s Eve, the series was evened up at 85, this win giving the Hoosiers a one game advantage.
For the Illini, they continue to look to snap a six-game losing streak dating back to Jan. 8. It doesn’t get any easier as the next two contests come at home versus No. 10 Iowa and No. 9 Wisconsin.
Next up for Indiana is a Thursday tilt with Nebraska in Lincoln before returning to Assembly Hall next Sunday to face off with red-hot Michigan.
-Sam Rumpza, @samrumpza
