After defeating the Northwestern Wildcats on Wednesday evening in the opening round of the 2019 Big Ten Tournament 74-69 in overtime, the Illini ran into an Iowa team that was looking for some redemption of their own and fell to the Hawkeyes 83 –62 in the second round on Thursday night at the United Center in Chicago.

Both teams came out with great energy, and for the most part, shot the ball well from the field in the first half. Illinois was 13-24 (54.2%) in the first twenty minutes, while Iowa was just a little under that, shooting 13-28 (46.4%). Where the Illini often experience the most difficulty is coming out to start the second half, and against the Hawkeyes, the result was not much different.

The Hawkeyes took advantage of the Illinois zone by making 12-23 from beyond the arc while the Illini, who relied on freshman center Giorgi Bezhanishvili in the win against the Wildcats, couldn’t match the size of the Hawkeyes and were bullied as such down low as well.

Bezhanishvili led the Illini in scoring with 12 points, while Trent Frazier and Tevian Jones each added 11 points apiece. The loss ends the Illinois season at 12-21, the most losses in a season in program history. Iowa, who advances to the quarterfinals on Friday evening against #3 seed Michigan, was led in scoring by Nicholas Baer who had 17 points. Joe Wieskamp also scored 13 points for Iowa, who lost the rebounding battle by a slim 26-25 margin.

Illinois begins the offseason with a myriad of questions, with the first one on everyone’s mind is the future of talented freshman Ayo Dosumnu, who has been shown in several projections as being drafted in the upcoming NBA draft. Another concern is finding a big man to help Bezhanishvili underneath, as well as a couple of wings to supplement the shooting woes that have often plagued the Illini this season. Head coach Brad Underwood will have these and other questions to answer as he begins his third season at the helm of an Illini team that is poised to challenge for an NCAA Tournament bid if everyone on the current roster returns next season.