Illinois’ trip to play its first of two rivalry games with Northwestern this season didn’t get off to a great start even before tipoff Wednesday at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
The 13th-ranked Illini’s two attention-grabbing freshmen — Keaton Wagler and David Mirković — were struggling pregame.
Wagler, the three-time Big Ten freshman of the week, was battling back spasms. Mirković, the two-time freshman of the week, had been down with the flu for a couple of days and was missing from the bench to start the game because he was getting an IV.
It was bad enough that Illinois coach Brad Underwood said he was “probably more worried about cleaning up messes on the court” than how many minutes he would get out of Mirković.
But the situation didn’t stop Wagler or Mirković — and it didn’t stop the Illini from topping Northwestern 79-68 for their sixth straight victory and fourth Big Ten road win.
When Underwood asked Mirković if he would be OK to play, the 6-foot-9 forward told his coach, “I’m tough.” And then he played 30 minutes, with six points and five rebounds.
When Underwood checked on Wagler at halftime after a tentative first half with just two points, the 6-6 guard said simply that he was good, shrugging off any concern about how he would make it through the game. Then Wagler went out in the second half and scored 20 of his team-leading 22 points.
“He’s just so nonchalant and casual about it,” Underwood said. “It’s just what that young man does. It’s truly what he does. We’ve come to — not take it for granted — but we’ve come to expect those performances.”
Wagler scored 16 of Illinois’ first 24 points of the second half to help the Illini stretch a 38-33 halftime lead to 62-47. He had three 3-pointers in the stretch, including one on a fast-break feed from guard Kylan Boswell and another long one with a hand in his face.
“I just had to get going and try not to think about it as much,” Wagler said of his back. “Warmups, it was bothering me, but then once I got out there, started playing, got into the flow of the game, I didn’t feel anything at all, especially in the second half. And my back feels much better now.”
Northwestern guard Jayden Reid, a South Florida transfer, kept the Wildcats (8-9, 0-6) in the game in the second half by scoring 20 of his 28 points. He scored eight straight points during a 10-0 Northwestern run that cut the Illini lead to five with 7 minutes, 50 seconds to play. That included a technical foul on the Illinois bench on associate head coach Orlando Antigua.
But Illinois (14-3, 5-1) then turned to its veterans.
Tomislav Ivišić had 11 of his 21 points in the final 7:12. When he hit his second straight 3-pointer with 1:58 to play for a 75-65 lead, he let out a scream toward the Illini bench as he backpedaled.
Wagler finished with a jumper and two free throws down the stretch to seal it.
Underwood said Ivišić has put up “thousands and thousands of 3s” in the gym as he works on his shot.
“It feels great,” Ivišić said. “If somebody has an off night, somebody doesn’t feel well — like David, he was very sick the last two days, wasn’t supposed to play — we have other guys that can step up and can do their role. I’m just glad we can end up as winners in those situations.”
Boswell added 13 points, six assists and four rebounds and helped hold Northwestern star Nick Martinelli to what Underwood called “a quiet 20 points.” Underwood called Boswell an “all caps, PROBLEM SOLVER” for what he was able to do on defense.
Illinois’ balance of talent — in particular the combination of Wagler, Ivišić and Boswell — proved too much in the end for Northwestern, which has struggled despite having Martinelli return for his senior season.
Northwestern entered the game on a three-game losing streak, falling to Minnesota, Michigan State and Rutgers. The Wildcats have yet to win a Big Ten game, and undefeated and eighth-ranked Nebraska comes to Evanston on Saturday.
“We’re definitely battling,” Martinelli said. “We’re laying our hearts on the line every night but just can’t get it done. … You can keep having stretches of being in the game and not being able to get it done. At one point, you just have to change.
“It’s just mental mistakes. It’s not coming from a bad place from anybody. We just can’t have those types of mental mistakes at the end of games if we want to win. I truly believe everybody wants to win. It’s obviously been a difficult stretch. But if you jump off the boat, we’re going to go with other guys. I’m going to stay on the boat as long as this thing goes.”
Illinois, meanwhile, has back-to-back home games for the first time since November when it hosts Minnesota on Saturday and Maryland on Wednesday.
The Illini believe they have a lot to build on.
“It for sure gives me confidence,” Wagler said. “I have great teammates, so I know if I’m not scoring the ball, just trying to make plays for others. They can score too. The second half, it was me and Tomi’s half, and that’s what we do. We stuck with us two, and it got us the win.”
