Hill Scores 22, Illinois Beats Rutgers, 82-66
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) — Malcolm Hill scored 22 points and had 10 rebounds and Illinois cruised to an 82-66 victory over Rutgers on Tuesday night.
Illinois (12-14, 4-9 Big Ten) snaps a two-game skid while the Scarlet Knights (6-20, 0-13) have lost 13-straight games, all in conference play.
Maverick Morgan added 17 points and Kendrick Nunn chipped in 16 for the Fighting Illini, who used two big first-half runs to jump out to a 47-25 lead at halftime.
Illinois went on a 13-0 run early in the first half and never looked back, scoring 14 first-half points off 10 Rutgers turnovers.
Jonathan Laurent led Rutgers with 18 points and 10 rebounds, but the Scarlet Knights shot 29 percent from the 3-point range and struggled to get anything going offensively. Mike Williams and Bishop Daniels added 15 points apiece.
The Scarlet Knights were playing without leading-scorer Corey Sanders, who was dealt a two-week suspension Monday for violating team rules.
CONFERENCE WOES
Rutgers has now lost 13 straight games, all in Big Ten play. The Scarlet Knights are 2-29 in conference play since joining the Big Ten in the 2014-15 season.
MISSING SANDERS
Rutgers coach Eddie Jordan announced Monday that Sanders was suspended for two weeks for violating team rules. The Scarlet Knights guard is the team's leading scorer with 16.2 points per game. Sanders started 21 games for Rutgers this season and leads all Big Ten freshmen in points (16.2), steals (1.66), and minutes per game (33.5). Jordan benched the freshman at the start of two games in early January. Sanders also missed Rutgers' season opener to serve a self-imposed suspension for NCAA violations.
BOUNCING BACK
Hill had 22 points and 10 rebounds Tuesday night on the way to his sixth double-double of the season, one day after suffering a hamstring injury in practice Monday and three days following his worst outing of the season. The junior guard had a season-low seven points and matched a season high five turnovers in Illinois' loss at Northwestern on Saturday. He had scored in double-digits in every other game this season.
HEATING UP
Morgan had 17 points and five rebounds on Tuesday. The Illini forward has reached double digits in his last four games. Morgan has played off the bench for the majority of the season, averaging 7.2 points per game coming into Tuesday.
UP NEXT
Rutgers hosts Penn State on Saturday.
Illinois visits Wisconsin on Sunday.
(© 2016 by STATS LLC and Associated Press. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and Associated Press is strictly prohibited.)
