Nebraska looks to knock off No. 25 Illinois

Published Jan. 10, 2022 3:46 p.m. ET

Associated Press

No. 25 Illinois (11-3, 4-0) vs. Nebraska (6-10, 0-5)

Pinnacle Bank Arena, Lincoln, Nebraska; Tuesday, 8:30 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: No. 25 Illinois looks to give Nebraska its 21st straight loss to ranked opponents. Nebraska's last win vs a ranked opponent came against the then-No. 21 Maryland Terrapins 69-61 on March 14, 2019. Illinois has moved up to No. 25 in the latest AP rankings following wins over Minnesota and Maryland last week.

LEADING THE CHARGE: Nebraska's Alonzo Verge Jr. has averaged 14.3 points, 5.1 rebounds and 5.6 assists while Bryce McGowens has put up 15.7 points and 5.5 rebounds. For the Fighting Illini, Kofi Cockburn has averaged 17.7 points and 9.8 rebounds while Alfonso Plummer has put up 16.4 points.ACCURATE ALONZO: Verge has connected on 25 percent of the 28 3-pointers he's attempted and has made 2 of 7 over the last five games. He's also made 75 percent of his free throws this season.

SLIPPING AT 75: Nebraska is 0-8 this year when it allows 75 points or more and 6-2 when holding opponents to fewer than 75.

ASSIST RATIOS: The Fighting Illini have recently gotten buckets via assists more often than the Cornhuskers. Nebraska has 40 assists on 80 field goals (50 percent) over its past three outings while Illinois has assists on 47 of 88 field goals (53.4 percent) during its past three games.

DID YOU KNOW: The Illinois offense has scored 80.4 points per game this season, ranking the Fighting Illini 24th among Division I teams. The Nebraska defense has allowed 78.3 points per game to opponents (ranked 292nd overall).

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