Illinois Fighting Illini (19-8, 9-7 Big Ten) at Iowa Hawkeyes (22-5, 13-3 Big Ten)
Iowa City, Iowa; Thursday, 9 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: No. 9 Iowa faces Illinois after Ava Heiden scored 24 points in Iowa’s 62-44 win against the Michigan Wolverines.
The Hawkeyes are 13-1 in home games. Iowa is 18-5 against opponents with a winning record.
The Fighting Illini are 9-7 against Big Ten opponents. Illinois has a 2-1 record in one-possession games.
Iowa averages 78.8 points, 13.9 more per game than the 64.9 Illinois gives up. Illinois has shot at a 45.8% clip from the field this season, 5.4 percentage points above the 40.4% shooting opponents of Iowa have averaged.
The matchup Thursday is the first meeting of the season for the two teams in conference play.
TOP PERFORMERS: Chazadi Wright is averaging 12.7 points, 4.7 assists and 1.5 steals for the Hawkeyes. Heiden is averaging 19.7 points over the last 10 games.
Maddie Webber is shooting 42.0% from beyond the arc with 1.6 made 3-pointers per game for the Fighting Illini, while averaging 11.3 points. Berry Wallace is shooting 43.9% and averaging 19.0 points over the last 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Hawkeyes: 7-3, averaging 76.0 points, 30.9 rebounds, 21.2 assists, 7.2 steals and 2.8 blocks per game while shooting 50.1% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 71.7 points per game.
Fighting Illini: 5-5, averaging 75.5 points, 31.9 rebounds, 15.9 assists, 6.6 steals and 2.2 blocks per game while shooting 44.5% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 71.0 points.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
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