Illinois faces Northwestern following Bryant’s 20-point game

Northwestern Wildcats (7-13, 0-9 Big Ten) at Illinois Fighting Illini (17-5, 7-4 Big Ten)

Champaign, Illinois; Thursday, 7 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: Illinois hosts Northwestern after Genesis Bryant scored 20 points in Illinois’ 66-65 victory over the Maryland Terrapins.

The Fighting Illini have gone 11-2 at home. Illinois is 1-0 in games decided by less than 4 points.

The Wildcats are 0-9 against conference opponents. Northwestern has a 3-0 record in one-possession games.

Illinois makes 43.7% of its shots from the field this season, which is 2.2 percentage points higher than Northwestern has allowed to its opponents (41.5%). Northwestern averages 8.0 more points per game (68.0) than Illinois gives up (60.0).

The matchup Thursday is the first meeting this season between the two teams in conference play.

TOP PERFORMERS: Kendall Bostic is averaging 16 points and 11.3 rebounds for the Fighting Illini. Bryant is averaging 18.1 points over the last 10 games.

Casey Harter averages 1.3 made 3-pointers per game for the Wildcats, scoring 7.2 points while shooting 43.3% from beyond the arc. Caileigh Walsh is shooting 42.9% and averaging 12.5 points over the past 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Fighting Illini: 7-3, averaging 69.2 points, 32.3 rebounds, 14.6 assists, 4.0 steals and 2.0 blocks per game while shooting 42.8% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 63.6 points per game.

Wildcats: 1-9, averaging 68.9 points, 31.0 rebounds, 18.1 assists, 5.8 steals and 3.4 blocks per game while shooting 44.3% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 81.5 points.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.