BLOOMINGTON, Ind. _ Those first six minutes will haunt Illinois.
A frigid start on Saturday cost the Illini, who made second-half comeback attempts but still fell far short to lose 96-80 at No. 25 Indiana.
The Illini trailed by 22 points but cut into the Hoosiers' lead to trail only by nine with 5 minutes, 41 seconds left. It's hard not to imagine a different outcome if not for a start that had the Illini trailing 15-0.
Illinois started the game shooting 0-for-8 and didn't hit its first field goal until 13:22 remained in the first half. To compound the issue, wing Malcolm Hill picked up his third foul in the first 3{ minutes.
Illinois twice cut into Indiana's 20-point leads in the second half. Illinois trailed just 67-55 with a little more than 11 minutes left. Indiana rebuilt a 22-point lead, but minutes later the Illini were down just 81-72 thanks to an 8-0 run.
Hill and Jalen Coleman-Lands played terrific in the second half. Each finished with 21 points. Hill didn't pick up another foul. Coleman-Lands hit 5 of 8 3-pointers.
Illinois' losing streak to top-25 teams in road games stretched to seven, while its losing skid against Indiana (11-5, 1-2 Big Ten) is now at four.
The Illini (11-5, 1-2) must have had a familiar feeling in Assembly Hall on Saturday. A season ago, they lost 103-69 here.
