EVANSTON, Ill. _ Northwestern's bench rose in celebration as a game-winning attempt by Illinois bounced off the rim at the buzzer.
The Wildcats hung on for a 68-66 victory _ their first Big Ten win of the season.
Neither team shot particularly well Sunday afternoon at Welsh-Ryan Arena, but the Wildcats made key second-half plays for the victory.
An A.J. Turner 3-pointer with 10.1 seconds remaining made the difference for Northwestern (10-5, 1-3).
Illinois (4-11, 0-4) held a 66-65 lead with less than a minute to play. Giorgi Bezhanishvili was unaware of the shot clock and turned it over as time expired to give the Wildcats the ball with 34.5 seconds remaining in the game.
Turner missed a 3-point attempt, but he took a pass off a rebound from Dererk Pardon to convert another attempt for the lead.
The Illini missed all 11 of their 3-point attempts, while the Wildcats hit 8 of 19.
Bezhanishvili played only three minutes in the first half after picking up two early fouls. Adonis De La Rosa rattled off six straight points for his best production in an Illini jersey with 8 points in 10 minutes.
Illinois ended the first half on a 15-1 run for a 31-25 lead. The Wildcats hit 8 of 12 shots that were layups or dunks before the break.
