National Basketball Association
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Rutgers 62, Illinois 59
When: 12:00 PM ET, Saturday, March 4, 2017
Where: Louis Brown Athletic Center, Piscataway, New Jersey
Officials: # Chris Beaver, # Courtney Green, # Paul Szelc
Attendance: 5706

Deshawn Freeman's 3-pointer with 10 seconds left gave Rutgers a 62-59 win over Illinois in the final game of the Big Ten regular season for both teams on Saturday at the Rutgers Athletic Center in Piscataway, N.J.

Rutgers snapped a six-game losing streak. Illinois (18-13, 8-10 Big East) went the final 4:40 without making a field goal, going 0 of 7.

Freeman led the Scarlet Knights with 21 points. Rutgers (14-17, 3-15) has finished last in the 14-team Big Ten every season since joining in 2014. It will face the No. 11 seed next week in the conference tournament.

Malcolm Hill and Maverick Morgan topped Illinois with 16 points apiece.

Sanders' layup in traffic tied it at 59-59 with 56 seconds to go. He finished with 17 points and two steals.

Morgan's two free throws with 1:08 remaining allowed the Fighting Illini a 59-57 lead after Sanders' two free throws tied it at 57-57 for the Scarlet Knights at the 2:05 mark.

A Sanders' layup provided the Scarlet Knights with a brief 55-54 edge with 5:11 to play, before a 3-pointer from Hill gave Illinois a 57-55 cushion.

A 10-0 run over the span of 1:41 gave Illinois its biggest lead to that point, 44-34, with 14:44 remaining, but Rutgers responded with a 13-3 burst to knot it at 47-47.

A steal and dunk from Hill tied it at 32-32 for Illinois with 17:40 to play

Freeman was 3 of 3 from the floor and 4 of 4 from the line for 10 points, leading Rutgers to a 30-27 halftime advantage. The Fighting Illini connected on just 10 of 27 of their shots in the half.

Illinois took its first lead of the half at 20-19 after two free throws from Hill at the 6:38 mark.

Rutgers opened the game on a 7-0 run.
Top Game Performances
 
Illinois   Rutgers
Malcolm Hill 16 Scoring DeShawn Freeman 21
Malcolm Hill 7 Assists Corey Sanders 3
Maverick Morgan 8 Rebounds C.J. Gettys 9
Malcolm Hill 4 Free Throws Made DeShawn Freeman 6
Tracy Abrams 2 Steals Corey Sanders 2
Michael Finke 1 Blocks Mike Williams 1
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
Illinois 59 35.6 8-25 9-13 13 32 2 6 7
Rutgers 62 43.4 5-15 11-13 10 36 1 5 10