Stirtz and No. 19 Iowa host No. 16 Illinois

By Canadian Press on January 11, 2026.

Illinois Fighting Illini (12-3, 3-1 Big Ten) at Iowa Hawkeyes (12-3, 2-2 Big Ten)

Iowa City, Iowa; Sunday, 12 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: No. 19 Iowa hosts No. 16 Illinois after Bennett Stirtz scored 21 points in Iowa’s 70-67 loss to the Minnesota Golden Gophers.

The Hawkeyes have gone 9-0 in home games. Iowa is 0-1 in one-possession games.

The Fighting Illini have gone 3-1 against Big Ten opponents. Illinois is 0-1 in games decided by 3 points or fewer.

Iowa makes 51.9% of its shots from the field this season, which is 12.5 percentage points higher than Illinois has allowed to its opponents (39.4%). Illinois averages 10.3 made 3-pointers per game this season, 4.9 more made shots on average than the 5.4 per game Iowa allows.

The Hawkeyes and Fighting Illini square off Sunday for the first time in conference play this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: Stirtz is shooting 40.7% from beyond the arc with 2.3 made 3-pointers per game for the Hawkeyes, while averaging 18 points, five assists and 1.7 steals. Tavion Banks is shooting 45.6% and averaging 8.3 points over the past 10 games.

Keaton Wagler is shooting 39.7% from beyond the arc with 1.9 made 3-pointers per game for the Fighting Illini, while averaging 15.5 points, 5.2 rebounds and 3.7 assists. Andrej Stojakovic is averaging 13.4 points over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Hawkeyes: 7-3, averaging 74.6 points, 28.3 rebounds, 15.0 assists, 8.2 steals and 3.1 blocks per game while shooting 49.2% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 59.9 points per game.

Fighting Illini: 8-2, averaging 82.4 points, 37.3 rebounds, 15.0 assists, 3.2 steals and 5.9 blocks per game while shooting 47.4% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 65.3 points.

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

The Associated Press

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