Big Ten Roundup (Feb. 23): Illinois Stuns Northwestern With Furious Late Rally

Terrence Shannon Jr. led Illinois on a wild second-half run to beat No. 21 Northwestern, and Penn State and Michigan got huge road victories. Here is our Big Ten roundup for Thursday, plus the full schedule for this weekend's games.

Terrence Shannon Jr. was in a fog, and it had nothing to do with the concussion that sidelined the Illinois guard for two games. 

Shannon was back for Thursday night's huge game with No. 21 Northwestern in Champaign, but he had only two points in the first half and was saddled with three fouls. Without getting much from their star, Illinois went to the locker room trailing by 18 points.

And then ... Shannon exploded. He scored 24 of his 26 points in the second half as Illinois rallied to beat Northwestern 66-62.

Shannon, who missed games against Minnesota and Indiana, scored 15 of the Illini’s last 24 points as they erased a 14-point deficit in the final 10:07. He put Illinois (19-9, 10-7 in the Big Ten) ahead 63-61 with 1:16 left, and he scored the team's last five points — including a pair of free throws to clinch the win.

Shannon cleared concussion protocol at shootaround earlier in the day, and clearly he was just fine.

“Terrence was electric, getting downhill, getting to the foul line,” Illinois coach Underwood Brad Underwood said.

Northwestern (20-8, 11-6 in Big Ten) spoiled a terrific night from guard Boo Buie with the late collapse. He had a career-high 35 points, hitting six three-pointers and going 12 of 24 from the floor.

Illinois missed its first 11 three-pointers before Shannon nailed a pair of long balls early in the second half. Northwestern, on the other hand, was on fire, hitting eight threes in the first half. Shannon knew things needed to change on the defensive end.

“My thought process through the end of the game was just to get stops,” Shannon said. “I didn’t really care about the offensive end.”

“I thought we got a little bit stagnant,” Northwestern coach Chris Collins said. “I’ve got to do a better job helping the guys with that. Give (Illinois) credit, they came storming back. We just couldn’t match them offensively in the second half.”

Northwestern's five-game winning streak ended. They were attempting to post their second six-game Big Ten winning streak in the last 90 years. The Wildcats remain in second place, but now trail Purdue by two games in the Big Ten standings (see below).

Thursday's other games

• Penn State 75, Ohio State 71: Jalen Pickett continued his torrid hot streak for Penn State, scoring 23 points in a huge 75-71 road win over Ohio State. Pickett is averaging 32 points per game in the Nittany Lions' three games, all wins, and it's got them back in the race for an NCAA Tournament bid. Penn is now 17-11 overall and 8-9 in the Big Ten. Ohio State, a top-25 team earlier in the year, is now 11-17 and just 3-15 in league play. The Buckeyes have lost nine straight games, and 14 of 15. Brice Sensabaugh led the Buckeyes with 20 points. 
• Michigan 58, Rutgers 45: Michigan got off to a slow start, falling behind early by double-digits, but then rode a great defense effort to steal a 58-45 road victory at Rutgers. Dug McDaniel had 16 points and five steals for Michigan, and held the Scarlet Knights to just 45 points, Michigan's best defensive effort of the season. Rutgers hurt themselves, too, make only 5-of-16 free throw attempts. With the win, Michigan is now 16-12 overall and 10-7 in the Big Ten. Rutgers (17-11, 9-8 in the Big Ten) lost their second straight home game to an unranked team, and third in the past two months.

Michigan guard Dug McDaniel (0) drives to the basket ahead of Rutgers forward Dean Reiber (21) on Thursday. (Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports)

Saturday's games

• Michigan State at Iowa, Noon ET. TV: ESPN.
• Minnesota at Nebraska, 3:30 p.m. ET. TV: Big Ten Network.
• No. 14 Indiana at No. 3 Purdue, 7:30 p.m. ET. TV: FOX.

Sunday's games

• Illinois at Ohio State, Noon ET. TV: CBS.
• Northwestern at Maryland, Noon ET. TV: Big Ten Network.
• Wisconsin at Michigan, 2 p.m. ET. TV: CBS.
  
• Rutgers at Penn State, 6:30 p.m. ET. TV: Big Ten Network.

Big Ten standings

Big Ten standings through the games of Thursday, Feb. 23