No. 21 Northwestern visits Illinois after Buie's 23-point outing

Northwestern Wildcats (20-7, 11-5 Big Ten) at Illinois Fighting Illini (18-9, 9-7 Big Ten)

Champaign, Illinois; Thursday, 9 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: No. 21 Northwestern visits the Illinois Fighting Illini after Boo Buie scored 23 points in Northwestern's 80-60 victory over the Iowa Hawkeyes.

The Fighting Illini have gone 13-2 in home games. Illinois scores 75.0 points while outscoring opponents by 9.6 points per game.

The Wildcats have gone 11-5 against Big Ten opponents. Northwestern is seventh in the Big Ten with 8.6 offensive rebounds per game led by Matthew Nicholson averaging 2.1.

TOP PERFORMERS: Coleman Hawkins is averaging 9.9 points, 6.5 rebounds and 3.1 assists for the Fighting Illini. Matthew Mayer is averaging 14.8 points and 5.5 rebounds while shooting 45.7% over the past 10 games for Illinois.

Buie is shooting 40.5% and averaging 17.0 points for the Wildcats. Chase Audige is averaging 2.2 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games for Northwestern.

LAST 10 GAMES: Fighting Illini: 6-4, averaging 72.0 points, 35.8 rebounds, 10.9 assists, 5.5 steals and 5.0 blocks per game while shooting 44.6% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 68.1 points per game.

Wildcats: 8-2, averaging 67.7 points, 27.6 rebounds, 12.6 assists, 6.8 steals and 3.5 blocks per game while shooting 45.1% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 63.6 points.

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