Illinois Drops Big Ten Tournament Opener

CHICAGO -- Aubrey Dawkins scored 18 points and Michigan beat Illinois 73-55 Thursday in the second round of the Big Ten tournament.

Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman added 15 points and eight rebounds. Zak Irvin scored 14, and the ninth-seeded Wolverines (16-15) advanced in the tournament after dropping eight of 11 games. They will meet No. 6 Wisconsin, the top seed, in the quarterfinals on Friday.

Illinois (19-13) simply came out flat on a day when it needed to impress the NCAA selection committee. Instead, the eighth-seeded Illini trailed by 17 at halftime and lost for the fifth time in seven games.

They watched as Michigan nailed 7 of 15 3-pointers, with Dawkins and Irvin hitting two apiece. Illinois shot just 1 of 13 from long range in a game where none of its starters played well.

Malcolm Hill had 13 points but shot just 3 of 12. Rayvonte Rice, who came in averaging 17 points, scored 10 and missed all four 3-pointers while going 4 of 13 from the field.

Reserve Leron Black (10 points, five rebounds) seemed to be the only one who came ready to play on a day when Illinois shot 37.3 percent.

The teams played two overtime games during the regular season, with the home team winning each time. But it was a different story on Thursday.

Michigan opened the game with a big run, withstood a charge by Illinois and finished the first half with another strong push to grab a 40-23 lead at the break. Michigan advances to face top-seeded Wisconsin at 11 a.m. Friday.