Demetri McCamey scored 14 points and Mike Davis added 13 points and 12 rebounds as Illinois beat Michigan 51-44 Tuesday night.
The Fighting Illini (18-10, 10-5 Big Ten) were coming off a 2-2 stretch in which they had played four straight Top 20 teams, and had an easier time with the struggling Wolverines.
Michigan (13-14, 6-9) got 15 points from Manny Harris and 12 from Zack Novak, but still fell back below .500 a season after ending an 11-year NCAA tournament drought.
Illinois led 26-18 at the half, holding Michigan to 20 percent shooting. Novak hit 3 of 5 3-pointers in the half, but the rest of the Wolverines were a combined 3-for-25 from the floor.
But the Illini went into an offensive slump of their own at the start of the second half. They missed their first nine shots of the half, allowing Michigan to take a 27-26 lead with 15 minutes to play.
The Wolverines’ offense went cold again, though, and Illinois went on a 15-6 run to go ahead 41-33 with 8 minutes to play.
Michigan got within 44-40, but a Davis alley-oop with 90 seconds left helped the Fighting Illini hang on.
Illinois only shot 37 percent for the game, but held Michigan to 25 percent.
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