The Illinois men’s basketball team entered Tuesday’s contest having allowed the most points per game in the Big Ten. But Iowa arrived in Champaign with the lowest-scoring offense in the conference, and the Illini easily handled the Hawkeyes, 59-42, in a game that was never in doubt.

“We needed to get off to a better start, and it’s the first time in eight games that we won the first five-minute war,” Illinois head coach Bruce Weber said.

Saturday’s slow start against Gonzaga – in which Illinois trailed 10-0 to start the game and by as many as 21 in the first half – generated the many questions over the vulnerability of Weber’s traditionally strong defense.

After much speculation over possible changes regarding the starting lineup, Illinois (10-5, 2-0) opened with a defense-oriented, high-energy squad.

Juniors Bill Cole and Jeff Jordan saw their first career starts in place of Demetri McCamey and D.J. Richardson.

Whether it was the Illini’s new starting lineup or Iowa’s own mistakes, the Hawkeyes (5-10, 0-3) opened the game ice cold, shooting 22.7 percent from the field for 15 points in the first half.

“I don’t think there’s any secret to this one, they jumped on us too quick and we couldn’t recover,” Iowa head coach Todd Lickliter said.

Illinois opened the game with the intensity Weber had been hoping for against a young Iowa team that Lickliter said needed to step up its own intensity.

But one of the biggest questions surrounding a potential change in starters was the effect it would have on the regular starters’ confidence. However, as the game progressed, the entire Illinois team played as comfortable as one would expect from a team that is now 9-0 at home on the season.

Richardson and McCamey answered any questions about how they would handle coming off the bench with a combined 10-for-17 shooting for 26 points. Richardson shot the 3-pointer confidently (5-of-7) while McCamey finished with a game-high seven assists and no turnovers.

But rather than individual statistics, the focus of the night was on defense, and Illinois succeeded in that area as well, boasting what Weber and McCamey both said was the team’s best defensive performance thus far.

“Everybody played hard, we fought, we got rebounds and denied passing lanes. We looked like a good defensive team tonight,” McCamey said.

The Illini’s aggressiveness in the first half gave them some room for error in the second half, when they were outscored 27-22.

“We saw in the second half that we can hang with any team in the Big Ten, but we can’t do it if we’re going to get down by 20 in the first half,” said Iowa’s Jarryd Cole.