It was the Illini’s sixth loss in their final eight games, but as Izzo has predicted could happen all season, that was more a product of the imbalanced Big Ten schedule than anything else: Three of the losses were to Ohio State, one to Purdue before the Robbie Hummel injury, one to Wisconsin, one to Minnesota.

"This is why the Big Ten has to take a serious look at how we schedule," Izzo said. "When someone says you lost at the end, and that's where you are, it's ridiculous. It's so schedule-driven, as I told you when we were 9-0."

Izzo said Illinois also probably was victimized by tough non-conference losses to NCAA-bound Gonzaga and Missouri.