By Pat Harty

The Iowa men’s basketball team was so close to climbing above .500 in Big Ten play for the first time this season, and so close to winning at a place where visiting teams often fall short.

But being close doesn’t mean much right now.

Iowa flirted with an upset at No. 12 Illinois on Saturday, and had a chance to win its third game in a row, and get its fourth Quad 1 win this season, but couldn’t finish the job as Illinois erased a seven-point deficit in the second half to prevail 95-85 at the State Farm Center in Champaign, Illinois.

Illinois forward Coleman Hawkins was huge down the stretch as he finished with a career-high 30 points in the 10-point win.

The score was even at 75-75 with 5 minutes, 53 seconds remaining, but then Illinois went on a 12-2 scoring run and Iowa never recovered.

The loss dealt a blow to Iowa’s hopes of making the NCAA Tournament for the fifth straight season as its record fell to 16-12 overall and 8-9 in the Big Ten.

Sophomore guard Josh Dix led four Iowa players in double figures with 20 points.

He also made two of Iowa’s four baskets from 3-point range as Illinois had a 30-12 advantage in points from behind the arc, making 10-of-27 attempts.

Iowa was trailing 82-77 when senior guard Tony Perkins lost his dribble and committed a turnover with 3:45 seconds left to play.

Perkins and Hawkins were wrestling for the ball on the floor when Hawkins briefly gained possession before calling for a timeout.

Hawkins, who finished with five steals, then made back-to-back baskets to give Illinois an 86-77 led with less than three minutes to play.

He then made one free throw to expand the lead to 87-79 with 2:25 remaining, but Iowa answered with a basket by freshman forward Owen Freeman.

Hawkins made a another basket in transition to give Illinois a 91-81 lead with 1:31 remaining.

He also made two free throws to give Illinois a 95-85 lead with 34.9 seconds left to play, and that would be all the scoring.

Graduate forward Ben Krikke made a traditional 3-point play to give Iowa a 64-57 lead with 12:15 remaining in the second half.

But then Illinois would go on to outscore Iowa 38-21 the rest of the way, thanks largely to Hawkins, who made 9-of-11 field-goal attempts and 9-of-11 free throws.

Illinois also outscored Iowa 25-12 after Perkins had made two free throws to give his team a 73-70 lead with 9:31 left to play.

Iowa now faces a quick turnaround with Penn State up next on Tuesday at 8 p.m. at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

Penn State won the first game this season 89-79 on Feb. 8 in State College as Iowa unraveled down the stretch.

The first half of Saturday’s game ended in spectacular fashion for Iowa as Patrick McCaffery with one second remaining threw an inbound pass the length of the court that Payton Sandfort caught near his own basket. Sandfort then made a short turnaround shot that trimmed the deficit to 44-43 at halftime.

There were 10 lead changes in the first half and neither team led by more than five points in the half.

Iowa had 18 points in the paint in the first half, while Illinois had 16.

Both teams also had 11 points off turnovers in the first half.

So, it was easy to see why the score was so close at the break.

Iowa shot better than Illinois in the first half, 62 percent to 48 percent.

But Illinois had a 21-9 advantage in points from 3-point field-goal range, making 7-of-17 attempts, while Iowa was 3-for-6 behind the arc.

Perkins and Dix led Iowa in scoring in the first half with 11 and nine points, respectively. Both players made 4-of-6 field-goal attempts.

Hawkins led Illinois with 13 points, in the first half, but he also ended the half on the bench after having picked up two fouls.

Iowa had given itself a chance to win heading into the second half, but faced a daunting task in one of the Big Ten’s most hostile road environments.

That task would ultimately prove too much as Illinois pulled away in the closing minutes.

Iowa and Illinois will meet again on March 10 in the regular-season finale at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.