CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - All Jason Gardner could do was wipe a bead of sweat from his forehead as he glanced at the floor before making his way towards his opposite number as the final horn sounded. Senior Matt O'Leary gave a wry smile with a tint of dejection as he walked in the direction of his teammates while his opponents' smiled and a raucous home crowd gave a collective exhale and celebrated.

For 40 minutes, IUPUI (3-6) went toe-to-toe with Big Ten foe Illinois inside State Farm Center on Tuesday night (Dec. 6), but faded late in an 85-77 loss to the Illini. Illinois called Malcolm Hill's number time and again down the stretch and the All-Big Ten performer was up to the task, pumping in 32 points on 11-of-18 shooting. 

O'Leary led three Jaguars in double-digits with a career-high 25 points and Darell Combs chipped in 18. Sophomore forward Evan Hall added 10 points and six rebounds in the defeat. 

"I thought we showed a lot of poise and a lot of maturity, especially getting down ten to nothing," IUPUI Head Coach Jason Gardner said. "We stuck with it though and brought it to them a little bit. That's what I was most proud of, that we showed a lot of fight and a lot of maturity. We moved the ball, got open looks and played our game.

"I thought that (O'Leary) was really good tonight. He's been more aggressive lately and he made the right pass and made the right plays tonight. He's our point forward, so when we play through him, we can be pretty good offensively."

IUPUI looked outclassed at the outset, falling into a quick 10-0 hole in the opening few minutes. However, a 12-2 run pulled the Jaguars even and no team led by more than five for the remainder of the first half. The Jags settled for a 42-41 halftime lead, thanks to O'Leary's 15 first half points. 

Despite allowing Illinois to shoot 55 percent overall and 60 percent after halftime, the Jaguars were still in position to steal the program's second win ever over a Big Ten foe in the final minute. 

Illinois (7-3) scored four quick points to start the second half, the latter coming on a fast break dunk, prompting Gardner to call timeout to help quell an announced crowd of 10,536. Like they would all night, his troops responded, drawing back even just more than a minute later. 

Later, Illinois tried to pull away as Tracy Abrams converted a steal and score to give the hosts a 57-52 lead with just less than 14 minutes to play. However, the Jags again got back even, this time on an Aaron Brennan wing three. The Jags were up three with seven minutes left when the Illini benefited from a huge momentum shift. 

Junior Ron Patterson picked off a pass near midcourt and raced the other way, but was unable to convert in transition as Abrams challenged him at the rim. Illinois raced the other way and Hill swished a three from the left side and drew a foul from O'Leary in the process. However, Hill was unable to convert the four-point play, keeping the score tied at 68 all. 

Hill was brilliant down the stretch, scoring repeatedly on jumpers over IUPUI defenders, while Combs shouldered the Jaguars' offensive load late. Combs banked in a three with 2:24 left and scored on a putback on the Jaguars' next possession to keep IUPUI within four points in the closing minutes. However, IUPUI misfired on three clean looks at treys in the final minute that would've cut it to a one-point game. From there, Illinois made four freebies in the final 23 seconds to escape victorious. 

"We got the looks we wanted late in the game, but just didn't make them," Gardner said. "We missed three pretty good looks and a couple of layups and that cost us."

IUPUI shot just 39 percent in the second half after shooting 51 percent in the first half. 

"I liked how we moved the ball tonight and made the extra pass and kept (the ball) moving," Gardner said. "Guys were really unselfish and we did a good job of taking advantage of some mismatches.

"I thought our bigs did a good job of getting into their bodies and finishing at the rim. I liked what I saw there."

Despite being outsized, IUPUI outscored Illinois 28-24. Hall twirled his way to a 5-of-7 shooting effort inside while D.J. McCall added eight points on a 3-of-4 shooting night. 

Leron Black supplemented Hill's monster game with 16 points and nine boards and Indianapolis-native Jalen Coleman-Lands tallied nine points, all in the first half. Abrams added seven points, six assists and four steals for the victors. 

"They've got some really good players and run some good stuff offensively," Gardner said. "I thought we did a good job of hanging in there with them and making them react to what we were doing, but give them credit, they made the plays when they needed them."

The loss dropped IUPUI to 0-2 against Big Ten foes this year and 0-3 overall against major conference opponents following losses to Michigan and Marquette. IUPUI also slid to 0-2 all-time against Illinois. 

The Jags will cap a string of six consecutive road games on Saturday (Dec. 10) when they face Miami (Ohio) in Oxford at 3:30 p.m.. IUPUI won last year's meeting over Miami inside Indiana Farmers Coliseum. Saturday's game will be broadcast on 97.5 FM Fox Sports Radio, 1260 WNDE and the iHeartRadio app as Morgan Adcock (pxp) is on the call.