GAME NOTES: The Illinois Fighting Illini take aim once again at their first true road win of the season on Wednesday night when they visit Welsh-Ryan Arena to tangle with the Northwestern Wildcats in Big Ten Conference play.

Illinois has gone 8-0 at home but is winless in four tries as the visiting team. Three of those road losses have come during a four-game span dating back to the end of December. Most recently, the Fighting Illini struggled to get their offense going in a 53-43 setback at Nebraska on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Northwestern has dropped two straight after winning its previous four games. The Wildcats took Michigan State to overtime in East Lansing on Sunday, only to come away with an 84-77 loss when their shooting went cold in the extra session.

Illinois has dominated the head-to-head series, 130-39, although Northwestern has won three of the last four meetings.

The Illini shot a dismal 27 percent from the floor against Nebraska and attempted only one free throw in the first 38 minutes of the game, yet they still trailed by only six late in regulation. However, the Cornhuskers would eventually seal it with free throws down the stretch. Malcolm Hill and Kendrick Nunn shared team-high scoring honors for Illinois with 12 points apiece, albeit on a combined 31-percent shooting.

The Illini were playing their second game without the services of leading scorer and rebounder Rayvonte Rice (17.2 ppg, 6.9 rpg), who suffered a broken hand during practice last week and is out indefinitely. His absence leaves Hill (13.9 ppg, 5.5 rpg) as the only player on the team averaging double figures.

The Wildcats were red-hot from the perimeter against Michigan State, as they connected on an impressive 12-of-25 3-point attempts (.480) for the game. But despite all of that long-range success, they were still unable to keep pace with the Spartans, who shot 50 percent from the floor, made 19-of-26 free throws and committed only seven turnovers. While NU converted only 1-of-9 field-goal attempts in the extra session, the Spartans shot 3-of-5 and went a perfect 6-of-6 at the charity stripe.

Bryant McIntosh (12.2 ppg) led the way with 18 points in the loss, followed by Tre Demps (12.4 ppg) with 17 points and six assists.

The Illini have struggled thus far on the road, and things don't figure to get much easier without Rice on the court. Northwestern, on the other hand, put up a real good fight against a tough Michigan State squad but simply ran out of gas at the very end.