EVANSTON-Welsh-Ryan Arena was electric on Saturday for Illinois vs. Northwestern.

The student section was rocking and waving purple-and-white wiggly noodles. Illinois fans were mocking the officials and trying to chant “I-L-L…I-N-I” every time they made a run. Northwestern went toe-to-toe with Illinois for about 38 minutes, fighting back from a five-point halftime deficit to take a six-point lead.

But as has been the M.O. all season long for the Wildcats, they failed to hit a couple key shots in the closing minutes, and the No. 24 Illini did. The result was a 59-56 loss, the Cats’ fourth straight defeat and eighth in 10 Big Ten games. They also fell under the .500 mark for the first time all season.

But boy, was it a fun ride.

Northwestern fought back from a five-point halftime deficit to take its biggest lead, 46-40, with 8:09 left after Ryan Greer came up with a steal and fed Elyjah Williams for a layup. That was probably the loudest it got in the building, as the Illini took a timeout and the noise swelled.

But Illinois rode its horse, Kofi Cockburn, to get back tie it at 51. After a powerful, two-handed Damonte Williams dunk off of a Cockburn miss, Illinois was back in the lead, 55-53, with 1:34 left.

The Wildcats, however, had their chances on their next two possessions, but two good looks at the basket failed to go down.

First, Pete Nance, who led Northwestern with 21 points, missed a shot over Williams that looked halfway down before it rimmed out. Then, after Cockburn hit one of two free throws, Greer missed an open three-pointer from the wing that would’ve tied it with 34 seconds left.

From there, Illinois’ Alfonso Plummer hit three of four free throws to ice the second straight win for the Illini.

Nance, who scored 13 points in the second half, was the only Wildcat in double figures. But NU’s bench came up with 21 points, led by eight from Ty Berry and seven from Williams.

Cockburn finished with 22 points and nine rebounds and was the only Illini in double figures.

Northwestern couldn’t buy a field goal in the first half. The Wildcats were getting decent shots; they just weren’t falling. They made just three of their first 16 shots from the floor as they fell behind 19-9.

But the Wildcats got a lift down the stretch of the opening period when Nance and Ty Berry hit back-to-back three-pointers to cut the lead to 21-17 with 4:39 left and bring the sellout crowd to life.

A lot of the focus pre-game was on Cockburn, who played after missing a game last week, and point guard Andre Curbelo, who didn’t play due to COVID symptoms. Just as the raucous Northwestern student section started a “Kofi sucks!” chant to mock the 7-foot force of nature, Cockburn threw down a thunderous dunk right in front of them to shut them up.

Nance opened the second half with a layup on one end, but then picked up his third foul after 26 seconds guarding Cockburn in the paint. Cockburn scored three consecutive buckets and Illinois looked to be in control, leading 29-21.

But then Northwestern got a spark from a group of bench players to forge a lead.

First, little-used sophomore big man Matt Nicholson came off the bench, drew a foul on Cockburn and hit two free throws to pull the Cats to within two. The Wildcats finally took the lead, 32-31, on a Berry three-pointer from the wing at the 14:25 mark.

Williams, who was probably Northwestern’s best defender against Cockburn, undressed Cockburn for a nifty turn-around layup in the lane. Then Ryan Greer hit a couple jumpers.

In the end, however, it was the same old story for the Wildcats. Seven of Northwestern’s eight league losses have been by eight points or less, and the last two have been by a total of five points. The Wildcats also led in the second half in five of them.

MORE ON THE GAME: Takeaways: Illinois 59 Northwestern 56