Northwestern snapped its eight-game losing streak against rival Illinois with a 73-60 win at a rocking Welsh-Ryan Arena on Wednesday night.

The Wildcats beat the Illini with smothering defense, free throws and a monster 22-2 run in the heart of the second half.

Illinois fans packed the ticketed seats, but the student body made their presence known in their first game back on campus to build an amazing atmosphere for one of Northwestern's best games this season.

Chase Audige led all scorers with 21 points, while Boo Buie chipped in 15 despite a tough shooting night, and a resurgent Ty Berry scored 10 of his 13 points in the second half. The Wildcats proved their resiliency, earning a win despite shooting just 32% from the field and making six fewer shots than the Illini.

Head coach Chris Collins contrasted the result with last weekend's loss to Ohio State to emphasize the importance of not getting too high or too low.

"We have to continue to build," Collins said. "It's one game, just like Ohio State was one game."

Here are our takeaways from a landmark win over Illinois that raised Northwestern's record to 11-3 (2-1 Big Ten):

Illinois came into Welsh-Ryan averaging 78.1 points per game, but the Wildcat defense held them to just 60.

Northwestern swarmed the Illini, but did it through disciplined and execution. This wasn't bully ball, this was a systematic dismantling of the way Illinois operated through precise on-ball pressure and picking off skip passes. The Wildcats forced 15 turnovers, scored 22 points off those turnovers and allowed just 10 free throws.

"We talk about it all the time, this is probably our best defense in terms of forcing turnovers," Collins said. "We've gotten a little more aggressive, and credit [assistant] coach [Chris] Lowery who has done a great job coming in and bringing his ideas. He's been an elite defensive coach for a long time."

Berry, who finished with a pair of steals, joked about how the coaching staff has enabled them to jump passing lanes and force turnovers.

"Credit to our coaches," Berry said with a laugh. "They always tell us to stand in the right spot and they'll throw you the ball. It happens, it sounds funny, but it happens."

It's a basketball tale as old as time: when your shots aren't falling, get to the free-throw line. And the Wildcats did just that.

Northwestern had a four-point lead at halftime, despite shooting 30% from the field, by getting to the line 10 times and knocking down eight shots. In the second half, they pushed that even further. By the end of the game, Northwestern had made 32 of 40 shots from the line, while Illinois was just 6 of 10.

In a sight for sore eyes, the Wildcats found their touch beyond the arc. Audige and Berry carried the load by going 6-of-12 from three-point range, and the Wildcats shot 39%, while Illinois managed just 29%.

Northwestern's offensive woes weren't mythically solved tonight, but the Wildcats didn't plunge heedlessly along chucking shots. Buie was a disappointing 2-for-13 from the field, but put up a team-best plus/minus of +19 for the game. Buie and the Wildcat offense didn't play hero ball, just hoping to get hot. They went to work, moved the ball, found fouls and found open threes to put Illinois away with a 42-33 second half.

Northwestern needs to expand student seating to create an even better home-court advantage. There has been discourse around the dedication of Northwestern's student body to Northwestern athletics since time immemorial, but I can tell you from personal experience that this is a university that desperately wants to get behind its sports teams. The university can enable that by expanding the student section.

The ticketed seats were a legitimate 75-25 ratio in favor of the Illini. There were multiple ILL-INI chants throughout the game, and the crowd was often more raucous for Illinois than the home team.

What kept the visitors in check, and kept the atmosphere competitive, was the student section.

"It's really cool when this place is full," Collins said. "That kind of atmosphere, it can match anything in the country."

Northwestern is a high-effort team that feeds off of the energy of the crowd to fuel their defensive intensity.

"It was everything," Audige said about the student section. "They helped us win the game."

Tonight, students were turned away at the door due to a lack of space. There needs to be more opportunities for students to come and see this team play.

The 2022-23 Northwestern Wildcats are here. They may play ugly basketball at times, but they have found a formula for winning games -- even after difficult losses.

The Wildcats shook off resounding losses to Ohio State and Pittsburgh, and a close loss to Auburn. Collins acknowledged that his team has gotten punched in the mouth, but credited their resiliency.

"We had a tough night against a pretty good Pittsburgh team, they put 87 on us," Collins said. "We lost by 26 points and there was a lot of 'Doomsday, here we go again.' We went to the Breslin Center and won on the road at Michigan State."

Collins said they went through the same process after the loss to OSU.

"Ohio State is really good. They came in here and beat us. They were physical, they were tough," he said. "We had a couple days, we got dusted off and said, 'Hey, we have Illinois coming in. We have to stop the bleeding, we have to get a win.'"

This isn't a Northwestern team throwing in the towel when things get tough. They attacked an undisciplined and streaky Illinois team by drawing 29 fouls, shooting 40 free throws and holding them to 60 points.

Instead of Illinois players celebrating with their fans after the game, it was Audige, Buie, Matt Nicholson and others running to the student section to embrace fans after a 13-point rivalry win that casts doubt on Illinois' season, and a whole new light on Northwestern's.

"We can be ugly at times, but I tell you this team has a lot of heart," Collins said. "They're a really together group, and they love playing with each and for each other."

There will still be times when this team hits an Ohio State or a Pittsburgh and the wheels might fall off. But this game showed that those games will be the exception, not the rule, and that this team will get off the mat and keep swinging after it does.