Illinois State 68, Northwestern 64: Zach Lofton and Daishon Knight scored 15 points apiece to lead the visiting Redbirds to the upset.

John Jones added 11 points for Illinois State (1-2), the only team in the Missouri Valley Conference without a returning starter this season. Reggie Lynch was the other player in double figures, finishing with 10 points off the bench for the Redbirds.

JerShon Cobb scored 19 points and Drew Crawford finished with 13 for Northwestern (1-2), which shot 36.8 percent from the floor. Tre Demps added 12 points off the bench for the Wildcats.

Illinois State blew out to a 40-22 halftime lead after holding the Wildcats to 26.9 percent shooting from the field. Northwestern went more than seven minutes without a field during the opening half and the Redbirds took advantage by turning an 8-3 deficit into a 15-10 lead.

The Wildcats kept Illinois State scoreless for nearly three minutes to start the second half, allowing them to trim the deficit to 12, and Paris Lee made the final field goal of the game for Illinois State to push the lead back to 13 with 7:16 remaining. Northwestern began to chip away and got as close as 64-62 with 23 seconds remaining, but Lee went 2-for-2 from the free throw line with 13 seconds left to clinch the win.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Northwestern coach Chris Collins is the son of former Illinois State All-American Doug Collins, the program’s all-time leading scorer. … Illinois State coach Dan Muller was 2-0 against Northwestern as a player, helping the Redbirds to wins in 1994 and 1996. … The Redbirds returned just three part-time players from last season’s team.