Illinois has been the epitome of an up-and-down team this season for various reasons. But on Sunday, it was an up moment — and an especially hot one — while facing No. 15 Michigan in Ann Arbor.

At halftime, nothing about this game screamed particularly out of the ordinary. Illinois, one of the more talented teams in the Big Ten, was leading by a slim 31-30 margin as the Illini looked for some momentum on the tail-end of the season.

The 2nd half, however, was a completely different story as the Fighting Illini exploded for 62 points. The Wolverines never found an answer as Illinois finished the game with 14 made 3-pointers in a dominant 93-73 win.

Kasparas Jakucionis, Tre White and Ben Humrichous all finished with 3 3-pointers apiece while 7 total Illinois players finished with a made 3-pointer. On the flip side, Michigan had just 4 made 3-pointers, 11 turnovers and a -11 rebounding margin with Vladislav Goldin scoring a game-high 22 points. No other Wolverine reached double figures with Danny Wolf having an uncharacteristically poor performance.

So, what exactly was historic about the game? With the win, Illinois now has a pair of 20-point ranked wins on the road this season after previously beating then-No. 9 Oregon 109-77 in Eugene.

Those victories make Illinois just the 4th team in the AP Poll era (since 1950) with multiple ranked wins of 20+ points on the road. The last team to do it was 2006-07 North Carolina.

Those previous teams all had varying degrees of success in the NCAA Tournament. Kentucky would advance to the national final in 1997 but fell in that game while UNC lost in the Elite Eight of the 2007 season.

It’s a testament to how dangerous this Illini team can be when healthy and operating at full power. Illinois will get one more game in the regular season to try and boost its seeding for the Big Ten Tournament, and then it’s all hands on deck for the postseason.