Illinois surges past Southeast Missouri

[November 12, 2016]  Illinois and senior Malcolm Hill shrugged off sluggish starts to post an 81-62 victory over Southeast Missouri State on Friday night at the renovated State Farm Center in Champaign, Ill.

Hill, a leading candidate for Big Ten Player of the Year, scored 19 of his 21 points in the final 23 minutes and added a game-high eight rebounds with four assists to pace Illinois (1-0).

Junior forward Milos Vranes came off the bench to lead Southeast Missouri State (0-1) with 12 points. Senior guard Antonius Cleveland, one of just four Redhawks returnees, added 10 points.

Illinois was buoyed by the return of sixth-year senior point guard Tracy Abrams, who contributed 13 points and three assists in 27 minutes while appearing in his first game since March 23, 2014.

Abrams sat out the last two seasons with a torn ACL and a torn Achilles tendon, respectively, and his reward for all of that rehab came quickly. He drilled a 3-pointer on his first shot of the year to produce Illinois' first points, but Southeast Missouri converted seven of its first 11 shots from the field to seize the lead for most of the first half.

Illinois regained its first lead since Abrams' early 3-pointer when Jaylon Tate fed D.J. Williams for a layup with 4:48 to go. The Illini went on a 15-6 run to close out the half as Abrams cashed another 3-pointer and Hill hit a 3-pointer for his only basket of the opening 20 minutes.

The Fighting Illini continued their spree in the second half as the Redhawks never got closer than nine points the rest of the way and dropped their 11th consecutive season opener.

Illinois played without Leron Black, who's serving a four-game suspension to start the season. Michael Finke got the start and produced 12 points and seven rebounds as the Illini posted a 37-22 advantage on the boards.

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