Junior point guard Andres Feliz scored 16
points off the bench in his Division I debut while freshman
guard Ayo Dosunmu (18 points, six rebounds), junior forward
Kipper Nichols (13 points) and sophomore guard Trent Frazier (10
points, seven assists) also hit double figures in the rout for
Illinois.
Junior forward K.J. Riley paced Evansville (0-1) with 14 points,
and senior swingman Marty Hill added 13 points and six rebounds
as the Purple Aces were outmanned in Walter McCarty's
head-coaching debut. McCarty, who spent the past five years as
Brad Stevens' assistant with the Boston Celtics, had just eight
scholarship players at his disposal.
Evansville held an 8-7 lead after three minutes, but it wasn't
long before the new-look Illini seized control. Illinois broke
open the game early as Jordan -- the team's lone senior --
scored eight consecutive points in a one-minute stretch to give
the Illini a 30-14 lead midway through the first half.
The Illini pushed the lead to 53-22 by halftime as they shredded
Evansville's zone by hitting 8 of 18 3-point tries while the
Purple Aces made just 1 of 9. Jordan, Dosunmu and Frazier all
hit double figures by the break while unheralded freshman center
Giorgi Bezhanishvili grabbed all 10 of his rebounds in the first
half.
Underwood's squad, which features just four scholarship
returnees from last year's 14-18 squad, didn't let up after the
break as sophomore guard Da'Monte Williams' layup pushed the
margin to 97-55 with 2:59 to go.
Illinois, one of the Big Ten's worst 3-point shooting teams last
year, shot 12 of 27 from long range and 56.3 percent from the
field overall.
Evansville's 100th season began without 6-foot-9, 240-pound
senior forward Dainius Chatkevicius, a returning starter who
averaged 4.8 points and 5.4 rebounds last year. The Purple Aces
confirmed before the game that he was suspended three games for
a violation of team rules.
--Field Level Media
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