Illinois Back on Track
Illini Beat Mississippi Valley State, 86-67
By Jeff Mayfield

[November 26, 2018]  The Illini Fighting Illini put four players in double figures Sunday on their way to an 86-67 triumph, but it wasn’t always as easy as you might think.

In fact, at times the Illini played the way you might have feared after a tough week of losses. They looked at times like a team that had eaten a lot of turkey the past few days. They also looked like a team that had just gotten back from a long trip somewhere [yes, I know they went to Hawaii to play in the Maui Classic, but I’m trying to scrape those games out of my memory-and luckily we had company and a hoops tournament so I didn’t get to watch any of the Hawaiian action].

And MVS was more than obliged to let the Illini try to re-capture their sea legs even taking an early 9-8 lead. However, the Illini fought back and through it all. The Illinois bench sparked the Illini to get with it and really picked up the tempo and the pace while they were in the game. In fact, Illinois’ bench outscored Mississippi Valley State by a whopping 54-12 margin. The Illini out-rebounded the Delta Devils [one of your better mascot names don’t you think?] 39-26.

The Illini did tie a State Farm Center record on Thanksgiving Sunday by converting 16 3-pointers!

Trent Frazier led the way for Illinois with 16 points, Kipper Nichols came off the bench with 14, and Alan Griffin and Da’Monte Williams tallied 10 each for the Illini. Ayo Dosunmu chipped in 6 points to go along with 9 rebounds and 9 assists.

With the victory the Illini got back in the win column and moved their record to 2-4.

Up next for Illinois is a trip to South Bend, IN to take on Notre Dame on Tuesday night in the Big Ten-ACC Challenge.

[By JEFF MAYFIELD]

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