Illini Thump SIUE, 90-58

By Jeff Mayfield

[November 09, 2024]  Before the game I got to spend time with Illini Assistant Coach Geoff Alexander’s dad, Neil Alexander, the coach of your Lincoln High School Railers. I was able to get an early scouting report on the Railsplitters and according to Coach AL, Lincoln should be a solid defensive club but has work to do on the offensive end. I’m also hoping and praying that longtime Railer assistant Eric Ewald returns to the Lincoln bench this season. Coach Alexander said that having Ewald back would be worth at least 5 more wins and I totally agree!

I also took the opportunity to ask him about this year’s Illini team. He said the same thing I said, that they need some work on the defensive end of the court. I sometimes wish the college coaches would pay more heed to successful scholastic coaches like Alexander, but they rarely do that. [By the way, the Illini listened to Coach Al’s suggestion and held the Cougars to 30% shooting for the game!]

The Illini also celebrated last year’s wildly successful Elite Eight team with a pregame ceremony, gave out some bling to all personnel and players, and raised the Elite 8 banner into the rafters. It’s always fun to celebrate victories and successful seasons and it never gets old!

As for the game-the Illini were never seriously threatened on their way to throttling The SIUE Cougars 90-58. Here are the LDN’s 3 stars for the evening:

Star #1
Kasparas Jacusionis showed his wheeling and dealing capabilities and they were on full display with a near triple double; 12 points, 8 rebounds, and 13 assists. It’s getting easier to see why so many see an NBA career in his future. I believe that he set the Freshman record for assists in a game but could have had more and the triple was possible until teammates stole his last two chances to get to ten. With his experience, he’s hardly a freshman.

Star #2
Tomislav Ivisic had another impressive showing going for 18 points and 7 rebounds. He too seems to show the effects of lots of basketball experience. His moves seem to be so fluid and his footwork has been impressive so far.

Star #3 [we had a 3-way tie]
3-Will Riley had 14 points and 7 rebounds. He brings so much excitement to the court that he is electric!

3-Ben Humrichous finished with 15 points on 4 3-pointers as for the second game in a row the Illini were raining shots from downtown. This time they made 15 on 40% shooting! Ben has one of the prettiest shots you will ever see.

3-Tre White knocked down three 3-pointers on his way to 13 points and 5 rebounds

Honorable Mention
Morez Johnson, Jr. looks like the early candidate to be our blue-collar worker in the paint. He’s mixing it up in the post and finished with 5 points and 8 rebounds.

It was a celebratory night in almost every way. With the convincing victory, the Illini move to 2-0 and will take a huge step up in competition when they host Oakland next Wednesday Night at 8pm.

[By JEFF MAYFIELD]

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