Freshman guard Kasparas Jakucionis scored a season-high 21 points and Illinois reeled off 23 straight first-half points to trigger a 92-34 non-conference victory over Little Rock Monday night in Champaign, Ill.
Tomislav Ivisic posted 16 points and 11 rebounds for Illinois (5-1) while Tre White contributed 16 points and eight rebounds and Will Riley added 13 points. The Illini tied the State Farm Center record for fewest points allowed by limiting the visitors to 23.6 percent shooting from the field .
Jordan Jefferson paced Little Rock (3-4) with 11 points and five rebounds. The Trojans finished with just 13 baskets while committing 14 turnovers and getting outrebounded 56-26.
Little Rock’s Mwani Williamson opened the game with a 3-pointer, but it didn’t take long for Illinois to find ways to attack the Trojans’ man-to-man and get the visitors in foul trouble.
Illinois needed just 6 minutes, 7 seconds to get into the bonus — at which time Jakucionis canned two free throws to give the Illini a 17-8 lead and a 9-for-10 showing at the line.
The Ohio Valley Conference preseason favorites pulled within 20-13 on Jefferson’s 3-pointer coming out of a timeout, but Illinois answered with 23 straight points to turn it into a rout. Ivisic, Riley, Ben Humrichous and Jakucionis drilled 3-pointers during the run while Morez Johnson Jr., Riley and Ivisic threw down dunks.
Little Rock finally snapped its 7-minute, 46-second scoring drought with Johnathan Lawson’s 10-foot set shot at the 3:41 mark to make it 43-15, but Illinois took a 51-19 lead into the break.
At halftime, the Illini owned a 27-10 advantage on the boards and they turned their seven offensive rebounds into 14 second-chance points. Little Rock, meanwhile, shot just 24 percent from the field and 40 percent at the line.
Illinois picked up where it left off in the second half. Jakucionis drilled two 3-pointers and White hit two layups as the Illini opened with a 12-2 run to push the margin to 63-21.
Little Rock went scoreless for the final 5:05 to finish with 34 points, which tied Wisconsin-Green Bay (Dec. 4, 1985) and Savannah State (Nov. 21, 2006) for fewest points by an opponent since Illinois’ home arena opened in 1963.
–Field Level Media
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