Tomislav Ivisic posted 21 points and 10 rebounds as hot-shooting Illinois scorched No. 19 Arkansas 90-77 on Thursday at Kansas City, Mo.
The Fighting Illini canned 15 of 31 3-point attempts (48.4 percent). Illinois (6-1) led wire to wire for its third straight win to go to 6-1 all-time against the Razorbacks (5-2).
Matched up against 7-foot-2 twin brother Zvonimir Ivisic, Illinois’ 7-foot-1 Tomislav Ivisic sank 6 of 9 from deep and added three blocks before fouling out in the final minute.
The Fighting Illini’s Kasparas Jakucionis had a team-high 23 points to go with six rebounds and four assists. Kylan Boswell added 18 points and six assists.
Arkansas’ Adou Thiero notched a game-high 26 points and had six rebounds but missed nine of his 21 free throws. Zvonimir Ivisic had 13 points and six rebounds, while Billy Richmond III added 12 points.
Illinois set the tone with an 11-0 run to start the game, getting a 3-pointer from Ben Humrichous and two treys from Tomislav Ivisic sandwiching a hoop from Boswell before Zvonimir Ivisic finally scored for Arkansas.
The Fighting Illini’s lead grew to 14-2 on Boswell’s 3-pointer at 14:56, and Illinois hit its fifth trey in eight tries with Humrichous draining his second at 12:39 for a 21-6 edge.
Richmond scored six points as the Razorbacks cut the deficit to single digits, 25-16, on his layup at 8:17.
The Illini continued to make deep shots, including ones by Jake Davis and Tomislav Ivisic, as the Razorbacks kept driving the lane with Boogie Fland, Thiero and D.J. Wagner, trading 3-pointers for layups and foul shots.
The Fighting Illini led 49-34 at halftime by taking advantage of their sharpshooting, sinking 9 of 16 from beyond the arc. Arkansas missed all seven of its long-range attempts before the break.
Near the midpoint of the second half, the Razorbacks got within 66-57 on Trevon Brazile’s trey, but Humrichous answered with a trey 25 seconds later as Arkansas never cut any deeper into the deficit.
–Field Level Media
