Nov 4, 2024; Champaign, Illinois, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini guard Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn (2) tries to block the shot of Eastern Illinois Panthers guard Nakyel Shelton (3) during the first half at State Farm Center. Mandatory Credit: Ron Johnson-Imagn Images Highly touted freshman forward Will Riley scored 31 points off the bench in his college debut and sophomore guard Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn added a career-high 21 points as Illinois earned a 112-67 season-opening victory over Eastern Illinois on Monday night in Champaign.
Riley, a five-star recruit from Canada who reclassified and signed with Illinois in the summer, canned 10 of 13 shots from the field — including 5 of 6 3-pointers — and added seven rebounds and three assists in 25 minutes.
Seven-footer Tomislav Ivisic posted 14 points and 14 rebounds for Illinois (1-0) while Ben Humrichous (14 points, five rebounds) and Kasparas Jakucionis (11 points, seven assists, five rebounds) also filled up the stat sheet in their debuts for the Fighting Illini.
Nakyel Shelton paced Eastern Illinois (0-1) with 16 points while Artese Stapleton posted 11 points and Zion Fruster and Obadiah Curtis contributed 10 points apiece. The Panthers were outrebounded 58-28 while losing their opener at Illinois for the third year in a row.
Eastern Illinois held four brief leads in the early going — the last an 11-10 edge on Fruster’s 3-pointer at the 15:57 mark — but Illinois gradually built a healthy lead by living at the free-throw line.
Illinois led 27-24 with eight minutes left in the first half, then canned 9 of 11 free throws over the next three minutes to build a 42-28 margin. At that juncture, the Illini stood 23 of 27 at the line.
Gibbs-Lawhorn dominated during the final seven minutes of the first half – drilling 3 3-pointers, 5 of 6 free throws and a fast-break finger roll on a feed from Jakucionis – to stake Illinois to a 50-35 lead by the break.
Illinois’ lead continued to swell during the second half. Riley’s 4-point play at the 15:07 mark pushed the margin to 66-38, then Jakucionis – another freshman projected as an NBA first-round pick – followed with a stepback 3-pointer. Kylan Boswell and Gibbs-Lawhorn added 3-pointers in the next two minutes as Illinois’ advantage ballooned to 79-46 with 12 minutes to play.
Illinois, which landed No. 26 in the Associated Press’ preseason Top 25 poll despite losing all but two scholarship players, cracked the 100-point mark on Riley’s putback and free throw with 4:48 to go. The Illini finished with their highest scoring output since opening the 2020-21 season with 122 points against North Carolina A&T.
–Field Level Media
