National Basketball Association
Illinois 88, Indiana St. 62
When: 5:00 PM ET, Thursday, November 27, 2014
Where: Orleans Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada
Officials:
# Anthony Chiazza, # Alvin Cox, # William Humes
Attendance:
N/A
By SportsDirect Inc.
Illinois 88, Indiana State 62: Rayvonte Rice recorded 21 points, seven rebounds and a tied a career high with five steals as the Fighting Illini routed the Sycamores in the semifinals of the Las Vegas Invitational.
Malcolm Hill contributed a career-high 17 points and eight rebounds for Illinois (5-0), which faces Baylor in Friday's championship game. The Illini's Aaron Cosby added 10 points, eight rebounds and four assists while Nnanna Egwu scored all 10 of his points in the first half.
Illinois, which entered the game leading the country in scoring at 97.5 points per game, also turned in a strong defensive performance with 15 steals. Grant Prusator scored a career-high 17 points for Indiana State (3-2), which meets Memphis in Friday's consolation contest.
Illinois made its first five shots from the field while racing to a 12-3 lead and unleashed an 18-2 run - highlighted by a pair of Egwu 3-pointers - to move ahead 30-8 in less than 12 minutes. The Illini led by as many as 25 before settling for a 41-20 advantage at the break as Egwu made all four of his shots from the field.
Illinois scored only eight points in a stretch of nearly 8 1/2 minutes spanning halftime before an 11-3 run in 2:34 made it 55-27. Prusator, who scored four points in two previous games, drilled four 3-pointers in a little more than four minutes to trim the deficit to 18 with 7:17 remaining, but the Sycamores never got closer than 17.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Indiana State F Justin Gant (two points) fouled out with 13:40 to play after picking up an offensive foul and a matching technical with Egwu after Gant shoved Leron Black while running down the court before exchanging shoves with Egwu. ... Hill was 11-of-12 in free throws to help Illinois shoot 23-of-28 from the line. ... The Illini have won 31 straight games in November - the only team in the nation undefeated in the month since 2011.
Top Game Performances
| Illinois |
|
Indiana St. |
|
Rayvonte Rice 21 |
Scoring |
Grant Prusator 17 |
|
Aaron Cosby 4 |
Assists |
Tre Bennett 4 |
|
Aaron Cosby 8 |
Rebounds |
Khristian Smith 7 |
|
Malcolm Hill 11 |
Free Throws Made |
Devonte Brown 3 |
|
Rayvonte Rice 5 |
Steals |
Khristian Smith 5 |
|
Nnanna Egwu 1 |
Blocks |
T.J. Bell 2 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
| Illinois
|
88 |
42.4 |
9-20 |
23-28 |
11 |
43 |
3 |
15 |
13 |
| Indiana St.
|
62 |
36.0 |
10-27 |
16-29 |
8 |
30 |
3 |
9 |
21 |
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