National Basketball Association
Illinois 62, Baylor 54
When: 10:30 PM ET, Friday, November 28, 2014
Where: Orleans Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada
Officials:
# Tony Chiazza, # Tim Comer, # William Humes
Attendance:
N/A
By SportsDirect Inc.
Illinois 62, Baylor 54: Rayvonte Rice and Malcolm Hill scored 17 points apiece to help the Fighting Illini hold off the Bears to win the Las Vegas Invitational championship.
Hill recorded 13 points in the second half while providing a key defensive play late and Rice added 11 after the break as Illinois (6-0) won its nation-best 32nd straight game in November. Ahmad Starks contributed seven points and five assists, Kendrick Nunn scored seven and Nnanna Egwu added a team-high eight rebounds.
Rico Gathers had 11 points and 15 rebounds for Baylor (5-1), which entered with the nation's No. 7 scoring defense at 49.4 points and held the Illini and their No. 3 scoring offense well below their 95.6 average. Taurean Prince added 11 points and eight rebounds to help the Bears outrebound Illinois 47-33.
The first half featured five ties and five lead changes before Baylor seized a 25-21 advantage at halftime as Prince recorded nine points and six rebounds. Illinois scored the first eight points of the second half - five by Rice - and eventually led by 10 with seven minutes before Al Freeman's layup ended a 7-0 run and closed the gap to 47-44 with 5:55 to play.
Freeman again cut the deficit to three on a 3-pointer with three minutes left, but Hill responded with a three-play with 2:32 remaining and a steal which led to a fast-break layup by Nunn and a 57-49 lead with 1:28 left. Gathers missed two free throws with 32 seconds left and the Bears trailing 57-51, and the Illini clinched the victory by going 5-of-6 from the free-throw line in the final 30 seconds.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Bears senior G Kenny Chery (10.3 points) missed his second straight game because of a foot injury. ... Illinois entered the game making 79.5 percent of its free throws but was 10-of-18 against Baylor. ... The teams combined to shoot 25 percent from 3-point range as Baylor was 5-of-21 and Illinois 6-of-23.
Top Game Performances
| Baylor |
|
Illinois |
|
Rico Gathers 11 |
Scoring |
Malcolm Hill 17 |
|
Lester Medford 3 |
Assists |
Ahmad Starks 5 |
|
Rico Gathers 15 |
Rebounds |
Nnanna Egwu 8 |
|
Al Freeman 4 |
Free Throws Made |
Rayvonte Rice 4 |
|
Deng Deng 1 |
Steals |
Rayvonte Rice 3 |
|
Taurean Prince 2 |
Blocks |
Nnanna Egwu 2 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
| Baylor
|
54 |
33.3 |
5-21 |
15-25 |
9 |
43 |
3 |
4 |
15 |
| Illinois
|
62 |
39.0 |
6-23 |
10-18 |
15 |
30 |
2 |
6 |
5 |
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