Illinois began its season ranked 17th in the country. Maybe it was appropriate that the Fighting Illini drained 17 3-pointers in their season opener Monday night, a 113-55 pasting of Jackson State.
Illinois will try for an encore on Friday night when it welcomes Florida Gulf Coast to Champaign, Ill., for another nonconference contest.
Among the highlights of the first game were 21 points apiece from returnees Tomislav Ivisic and Ben Humrichous, a 19-point, 14-rebound effort from freshman David Mirkovic and a whopping 61-19 rebounding advantage.
“I thought our effort on the glass on both sides was really good,” said Illinois coach Brad Underwood. “With our depth, our players are gonna have to learn that if they aren’t rebounding, they’re coming out.”
Rebounding should be a strength of the Illini. There might not be a team anywhere capable of fielding a taller lineup. Underwood can play a unit that features no player shorter than 6-foot-7 guard Andrej Stojakovic when he returns from a knee sprain.
Mirkovic’s performance was another eye-opener. The 6-foot-9, 250-pound product of Montenegro was the first Illinois freshman to start his career with a double-double since Kofi Cockburn in 2019 — and he also dished out four assists.
Another freshman, Keaton Wagler, dropped in a quiet 18 points, going 8-of-10 at the foul line while adding four assists. Six players wound up in double figures as the Illini canned nearly 55% of their shots and drew 23 assists on 40 field goals.
Underwood said that type of balanced scoring should be a feature of this team.
“It’s gonna be somebody’s turn every night,” he said.
If its season opener Monday night is any indication, Florida Gulf Coast might have the firepower to make this game competitive. It routed New College of Florida 96-60 at home, putting five players in double figures, including 14 points from Rahmir Barno, against the NAIA school.
“It felt amazing,” Barno said. “We’ve been waiting six months to do this. It felt great to get the first win of the season and to go to war with these guys.”
The Eagles have been tabbed for a fourth-place finish in the Atlantic Sun Conference in both the coaches and media polls. Fourth-year coach Pat Chambers said scheduling games like this, as well as a Dec. 14 visit to New Mexico, was done with March in mind.
“Our nonconference goal is to challenge our guys, face different styles and compete in hostile environments so we’re fully prepared for ASun play,” Chambers said.
Florida Gulf Coast returns seven players from last season, led by Barno and Michael Duax. Barno averaged 8.0 points and 3.7 assists per game while Duax, who transferred to FGCU last year after two years at Northern Iowa, was good for 7.1 points per game.
Chambers supplemented the returnees with transfer portal pickups like forward J.R. Konieczny (Notre Dame) and guard George Washington III (Richmond via Michigan). Konieczny grabbed eight rebounds and dished out a team-high five assists Monday night while Washington chipped in 10 points and three steals in only 19 minutes.