Illinois Rolls Over Lindenwood, 117-65

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Ayo Dosunmu scored 24 points, five others scored in double digits and Illinois rolled over Division-II Lindenwood 117-65 Tuesday.

Illinois (6-1) shot 39 of 63 from the field for 62%, the second game in a row the Illini have shot 60% or better.

Illinois also broke a school record for back-to-back points with 237 combined points against Lindenwood and Hampton. The Illini scored 229 points back-to-back in 1993 against American University and Chicago State.

Da'Monte Williams scored a career-high 18 points for Illinois. Trent Frazier scored 17, Andres Feliz 16, Kofi Cockburn 12 points and 8 rebounds, and Giorgi Bezhanishvili added 10 points.

Cockburn just missed his sixth NCAA-leading double-double of the young season, due mostly to playing 22 minutes in the blowout.

Lindenwood was led by T.J. Crockett's 24 points. Vijay Blackmon scored 12 and Cameron Scales added 11 for the Lions.

The Lions were 25 of 64 from the field for 39% shooting.

After a slow start in which they trailed 8-2 with 17:46 to play in the first, the Illini unleased a 21-0 run to take a 23-8 lead, sparked by back-to-back 3-pointers from Frazier.

Illinois led 66-29 at the half.

UP NEXT

The Fighting Illini are off until Monday, Dec. 2, when Miami comes to State Farm Center for the annual Big Ten/ACC Challenge (6 pm CT on ESPN2). 

TEAM NOTES

• Illinois set a program record for points in back-to-back games with 237. The previous record was 229 set Dec. 11-18, 1993 against American (W, 108-84) and Chicago State (W, 121-52). 

   Most Points in Back-to-Back Games   237 Nov. 23-26, 2019 vs. Hampton and Lindenwood   229 Dec. 11-18, 1993 vs. American and Chicago State   226 Dec. 1-3, 1990 vs. Eastern Illinois and Wisconsin-Milwaukee    221 Nov. 16-21, 2014 vs. Coppin State and Austin Peay    221 Jan. 30-Feb. 6, 1965 vs. Notre Dame and Purdue

• Illinois scored 100+ points in back-to-back games for the first time since Nov. 16-21, 2014 when the Illini beat Coppin State (114-56) and Austin Peay (107-66). 

• Illinois went on a 21-0 run from 17:10 to 12:59 in the first half. Trent Frazier made three three-pointers during the stretch. 

• The Illini scored 66 points in the first half, their most in a half since scoring 67 in the first half of a 105-66 win over Georgia Tech in Las Vegas on Nov. 23, 2001.

• Illinois outrebounded Lindenwood, 43-24, to increase its season rebounding margin to 318-188. Illinois' rebounding margin of +18.6 per game is second in the nation behind only North Carolina's +19.5.

INDIVIDUAL NOTES

• Junior Da'Monte Williams had a career-high 18 points on 4-of-8 shooting. He tied a career high with eight points from the free throw line (8 at Northwestern 1/6/19).

• Sophomore Ayo Dosunmu scored 24 points on 8-of-12 shooting, one point short of his career high (25 vs. Georgetown 11/13/18).

• Junior Trent Frazier had a season-high 17 points, including a season-high five threes. 

• Freshman Kofi Cockburn fell just short of a double-double with 10 points and 8 rebounds vs. Lindenwood. His five double-doubles in the first seven games are tied for the third most by a freshman in the last 10 seasons (7 Julius Randle, Kentucky, 2013-14; 6 Ben Simmons, LSU, 2015-16).

Pacific 78, SIUE 50

STOCKTON, Calif. – SIUE went down big in the first half and couldn't recover, falling to Pacific 78-50 Tuesday night.

"I explained to them that I was no less proud to be coaching this team than I was prior to the game," SIUE Head Coach Brian Barone said. "It is harder to say that right now because when you lose the way we did it is frustrating."

Pacific raced out to a 20-3 lead before a media timeout at 11:09 and the Tigers never looked back. Pacific led 49-17 at halftime.

The Cougars shot just 28 percent (7-25) from the field in the first 20 minute and went 0-11 from three-point range. Pacific was 19-30 (63.3 percent) in the half and 5-10 from long distance.

"When we don't get stops and then scores like we typically do in transition based on our defense; and then we're trying to rely on getting big of chunks at a time, we go away from the style of play we have had success with," Barone added. "We stopped trusting what we have done."

The Cougars fared much better in the second half, connecting on 13-28 (46.4 percent) of their attempts from the field and outscored Pacific 33-29, but they had fallen behind by too much.

Tyresse Williford led SIUE with 11 points and four rebounds. He added four assists and a career-high five steals. Zeke Moore added nine points for SIUE.  

Pacific's Broc Finstuen scored 12 points to lead all scorers. Jahbril Price-Noel scored 10.

"We're going to go back to work and I am going to rely on the history that we have on this team which is every day they have shown up after we have had a deflating situation prior," Barone said. "We're going to see how they respond tomorrow. It's going to be, put your head down, go back to work, and let's keep on working on things that we believe in."

SIUE continues its California road trip with a Friday game at UC Riverside.

"Moving forward we now have this experience and the next time things aren't going as well we can rely on this game and reflect upon how we reacted at Pacific," Barone said.