National Basketball Association
Illinois 64, Valparaiso 52
When: 7:30 PM ET, Wednesday, November 13, 2013
Where: State Farm Center, Champaign, Illinois
Officials:
# Pat Driscoll, # Bill Ek, # Mike Sanzere
Attendance:
13504
By SportsDirect Inc.
Illinois 64, Valparaiso 52: Rayvonte Rice scored 18 points and grabbed eight rebounds as the Fighting Illini held off the visiting Crusaders.
Joseph Bertrand added 14 points and six rebounds for Illinois (3-0), which never trailed. Tracy Abrams chipped in with 12 points to hand the Fighting Illini their 25th straight home victory against non-conference opponents.
Jordan Coleman led the way with 15 points while LaVonte Dority scored 12 for Valparaiso (1-2), which fell to 0-6 all-time against the Fighting Illini. Alec Peters, who was named the Horizon League Freshman of the Week, recorded seven points and three rebounds.
Illinois jumped out to a 13-5 lead after hitting three of its first four attempts from beyond the arc before Valparaiso cut the deficit to two following Peters' layup with 6:59 left in the first half. The Fighting Illini made just 10 field goals, but took a 33-25 advantage into the break after Jon Ekey hit a 3-pointer with one second left in the half.
Abrams extended Illinois' lead to 10 midway through the second half but the Fighting Illini couldn't shake Valparaiso, which made it 49-47 with 6:43 to go. That's as close as the Crusaders would come as Illinois used a 15-5 spurt down the stretch to put it away.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Ekey grabbed a game-high 15 rebounds to go along with six points. … Valparaiso shot 33.3 percent from the field in the first half … The Fighting Illini had a 49-36 advantage over the Crusaders on the glass.
Top Game Performances
| Valparaiso |
|
Illinois |
|
Jordan Coleman 15 |
Scoring |
Rayvonte Rice 18 |
|
Jordan Coleman 2 |
Assists |
Tracy Abrams 4 |
|
Jordan Coleman 8 |
Rebounds |
Jon Ekey 15 |
|
Jordan Coleman 5 |
Free Throws Made |
Tracy Abrams 4 |
|
Moussa Gueye 2 |
Steals |
Tracy Abrams 2 |
|
Moussa Gueye 3 |
Blocks |
Nnanna Egwu 3 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
| Valparaiso
|
52 |
32.7 |
7-18 |
11-20 |
7 |
31 |
5 |
4 |
12 |
| Illinois
|
64 |
31.8 |
5-18 |
17-23 |
9 |
42 |
8 |
3 |
8 |