Ben Humrichous scored 14 of his 18 points in the second half Thursday night and No. 22 Illinois opened its first West Coast swing in the Big Ten Conference with a 109-77 beatdown of ninth-ranked Oregon in Eugene.
Humrichous, an Evansville transfer, sank four of the Fighting Illini’s 16 3-pointers. Teammate Tre White stuffed the stat sheet with 20 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and two blocks, while freshman Kasparas Jakucionis hit for 16 points and Arizona transfer Kylan Boswell added 15.
Illinois (10-3, 2-1 Big Ten) also got help in the first half from reserves Jake Davis (12 points) and Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn (11). In bagging their third straight impressive win since a two-point loss last month against No. 1 Tennessee, the Illini sank 57.5 percent of their field-goal attempts and earned a 43-31 advantage on the boards.
Four players scored in double figures for the Ducks (12-2, 1-2), led by 20 points off the bench from Supreme Cook. Nate Bittle added 13, while Kwame Evans scored 11 points in a reserve role and TJ Bamba hit for 10.
Oregon wasn’t bad on offense, committing just 10 turnovers, but simply couldn’t keep up with Illinois’ blistering shooting.
The Illini wasted no time expanding their seven-point halftime lead, converting 24 of 34 field goals in the second half and reaching the 100-point mark via two foul shots by Jakucionis with 3:37 remaining.
In the night’s only matchup of Top 25 teams, it took Illinois a few minutes to get going. It didn’t score until Humrichous hit a short jumper at the 16:45 mark and trailed 7-2 before hitting Oregon with a 12-0 run. Gibbs-Lawhorn capped that burst with a driving layup with 13:10 left.
Davis drained a 3-pointer with 7:17 left in the half to put the Illini up by 29-18, their first double-figure lead of the night. The margin reached 11 on two occasions later in the half before the Ducks cut the deficit to 45-38 at the break.
–Field Level Media
