The Illinois basketball team was able to get their fourth win of the season on Saturday with a pummeling of the East Tennessee State Buccaneers.
This game started well for the Illini and didn’t really change from there. ETSU started with a dunk but that is the only lead they would have. Kipper Nichols started the scoring for the Illini with a three-pointer to take a 3-2 lead. That would be the last time the Illini would have to sweat having the lead.
Illinois went on a 12-0 run to bring the score to 12-2 before ETSU made a few free throws. ETSU was able to get to the free throw line again and brought the score back to 15-5 in favor of the Illini. That is when Illinois went on another big run. The Illini rambled off 14 points in a row to increase their lead to 29-5 with 9:24 left in the half. Illinois was able to get the lead up to 30 points, but ETSU got the score back to 43-18 at halftime.
ETSU fought hard in the second half of the game. Illinois had a 25-point lead at halftime but that narrowed down. ETSU was able to get the lead down 18 points less than three minutes into the second half. A few big three-pointers by Da’Monte Williams and Trent Frazier helped get the lead back up, though.
I really didn’t sweat this game even when ETSU would go on a run. Illinois played well and finished with a 73-55 win over the Buccaneers.
Here are five observations from the Illini win over ETSU.