Illini Offense Pushes Past UTRGV

CHAMPAIGN - In a game that seemed to be defense-optional for Illinois, the Fighting Illini scraped past Texas-Rio Grande Valley by a final score of 87-73. 

Illinois and UTRGV would open up the first half trading the lead back and forth as neither side could get the early edge. Big man Tomislav Ivisic would get the start for the Illini and knocked down one of the first of a mirage of triples for the Illinois offense. Tomi seemed to be a step quicker than he was in his appearance in the Alabama game and closer to 100% recovered from injury. The lead would be 19-18 in favor of Illinois before the orange and blue went on the attack. Mihailo Petrovic seemed to have what I would consider his “coming out” game as his triple with 4:43 to go in the first half and a dime to Andrej Stojakovic with 3:28 to go pushed the Illinois lead to 34-22, the biggest of the game up to that point. Illinois would possess a 42-31 lead at the halftime buzzer.

The second half did not open up in favor of the Illini. Rio Grande Valley would cut the lead to 44-38 within the first four minutes until freshman David Mirkovic converted back-to-back-and-one drives to the basket to push it to 50-38. The Vaqueros wouldn’t go down without a fight, as Illinois struggled to fight through screens and close out on shooters against a team that could shoot the ball at a high clip. Zvonimir Ivisic would connect on a 3-pointer to push the lead to 63-49 with 11:52 to go in the game. The Illini would lead 83-65 with 2:57 to go in the game, their biggest lead of the night. The Vaqueros would hit some triples and force a couple turnovers in the last couple of minutes, but it wasn’t enough as Illinois would prevail with the 87-73 victory.

“That was a good basketball team we played today,” said Illini head coach Brad Underwood. “That’s going to be a team that’s going to be very competitive in the Southland Conference. I thought they played harder than we did tonight. But hey, we found a way. Tonight we weren’t very sharp. Hats off to those guys (UTRGV) and now it’s on to another one on Friday.”

Stojakovic led all scorers with 24 points. Petrovic pitched in 12 points. Mirkovic, Tomi Ivisic, and Zvonimir Ivisic all chipped in 10 points apiece. The Vaqueros were paced by Kye Dickson with 21 points. Filip Brankovic added 15 points of his own.

Illinois is 6-1 on the season and will travel to Madison Square Garden on Black Friday to take on the UConn Huskies at 11:30am ET.