Dec. 5, 2005

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CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) - Freshman reserve Jamar Smith hit six 3-pointers and had 23 points Monday night to lift No. 11 Illinois to a 75-49 victory over Arkansas-Little Rock.

Smith was 8-of-10 from the field and had three assists and two steals. He scored seven points and had an assist during a 20-0 second-half run that broke the game open.

Illinois (8-0) had just seen Arkansas-Little Rock (3-3) run off seven straight points to cut its deficit to 41-39. After Dee Brown hit a free throw and Brian Randle a layup, Smith got a pass from Brown and hit a 3 that brought the crowd to its feet.

The next time down the floor, Smith sent an alley-oop pass that Randle dunked to put the Illini up 49-39. He scored five more points before leaving to a standing ovation with 1:48 left and Illinois on its way to its 25th straight win at the Assembly Hall.

James Augustine scored 12 points for Illinois. Randle and Warren Carter each added 11 points, and Brown had six points, 10 assists and five rebounds.

Lekheythan Malone scored 12 of his 17 points in the first half for Arkansas-Little Rock, but he spent much of the second half on the bench in foul trouble. Elijah Muldrow scored 10 points for the Trojans, a Sun Belt Conference team that was playing its second straight Big Ten opponent after losing to No. 14 Michigan State 72-67 on Saturday.

The Illini used a 10-0 run to take a 14-6 lead and led 20-12 after Randle put in a rebound with 7:48 to go in the first half. But the Trojans came back with a 9-3 run and closed within 27-26 with 2:22 to go on Muldrow's 3-pointer.

Illinois responded with a quick 3-pointer from Brown and pushed the lead back to six points before Zack Wright drove the length of the court in the final 3 seconds of the half to put in a layup at the buzzer to make it 32-28.