CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) - Mark Smith had a career-high 21 points and Kipper Nichols tied his best with 16 to push Illinois past DePaul 82-73 on Friday night.
Illinois (3-0) made just 5 of 23 3-pointers and shot just 42 percent from the field and 21.7 percent from downtown but it wasn't because of Nichols. Coming off the bench, he nailed two of his three attempts from behind the arc in the Illini's first meeting with the Blue Demons (1-2) in 60 years.
The Blue Demons hung with the Illini all game, but were never quite able to get over the hump. DePaul led for just 3 minutes and 44 seconds.
Led by freshman Justin Roberts - who scored a career-high 19 points - DePaul went on an 11-2 run to close within 49-47 with 14 minutes to play. But the Illini responded with a 9-2 run of their own, highlighted by an and-one layup and right hand jam from Nichols, who scored the last seven in the surge.
DePaul shot just 32 percent in the second half and Tre'Darius McCallum - the Blue Demons' leading scorer - was held scoreless in 22 minutes.
Aaron Jordan had another strong outing off the bench. He scored seven points on 2-of-4 shooting and led Illinois with nine rebounds.
Up next, the Illini continue their home stand Sunday against Marshall.Â
TEAM NOTES
• Illinois is 3-0 for the second straight season.
• Brad Underwood won his first three games as Illinois' head coach. Underwood is 112-27 (.805) in his career as a head coach. He is the 18th head coach of Illinois men's basketball.
• With the win, Illinois proves to 13-6 all-time against DePaul and has won six straight in the series.Â
• It was the first meeting between Illinois and DePaul in 60 years, since a 75-70 Illini victory over the Blue Demons at Huff Gym on Dec. 7, 1957.
• Tonight's game was part of the Gavitt Tipoff Games, a unique early-season series played between the Big Ten and Big East conferences and named in honor of Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer Dave Gavitt (entering tonight, the Big East led the games 4-3. Tonight is the final Gavitt Tipoff game)
• Illinois forced DePaul to a season-high 17 turnovers. DePaul's previous season-high was 11, against Delaware State on November 13.Â
• Illinois recorded a season-best 19 offensive rebounds. That marks the most since Illinois grabbed 25 offensive boards against No. 4 Wisconsin on January 8, 2014.Â
• Illinois led for 33:30.
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
• Freshman G Mark Smith posted a career-high 21 points on the night, good for his second consecutive double-figure scoring game. He led all scorers with 14 first-half points, surpassing his previous career-best of 13 points, which he scored in Illinois' last game against UT Martin.Â
• Smith's 20-point performance marks the first for an Illini freshman since Jalen Coleman-Lands put up 21 points against Indiana on February 16, 2016. Smith was 4-of-10 from the floor and a perfect 12-for-12 from the free-throw line to lead all scorers.
• Redshirt junior F Michael Finke recorded a career-best three blocked shots. He matched his previous career high (vs. Central Michigan, 12/10/16) with two of the game's three total first-half rejections.
• Junior G Aaron Jordan recorded two steals in the first half to match his career-best for the fourth time. He last swiped two steals against Winthrop on November 21, 2016. Â
• Jordan also grabbed a career-high nine rebounds, besting his previous career-high of five, which he recorded against UT Martin on November 12.Â
• Redshirt sophomore F Kipper Nichols matched his career-high with 16 points. Nichols was 6-of-11 from the floor and 2-of-3 from three-point range. He also scored 16 against Minnesota on February 4.Â
