Career Nights from Clark, Melendez Guide No. 16 Illinois Past Lindenwood

Highlights | Press Conference | Photo Gallery | Box Score (PDF) 

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Illinois returned to winning ways at State Farm Center on Friday night, taking down Lindenwood, 92-59, behind career nights from Skyy Clark and RJ Melendez.

Clark led the way with a career-high 19 points on 8-for-9 shooting (88.9%), while Melendez registered a career-best 17 points in the 33-point victory.

Terrence Shannon Jr. added 16 points, while Jayden Epps recorded 12 points off the bench.

The Illini defense made a season-high 16 steals in the win and out-rebounded the Lions, 38-22. 

The Illini offense got going early, with Melendez, Clark and Shannon Jr. all getting buckets to fall in the opening four minutes to jump out to a 14-9 lead.

A 17-2 Illinois run over a five-minute stretch pushed the host's lead to 23 points, with five different players scoring during that run.

Leading by as many as 26, the Illini went on short runs throughout the first half and ultimately took a 49-25 lead into the break. Melendez led all scorers with 15 points, a season-high for the Illini sophomore, while Clark added a career-high 13 in the opening frame.

Illinois opened the second half right where it left off, extending their lead to 35 via a 13-2 run. Shannon scored six points during that stretch, pushing him to double figures for the fifth time this season.

The Illini led by at least 30 in the final four minutes, moving the team to 5-1 on the season.

Illinois will welcome Syracuse to town in its next game on Tuesday night as part of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

HIGHLIGHTS 

PRESS CONFERENCE 

QUOTES

Brad Underwood
Opening Statement:
"I thought we verified a really good week of practice in some areas we needed to clean up coming out of Vegas. I thought the first half was really good, we knew this was a team who played fast, we knew this was a team that really shoots the ball, this was a team who could cause some potential matchup problems because of their lack of size. 

We spent a lot of time guarding the ball this week, which I think we did a solid job of doing, especially in the first half. We had a great week of practice offensively. Just moving and sharing the ball, which is why we shot so well in the first half. We had great ball movement, great touches.

It was really good to see RJ get going, he and I had a meeting and he responded in a really good way; he just showed up, buckled down and worked. I thought he was aggressive and didn't force things and it was really good to see. I thought Matt was great in the first half with ball movement, passing, rebounding – he had nine rebounds tonight. I am so happy to see his ball go in. He's been pressing, he's been trying so hard. He's been trying to find it, he's been shooting a million balls. It's just one of those things where it was great to see. He has had a great last two days shooting it."

RJ Melendez
On Skyy Clark growing into his role:
"He's a great point guard, he's changed so much since I saw him in the summer. He was the type of guy who was kind of shy but now he's getting a lot of confidence – from the scrimmage game to now, it's just a whole different Skyy. We're proud of him, he's come so far and he has a lot more to go."

On his improvement on rebounds:
"I did have a talk with Coach Underwood, and he did say I had to have more effort on the glass, so I just emphasized on that and just from putting in that effort and getting those defensive rebounds, it opened up the other side of the court and it opened up the game more for me as well."

Skyy Clark 
On balancing offense and defense: 
"As a point guard, you just have to learn how to run your team. That was one of the biggest things I had to learn coming into college. This team makes my job a lot easier because they're all great players, they all listen and they aren't any egos on the team. They also have the same mentality as me, which is to work hard." 

On Brad Underwood pushing the team:
"Coach pushes us on everything, even when we play a non-ranked team, he's still on us like it's a tight game and it's only going to make us a lot better. I feel like by the end of the year, the scenes are going to be really good."

POSTGAME NOTES

TEAM NOTES

• Illinois has won all four of its home games this season by at least 30 points.
• The Illini scored 26 points off of 22 Lions turnovers.
  • It is the third time this season Illinois has forced at least 22 turnovers in a game.
• Illinois scored 15 second-chance points off of their 11 offensive rebounds.
• The Illini outscored the Lions 48 to 34 point and 18 to 2 in transition.
• Illinois shot 58.1 percent from the field, its second-highest mark of the season.
  • It is the third time this season the Illini have shot better than 50 percent in a game.
• The Illini made 11 3-pointers in tonight's contest, the third time this campaign they have made at least 10 shots from behind the arc.
• The Illinois bench outscored Lindenwood 32 to 29.
  • Through six games this season, the Illini bench has outscored their opponents 195-111.

PLAYER NOTES

• Freshman Skyy Clark led the Illini with 19 points tonight, a career-high mark. He added a game-high four assists and grabbed three rebounds.
  • It's the third double-digit scoring effort from Clark this season.
• Sophomore RJ Melendez scored a career-high 17 points on 7-for-11 shooting, including going 2-for-5 from deep.
• Senior Terrence Shannon Jr. scored 16 points on 6-for-11 shooting. He also tallied three rebounds and assists.
  • Shannon Jr. has scored in double digits in five of six games this season, including at least 16 in four of six.
• Freshman Jayden Epps scored 12 points off of the bench. Epps has posted double-digit scoring efforts in four six games this season, all coming off of the bench.
• Fifth-year Matthew Mayer grabbed a game-high nine rebounds, a season-best.