Beat writer Scott Richey’s breakdown of the Illini’s 112-67 victory over Eastern Illinois on Monday:

player of the game

Illinois forward Will Riley

Is it an exaggeration to say that Riley has put together one of the best halves of Illinois basketball ever? Just a little. The Illini freshman was virtually unstoppable in the final 20 minutes of Monday’s season opener against Eastern Illinois, managing to bring the State Farm Center crowd to its feet — and a very respectable roar — even in the midst of a blowout. Riley made all four of her 3-pointers in the second half and scored 26 of her game-high 31 points after halftime, also adding seven rebounds and three assists. A pretty impressive official debut.

backcourt

Illinois:A

Eastern Illinois: C+

Riley, who is not a power forward, wasn’t alone in getting his way offensively against EIU. Illinois’ first half leader Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn and Kasparas Jakucionis finished in double figures. The only thing that affected the Illinois guards were turnovers, with Boswell and Jakucionis struggling to get seven of the Illini’s 13 total giveaways. EIU’s duo of Nakyel Shelton and Artese Stapleton led the Panthers with 27 points.

front court

Illinois:A

Eastern Illinois 😀

The undersized EIU’s Tomislav Ivisic and Morez Johnson Jr. from Illinois. It was inevitable that he would have problems. The former is a 6-foot-10 versatile weapon, while the latter has 6-9 physical strength. That’s how Monday night went. Ivisic had his first double-double of the season and Johnson shined defensively in the post as the Illini increased their rebounding advantage to plus-30.

Bench

Illinois:A

Eastern Illinois 😀

Riley and Gibbs-Lawhorn coming off the bench to lead Illinois in scoring certainly boosted the group’s performance as the Illini took a 63-19 advantage off the bench. While the ever-growing Illinois lead could allow Brad Underwood to clear the bench late in the game, it looks like a nine-man rotation could be the standard early on with Ty Rodgers electing to redshirt this season.

Comprehensive

Illinois:A

Eastern Illinois: D+

Underwood got the best of both worlds in her win Monday night. His team was able to gain confidence with a big start to the season, and there were enough things he didn’t like (mostly with the Panthers hanging around) that he would do a lot of talking in practice ahead of the Illini run. We came out again on Friday against SIU-Edwardsville. Not having anything to examine is the antithesis of every coach’s existence.