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National Basketball Association
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Illinois 80, Alabama St. 63
When: 8:00 PM ET, Friday, November 8, 2013
Where: State Farm Center, Champaign, Illinois
Officials: # Ed Hightower, # Ted Valentine, # Gerald Williams
Attendance: 15271

Illinois 80, Alabama State 63:
Rayvonte Rice collected 22 points and nine rebounds in his debut as the Fighting Illini coasted to a season-opening victory over the visiting Hornets.

Rice, who transferred from Drake, went 9-of-10 from the free-throw line. Joseph Bertrand added 14 points and eight boards and Nnanna Egwu recorded 10 and 10 as Illinois (1-0) dominated the glass 52-28 to help make up for 15 turnovers.

Jamel Waters, with 27 points, was the only player to reach double figures for Alabama State (0-1) which struggled on 34.8 percent shooting.

The Fighting Illini got 11 points from Rice and nine from Bertrand in the first half to cruise into the break with a 40-26 lead. Waters tried to bring the Hornets back by himself, but could not get the deficit under 13 points.

Tracy Abrams’ jumper with 10:09 left stretched the lead to 61-40, and Bertrand’s dunk just over three minutes later pushed it to 67-40 before Illinois began bringing in the reserves.

GAME NOTEBOOK: The Illini won their first 12 games last season. … Highly touted Illinois freshmen Kendrick Nunn and Malcolm Hill combined for nine points. … Waters went 9-for-17 from the field, including 4-for-5 from beyond the arc, as the only Alabama State player to shoot better than 50 percent.
Top Game Performances
 
Alabama St.   Illinois
Jamel Waters 27 Scoring Rayvonte Rice 22
Jamel Waters 5 Assists Tracy Abrams 3
Maurice Strong 9 Rebounds Nnanna Egwu 10
Jamel Waters 5 Free Throws Made Rayvonte Rice 9
Jamel Waters 2 Steals Jon Ekey 1
Tony Armstong 1 Blocks Nnanna Egwu 2
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
Alabama St. 63 34.8 9-21 8-13 8 27 3 8 7
Illinois 80 44.3 4-20 22-30 14 47 2 4 15