Champaign, Illinois: No. 3 Illinois Sets Program Records in 120-45 Rout of Fairleigh Dickinson

No. 3 Illinois opened its season on Monday night with the most lopsided win in program history, beating Fairleigh Dickinson 120-45 at the State Farm Center in Champaign. The Illini made a program record 19 three-pointers, outrebounded the Knights 65-21 and led 67-20 at halftime.

A record night

Andrej Stojakovic and Stefan Vaaks scored 20 points each for Illinois. Stojakovic made 9 of 11 shots and scored his 20 points in 20 minutes. Vaaks, a transfer from Providence, hit five three-pointers and scored 20 points in 19 minutes in his Illinois debut.

Six Illini scored in double figures. Quentin Coleman had 13 points and 10 rebounds, Ethan Brown added 12 points and nine rebounds, and Zavier Zens also finished with 12 points, each of them in his first college game. Tomislav Ivisic scored 10 points. Illinois attempted 51 three-pointers, and Landon Davis made the record 19th three with 1:37 left, pushing the score to 118-45.

The 75-point margin passed the old program record of 69 points, set against Chicago State in 1993, and it was the largest margin Illinois has ever recorded at the State Farm Center, which opened in 1963. The Illini finished seven points short of the school record for points in a game, set against LSU in 1988.

A short-handed roster

Illinois did all of it without two regulars. The Illini played without David Mirkovic, an Associated Press preseason first-team All-American, who had an appendectomy on Saturday, Oct. 31 and is out indefinitely. Mirkovic, a 6-foot-9 sophomore forward, is also recovering from foot surgery in early August. Lincoln Williams also sat out the game, and the injured list grew during it when Jake Davis hurt his shoulder midway through the first half and did not return.

The game was decided in the first half. Illinois opened on an 11-0 run and put together three runs of 10 or more unanswered points, including a 24-0 run late in the half during which Fairleigh Dickinson called its final timeout. The two teams attempted a combined 48 three-pointers in the first half, with Illinois going 12 of 31 and the Knights 1 of 17.

The other side

David Jevtic led Fairleigh Dickinson with 13 points. The Knights shot 28 percent from the field, making 17 of 61 shots, and fell to 0-1. Fairleigh Dickinson finished 11-21 last season and has posted three straight losing seasons since it upset No. 1 seed Purdue as a No. 16 seed in the 2023 NCAA Tournament.

Illinois improved to 108-14 in season openers and has won 10 straight openers since Brad Underwood's first season as coach in 2017. Fairleigh Dickinson plays at Butler on Wednesday. Illinois hosts Penn on Thursday, Nov. 5.