CHAMPAIGN — Kylan Boswell scored a career-high 31 points and had 10 rebounds as No. 17 Illinois beat Florida Gulf Coast 113-70 on Friday night for its second blowout win to start the season.
Zvonimir Ivišić had 16 points, nine rebounds and seven blocked shots for the Illini (2-0), who beat Jackson State by 63 points in their opener, also scoring 113 points.
Keaton Wagler had 22 points and seven rebounds and David Mirković had 17 points and 11 rebounds for Illinois.
J.R. Konieczny led Florida Gulf Coast with 26 points. The Eagles (1-1) shot 33% from the floor — they missed their first 12 shots — and were outrebounded 51-30.
Illinois made 20 of 21 free throws in the first half and led 5…
CHAMPAIGN — Kylan Boswell scored a career-high 31 points and had 10 rebounds as No. 17 Illinois beat Florida Gulf Coast 113-70 on Friday night for its second blowout win to start the season.
Zvonimir Ivišić had 16 points, nine rebounds and seven blocked shots for the Illini (2-0), who beat Jackson State by 63 points in their opener, also scoring 113 points.
Keaton Wagler had 22 points and seven rebounds and David Mirković had 17 points and 11 rebounds for Illinois.
J.R. Konieczny led Florida Gulf Coast with 26 points. The Eagles (1-1) shot 33% from the floor — they missed their first 12 shots — and were outrebounded 51-30.
Illinois made 20 of 21 free throws in the first half and led 59-27 at intermission. The Illini finished 30 of 34 at the line.
Illinois big man Tomislav Ivišić, who averaged 13 points and nearly eight rebounds a game last season, joined the Illini’s lengthy injured list. Brandon Lee, Ty Rodgers and Mihailo Petrović remain out.
While this was the first meeting between the schools, the Illini were familiar with fourth-year Eagles coach Pat Chambers. He went 7-5 against them during the nine seasons (2011-20) when he was the coach at Big Ten rival Penn State.
Florida Gulf Coast social media star Brandon Dwyer didn’t get into the game, even though Illinois students were calling for him.
Dwyer, a graduate student whose “Road to One Point” personal and basketball posts have earned him nearly two million followers on TikTok and Instagram, finally scored his first collegiate points in five years in the Eagles’ opening win over New College of Florida.
Up next
- Illinois: Home on Tuesday vs. No. 10 Texas Tech.
- Florida Gulf Coast: Home on Tuesday vs. Georgia Southern.