Clark, Melendez lead Illinois in rout of Lindenwood

CHAMPAIGN — Skyy Clark scored a career-high 19 factors, RJ Melendez had a career-high 17 and No. 16 Illinois cruised previous Lindenwood 92-59 on Friday evening.

“It’s actually good to see RJ get going,” Illinois coach Brad Underwood stated. “He and I had a gathering, and he responded in a extremely actually great way. He simply confirmed up, buckled down and labored. I believed he was aggressive, and but, didn’t pressure issues.”

Clark shot at an environment friendly 8-of-9 clip and went 3 of 4 from lengthy distance. 

“He was only a kind of man who was somewhat bit shy to take these kinds of pictures and all that, however he’s gained loads of confidence,” Melendez stated. “From the scrimmage versus Kansas to now, I see an entire totally different Skyy.”

Lindenwood (3-5) hit three of its first 4 pictures to take a 7-6 lead, nevertheless it was short-lived. Illinois (5-1) rapidly seized a 22-13 lead, beginning the sport 10 of 15 from the sector and capturing 63.6% within the first half.

Ahead Dain Dainja got here up with a steal within the lane and flipped the ball upcourt to Honest Harris, who dumped a behind-the-back move to Melendez for an emphatic dunk on the 12:45 mark. 

Melendez cleared his earlier profession excessive of 13 factors by the 4:07 mark of the primary half. He completed 7 of 11 for the evening and added 4 rebounds.

Ahead Keenon Cole led the Lions with 20 factors on 8-of-11 capturing.

“I believed we made some defensive errors (within the first half), and clearly their expertise nonetheless takes over and their capability to make you pay is so much better than some groups,” fourth-year Lindenwood coach Kyle Gerdeman stated. 

Freshman Jayden Epps had a pair of layups and Shannon drilled a 3 to cap a 22-4 run late within the half, and Illinois took a 49-25 lead into the break.

Illinois started the second half on a 13-2 run to take a 35-point lead, beginning on a vicious, one-handed dunk from Clark. Shannon stole the Lions’ inbound move and scored an and-one layup three seconds later.

THE TAKEAWAY

Lindenwood: The Lions don’t have any purpose to hold their heads after a buy-game loss on brief relaxation following Wednesday’s extra time win over Idaho State. Lindenwood additionally fared higher towards the Illini than in 2019, when the Lions have been on the receiving finish of a 52-point thrashing.

Illinois: Brad Underwood’s group appears to be like sharp after splitting a pair of ranked contests in Las Vegas and dominating a model new Division I program. No vacation hangover.

UP NEXT

Lindenwood: Hosts East-West College of the US Collegiate Athletic Affiliation on Wednesday evening.

Illinois: Struggling Syracuse visits Tuesday evening for an ACC/Huge Ten Problem matchup.