• Recap
• Bleachers

Illinois starts Big Ten slate with win over Iowa

Dec 30, 2010 - 7:05 AM Iowa City, IA (Sports Network) - Demetri McCamey scored 20 points with 10 assists and No. 23 Illinois opened its Big Ten schedule by shooting the lights out in an 87-77 win over Iowa.

D.J. Richardson added 17 points and Mike Davis had 15, helping the Illini (11-3, 1-0 Big Ten) bounce back from consecutive losses to Illinois-Chicago and Missouri.

Matt Gatens scored 21 points and Bryce Cartwright had 13 but Iowa (7-6, 0-1) will have to wait at least one more game to record its 700th win in the conference.

Illinois finished with five scorers in double digits -- Bill Cole had 14 and Jereme Richmond 12 -- and it did most of its damage from three-point range.

The Illini made 13 of their 18 attempts from beyond the arc, including seven in a row to start the game on the way to building an early 13-point lead.

They went ahead by as many as 14 and led by 12 at halftime.

Illinois finished the game 32-of-48 from the field overall (67 percent) and were 10-of-13 from the foul line. Iowa shot 47 percent from the floor and made nine of its 24 three-point attempts (38 percent).

"It's tough, especially when it's on your home court," Iowa's Jarryd Cole said of the hot-shooting Illini. "You feel like you are supposed to have the advantage, but it seemed like everything was going their way."

The Illini advantage ballooned to 19 points early in the second half when McCamey's layup made it 58-39. But the game didn't turn into a rout. Iowa clawed back to within six points on a Roy Devyn Marble layup with 8:21 remaining.

Illinois countered with five straight points from McCamey, a jumper and a three, to pull in front by 11. The Hawkeyes were never closer than eight the rest of the way.

Game Notes

Illinois extended its lead in the all-time series to 79-66...Iowa fell to 699-705 all time in Big Ten play.