College basketball: Northwestern, Illinois win while UIC nearly pulls off a stunner
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Illinois and Northwestern took home easy wins Friday night, while UIC nearly pulled off a road win over a Pac-12 squad.
Nick Martinelli scores 20, extends point streak in Northwestern's 76-52 win over Boston University
EVANSTON, Ill. — Nick Martinelli scored 20 points, and Jayden Reid added another 17 in a 76-52 win for Northwestern over Boston University on Friday night.
Martinelli also led the Wildcats (2-0) with nine rebounds and shot 7 for 12 from field-goal range. Martinelli has scored 15 or more points in 20 straight games, the longest streak of any player in the Power 4 conferences.
Reid, who transferred to Northwestern from the University of South Florida, led the Wildcats with eight assists.
Northwestern went on an 11-0 run in the middle of the first half to jump ahead 19-4 with just over 10 minutes left.
The Terriers (1-1) ended the run off a 3-point bucket by Michael McNair. McNair led Boston with a double-double, scoring 20 points with 10 boards. Boston's turnovers proved to be costly, committing 14 for 18 Wildcat points.
Kylan Boswell scores 31, No. 17 Illinois beats Florida Gulf Coast 113-70 in another blowout win
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — 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.
Zvonomir Ivisic 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 Mirkovic 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 halftime. The Illini finished 30 of 34 at the line.
Illinois big man Tomislav Ivisic, 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 Petrovic remain out.
While this was the first meeting between Illinois and Florida Gulf Coast, 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 game win over New College of Florida.
Up next
Illinois: Home on Tuesday vs. No. 10 Texas Tech.
Oregon State holds off UIC 76-73
CORVALLIS, Ore. — Josiah Lake's 22 points helped Oregon State defeat UIC 76-73 on Friday.
Lake had eight rebounds and three steals for the Beavers (2-0). Matija Samar scored 11 points while going 2 of 8 from the floor, including 1 for 6 from 3-point range, and 6 for 6 from the line and added six rebounds and six assists. Johan Munch finished 4 of 8 from the field to finish with nine points, while adding 10 rebounds.
The Flames (1-1) were led by Ahmad Henderson II, who recorded 18 points and seven steals. Jayce Nathaniel added 16 points, seven rebounds and two steals for UIC. Andy Johnson also had 15 points.
Oregon State went into halftime ahead of UIC 42-37. Lake scored 10 points in the half. Jorge Diaz Graham's jump shot with 2:43 left in the second half gave Oregon State the lead for good at 69-68.
Gunn scores 28 as DePaul knocks off Stonehill 72-64
CJ Gunn had 28 points to power DePaul 72-64 over Stonehill on Friday.
Gunn had six rebounds and three steals for the Blue Demons (2-0). NJ Benson added 16 points while going 7 of 10 with 10 rebounds and six blocks.
The Skyhawks (1-1) were led by Hermann Koffi's 27 points on 10-of-16 shooting. Chas Stinson added 14 points for Stonehill. Raymond Espinal-Guzman finished with nine points, 10 rebounds, seven assists, two steals and two blocks.
A 6-point lead turned into a 25-point advantage for DePaul in the first half thanks to a 21-2 scoring run. Gunn scored 15 points before the break to build a 37-24 halftime advantage.
DePaul used an 11-2 second-half run to come back from a two-point deficit and take the lead at 64-57 with 2:39 remaining in the half before finishing off the victory. Gunn scored 13 second-half points.