NCAA News Wire
Illinois 73, Hampton 55
Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry (print and digital media). A freelance writer/stay-at-home dad since 2008, Hawkins started his career with newspaper stints in Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Upstate New York and Illinois, where he earned the 2004 APSE first-place award for column writing (under 40,000 circulation). As a beat writer, he covered NASCAR Winston Cup events at NHIS (1999-2003), the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks (2003-06) and the NFL's Carolina Panthers (2011-12). Hawkins penned four youth sports books, including a Michael Jordan biography. Hawkins' main hobbies include mountain bike riding, 5k trail runs at the Whitewater Center in Charlotte, N.C., and live music.
All posts by Jeff HawkinsUpdated15 Oct 2021
Hampton struggled to make shots Wednesday night and never really had a shot to upset Illinois.
Converting only 34.8 percent of its field-goal attempts, the Pirates absorbed a 73-55 nonconference beating from the Fighting Illini at State Farm Center in Champaign, Ill.
Illinois (8-3) led wire-to-wire in snapping a two-game losing streak.
Illini guard Kendrick Nunn led all scorers with 16 points. Guard Rayvonte Rice added 12, and forward Nnanna Egwu supplied 10 points.
Forward Dwight Meikle and guard Deron Powers each scored 12 points for Hampton (4-6). Pirates forward Quentin Chievous contributed 10 to go along with a team-high eight rebounds.
The Fighting Illini led 37-25 at halftime, and the Pirates edged within 50-40 with 12:20 remaining on Meikle’s jumper. At that point, Illinois rattled off 15 straight points, capped by two free throws from forward Leron Black with 6:14 left, to basically end the game’s competitive phase.
Nunn sank four of the Fighting Illini’s nine 3-pointers. Illinois hit 42.9 percent from 3-point range and was excellent at the foul line, drilling 22 of 26.
Hampton trailed by as many as 26 points with 4:28 remaining before finishing the game with an 11-3 run. The Pirates made seven of 15 3-point tries (46.7 percent).
