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Top 25 roundup: No. 22 Illinois crushes No. 9 Oregon

By Thomson Reuters Jan 3, 2025 | 1:36 AM

Ben Humrichous scored 14 of his 18 points in the second half Thursday night and No. 22 Illinois opened its first West Coast swing in the Big Ten Conference with a 109-77 beatdown of No. 9 Oregon in Eugene, Ore.

Humrichous, an Evansville transfer, sank four of the Fighting Illini’s 16 3-pointers. Teammate Tre White put up 20 points, 11 rebounds and four assists, while freshman Kasparas Jakucionis hit for 16 points and Arizona transfer Kylan Boswell added 15.

Illinois (10-3, 2-1 Big Ten) also got help from reserves Jake Davis (12 points) and Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn (11). The Illini sank 57.5 percent of their field-goal attempts and earned a 43-31 advantage on the boards.

Four players scored in double figures for the Ducks (12-2, 1-2), led by 20 points off the bench from Supreme Cook. Nate Bittle added 13, while Kwame Evans scored 11 points in a reserve role and TJ Bamba hit for 10.

No. 19 Gonzaga 81, Portland 50

Nolan Hickman scored 13 points and Michael Ajayi collected a season-high 15 rebounds as the Bulldogs cruised past the Pilots in Spokane, Wash.

Dusty Stromer scored a season-best 12 points as Gonzaga (11-4, 2-0 West Coast Conference) defeated Portland for the 19th straight time and 39th in the last 40 meetings.

Vincent Delano scored 12 points for the Pilots (5-11, 0-3), who lost their third consecutive game. Portland made just 33.3 percent of its shots and was 4 of 25 from behind the arc.

No. 20 Purdue 81, Minnesota 61

Fletcher Loyer scored 24 points on 8-for-10 shooting, including 4-for-6 from beyond the 3-point arc, to lead the Boilermakers past the Golden Gophers in Minneapolis.

Braden Smith registered 20 points, 10 assists and six rebounds for Purdue (10-4, 2-1), which won its second straight game after losing the previous two. Trey Kaufman-Renn had 17 points.

Dawson Garcia amassed 20 points and five rebounds for Minnesota (8-6, 0-3), and Lu’Cye Patterson contributed 14 points and eight rebounds.

No. 21 Memphis 90, Florida Atlantic 62

Tyrese Hunter scored a game-high 20 points, PJ Haggerty added 19 and the Tigers raced past the Owls in Boca Raton, Fla., in the American Athletic Conference opener for both teams.

Memphis (11-3, 1-0 AAC) kept Florida Atlantic at arm’s length in the first half before Dain Dainja took over after the break. He scored all 16 of his points in the second half and all after picking up his fourth foul with under 15 minutes remaining.

Kaleb Glenn paced the Owls (7-7, 0-1) with 12 points to go with seven rebounds. Florida Atlantic, playing for the first time in 12 days, shot just 5-for-31 (16.1 percent) from 3-point range, compared to the 10-of-18 clip (55.6 percent) by Memphis.

–Field Level Media