By IlliniGuys Staff

October 27, 2024

OXFORD, Miss. - Illini men's basketball coach Brad Underwood wanted Sunday's trip to Ole Miss to serve a litmus test.

He has lots to work on before the regular season opener a week from Monday against Eastern Illinois.

Illinois was never in control as the Rebels jumped out to a 20-9 lead in the first five minutes on their way to a 91-74 exhibition win on their home floor. Ole Miss drained 12-0f-23 from the three-point arc and forced the Illini into 22 turnovers.

Dravyn Gibbs-Lawhorn, one of two holdovers from last year's Big Ten tournament champion and NCAA Elite Eight participant, was the most consistent Illini with a team-high 15 points, including 3-of-6 shooting on three-point attempts. Freshmen Kasparas Jakucionis and Tomislav Ivisic added 12 each in their Illinois debut.

Ivisic was impressive in his 24 minutes, hitting all but one of his six shots and stepping outside to drain a pair of threes late in the game. The 7-foot-1 center has yet to get the go-ahead from the NCAA Clearinghouse, but school officials remain hopeful that will happen soon.

Jakucionis seemed to struggle with the Rebels' physicality, as he shot 3-of-9 from the field with six rebounds and five assists, but committed four turnovers. His 5-for-5 effort at the free throw line saved an otherwise dismal day at the charity stripe as Illinois hit just 10-of-19 of their attempts.

Junior transfers Kylan Boswell and Tre White scored nine points each while freshmen Morez Johnson Jr. and Will Riley added seven each as the Illini played nine players at least 14 minutes in trying to put together a cohesive lineup featuring 10 newcomers.

Malik Dia scored a game-high 18 points for Ole Miss, which saw an attendance of 7.023 for the 11 a.m. tipoff game to reach money for CASA of Mississippi.

Illinois will get plenty of practice playing SEC schools with four of them - Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Missouri - all on the schedule before the end of December.