National Basketball Association
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Miami-Florida 70, Illinois 61
When: 9:00 PM ET, Tuesday, December 2, 2014
Where: BankUnited Center, Coral Gables, Florida
Officials: # Bill Covington, # Mike Eades, # Sean Hull
Attendance: 6086

No. 15 Miami (Fla.) 70, No. 25 Illinois 61: Freshman Deandre Burnett poured in a season-high 19 points as the Hurricanes held off the visiting Fighting Illini in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

Manu Lecomte contributed 15 points and Sheldon McClellan chipped in with 14 to go along with nine rebounds for Miami (8-0), which turned the ball over a season-low five times. Angel Rodriguez had nine points, five assists and three steals while Tonye Jekiri scored six and grabbed nine rebounds for the Hurricanes.

Rayvonte Rice led the way with 22 points and 12 rebounds for Illinois (6-1), which came in averaging 90 points and shot 33.3 percent from the field. Malcolm Hill recorded 13 points while Nnanna Egwu added eight points and nine rebounds for the Illini.

Burnett scored 12 in the first half, including a pair of 3-pointers, as Miami recorded 10 of the final 12 points to take a 37-24 lead at intermission. Illinois responded by registering the first 10 points of the second half, capped by a layup and a three-point play by Rice, to pull within three.

The Hurricanes built the lead back to 10 before Kendrick Nunn scored eight straight points, including two 3-pointers, as the Illini crept within 48-46. Omar Sherman made a 3-pointer to ignite a 10-2 run to push the lead to 12 and Illinois could not get closer than six after that as Jekiri converted a big rebound basket with 2:48 to go.

GAME NOTEBOOK: The Hurricanes went 9-of-30 from 3-point range and have drained at least six from behind the arc in every game this season. … Illinois had only seven assists on 23 made field goals. … Miami improved to 3-5 in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge and Illinois is 7-9 while the Hurricanes have won two of three in the all-time series.

Top Game Performances
 
Illinois   Miami-Florida
Rayvonte Rice 22 Scoring Deandre Burnett 19
Malcolm Hill 3 Assists Angel Rodriguez 5
Rayvonte Rice 12 Rebounds Tonye Jekiri 9
Rayvonte Rice 4 Free Throws Made Manu Lecomte 5
Kendrick Nunn 1 Steals Angel Rodriguez 3
Nnanna Egwu 1 Blocks Tonye Jekiri 2
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
Illinois 61 33.3 7-30 8-12 7 39 1 1 7
Miami-Florida 70 37.9 9-30 17-21 12 38 3 4 5