LIVE BLOG: FINAL - Illinois 85, The Citadel 57

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Welcome to State Farm Center where Illinois hosts an 8 p.m. tip against The Citadel, who is playing on back-to-back nights.

I'm LOOKING LIVE...at the State Farm Center media room in Champaign, Ill., as we're less than two hours from the opening tip.

NOTE: Please join us as we live-blog and discuss the Illini exhibition game here in our weekly Illini Gameday Open Thread. Dive into the conversation — it's easy — by simply going to the top right of the redesigned site and click the follow button.

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Game 5: The Citadel at Illinois

Date/Time/Place: Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2019: 8 p.m. CST, State Farm Center in Champaign, Ill.

Capacity: 16,618

Records: The Citadel 1-3; 12-18, 4-4 in Southern Conference in 2018-19. Illinois 3-1; 12-21, 7-13 in Big Ten Conference in 2018-19.

Line: Illinois by 27.5

Series Notes: The Citadel and Illinois have never met before on the hardwood.

TV: BTN - Kevin Kugler (PBP), Stephen Bardo (analyst)

Radio (Illinois): Brian Barnhart (PBP), Deon Thomas (analyst) - The broadcast can be heard live on TuneIn online radio, Sirius/XM 84 and at FightingIllini.com.

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Here are some noteworthy information on the Illini's opponent: The Citadel (1-3):

Before last night’s win at Southeast Missouri, The Citadel forward Hayden Brown scored in double figures, marking the third time in his career he has had a streak of at least three games with double-digit points. Brown had a stretch last season of four games in double figures that spanned Jan. 1-24. His 59 points scored and the average of 19.7 points per game in the stretch are the most of any three-game stretch in his career.

The 20 points for senior forward Kaelon Harris against SEMO were the most for him since he scored 23 in a Southern Conference game at Wofford during his freshman season on Jan. 2, 2017. It marked the fourth 20-point game of his career. The double-double was the third of Harris' career, and second of the season as he also had 16 points and 11 rebounds at Georgia on Nov. 12.

“The Kaelon Harris of his freshman year has been kind of MIA due to some injuries and maybe trying too hard at times, but tonight we got that Kaelon who was SoCon All-Freshman Team and had 30 points and nine rebounds at Arizona State. He had a good night of work,” The Citadel head coach Duggar Baucom said after the win at SEMO.

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Here is the rest of the Big Ten Conference’s lineup of non-conference games for tonight:

Stephen F. Austin (4-0) at Rutgers (3-1), 6 p.m. CST

Princeton (0-3) at Indiana (4-0), 6 p.m. CST - BTN

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6:40 p.m. UPDATE - Uniform update - Illinois will again be in orange jerseys tonight but will break out the old-school orange jerseys tonight with the "Fighting Illini" across the chest.

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7:30 p.m. UPDATE - Same starters for Illinois (Frazier, Dosunmu, Feliz, Giorgi and Kofi). The Citadel will not be starting leading scorer Hayden Brown, who reportedly suffered an injury in the win last night at SEMO. Brown, who is averaging 16.3 points per game, isn't dressed to play tonight.

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FIRST HALF

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MEDIA TO - 15:16 left in 1st - Illinois 8, The Citadel 3 - Illini have a major size advantage and already have six of their eight points in the paint. Illini going with a hockey-style line change of Da’Monte Williams, Alan Griffin, Kipper Nichols and Jermaine Hamlin.

MEDIA TO - 11:53 left in 1st - Illinois 11, The Citadel 7 - Illinois already has four offensive rebounds tonight but Williams and Griffin have one each. Illini are shooting 5 of 14 with two turnovers and still up four.

MEDIA TO - 7:59 left in 1st - Illinois 17, The Citadel 7 - Kofi Cockburn already has eight points and 11 rebounds in just eight minutes tonight. The Citadel is shooting 3 of 21 from the field and 1 of 12 from 3-point range.

THE CITADEL TO - 4:06 left in 1st - Illinois 28, The Citadel 10 - The Citadel is shooting 4 of 26 from the field. Ayo Dosunmu has four points in a row and despite not making a 3-pointer yet tonight, the Illini are on a 17-3 run over last 7:50.

HALFTIME - Illinois 34, The Citadel 20 - Another slow offensive start by the Illini is negated by The Citadel's drastic size disadvantage and their inability to make many perimeter shots at all. Cockburn leads Illini with eight points and 11 rebounds.

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SECOND HALF

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MEDIA TO - 15:38 left - Illinois 47, The Citadel 27 - Kofi Cockburn has his fourth double-double of the 2019-20 season. Illini center has 12 points and 14 rebounds in 16 minutes of action tonight. Illini going with mass subs again early in this half.

THE CITADEL TO - 11:15 left - Illinois 59, The Citadel 43 - A four-out, one in offense is still giving Giorgi problems. The Citadel have hit three 3-pointers in the last two minutes.

MEDIA TO - 6:59 left - Illinois 73, The Citadel 45 - Illinois is currently on a 14-2 run over the last 3:47. The Citadel leading scorer Kaelon Harris is 7 of 18 from the field but his friends are a combined 10 of 45.

FINAL - Illinois 85, The Citadel 57 - Illini center Kofi Cockburn broke the school's freshman rebounding record with 17 and also added 18 points. Deon Thomas, the man who owned that record before tonight, did color analyst work for the Illini Radio Network.