CHAMPAIGN, Ill., Nov. 24 (UPI) -- Two-time defending Big Ten Conference champion Illinois opened the season Sunday night with a convincing 90-56 victory over Lehigh.
Roger Powell scored 25 points to lead five players in double figures for the 25th-ranked Fighting Illini. Kyle Wilson added 14.
Illinois was without senior forward Brian Cook and junior guard Jerrance Howard, who are serving two-game suspensions for participating in an unapproved summer tournament.
Freshman guard Dee Brown, a McDonald's All-American, started and had 14 points in his college debut as Illinois showed no ill effects from losing all-Big Ten performers Frank Williams and Robert Archibald to the NBA.
Powell and James Augustine each had nine rebounds for Illinois, which opens the season with a four-game homestand.
Coming off Friday's 68-62 victory over Dartmouth, Lehigh got 18 points apiece from Matt Logie and Zlatko Savovic.
The Mountain Hawks and Billy Taylor, the youngest coach in Division I, were facing the Illini for the first time.
