COLLEGE BASKETBALL ROUNDUP : Gill Leads Illinois Past Mississippi, 83-72

Kendall Gill scored 23 points and Marcus Liberty added 16 as eighth-ranked Illinois opened its season with an impressive road show Tuesday night, whipping Mississippi at Oxford, Miss., 83-72.

After 15 minutes of close basketball, the Illini, the first Big Ten team ever to play on the Oxford campus, went on a 12-2 run to take a 41-32 halftime lead, never trailed in the second half and led by 20 points at one stage.

Freshman Joe Harvell led the Rebels with 23 points and senior Gerald Glass added 20 for Mississippi, which lost its second consecutive game.

In other nonconference games:

Indiana 79, Kent State 68--Freshman Greg Graham scored 22 points and No. 14 Indiana held off Kent State by making 17 of 19 free throws in the second half at Bloomington, Ind.

The Hoosiers (2-0) made 25 of 29 free throws.

Indiana’s sharpshooting from the line stopped a Kent State squad that came back from a 17-point deficit to pull within four with 6:22 to play.

Temple 55, Penn 54--Heavily favored Temple shut out Pennsylvania for the final 1:40 and the 16th-ranked Owls squeezed by their city rival in Philadelphia.

Penn’s Paul Chambers sank a jump shot with 1:40 remaining to make it 55-54, but the Quakers then missed several scoring opportunities.

Pittsburgh 101, Siena 89--The 18th-ranked Panthers, opening the season at home, avenged last season’s surprising loss to the Saints.

Brian Shorter led Pittsburgh with 29 points but Darelle Porter, subbing for the injured Sean Miller at point guard, had 21, as did Bobby Martin.

Pitt went on a 9-2 run to turn a three-point edge into a 48-38 lead late in the first half, then increased the margin to 14 on Shorter’s breakaway dunk to start the second half.

Notre Dame 84, San Francisco 64--Keith Robinson scored 26 points and led two key runs for the No. 19 Fighting Irish at South Bend, Ind.

USF (1-1) trailed 33-27 with 5:19 left in the first half before Notre Dame, playing its season opener, scored 12 consecutive points.

Notre Dame led at halftime, 48-29, but the Dons scored nine of the first 10 points in the second half, including seven by Joel DeBartoli, who finished with 17.

The Irish responded with another 12-point run to boost the lead to 61-38 with 13:41 remaining.

Georgia Tech 87, Richmond 74--Dennis Scott scored 30 points and freshman standout Kenny Anderson added 24, nine assists and five steals to lead No. 21 Georgia Tech at Atlanta.

Tech (2-0) squandered leads of nine and 14 points before finally putting the Spiders away. Richmond fell to 0-2.

Memphis State 91, Wyoming 75--Elliot Perry scored 24 points and had eight steals for 22nd-ranked Memphis State in a ragged game at Memphis. There were 46 turnovers and 59 fouls.

Oklahoma State 94, North Texas 66--Royce Jefferies scored 21 points as 23rd-ranked Oklahoma State, playing without leading scorer Richard Dumas, opened its season at Denton, Tex. Dumas was serving a one-game suspension because he missed a team curfew.

Nevada Reno 70, Santa Clara 69--Jon Baer drove for a layup with 12 seconds left, lifting the Wolf Pack to its victory at Reno.

Santa Clara had a 56-44 lead with 12:50 remaining but Kevin Franklin sparked Reno’s comeback with 11 points. He finished with 26.

Minnesota 85, Chicago State 62--Minnesota had five players in double figures in the season opener at Minneapolis. The Gophers outscored Chicago State, 10-2, at the start of the second half, breaking open the game.

Iowa 68, Drake 54--James Moses scored 18 points and Les Jepsen added 14 Tuesday to lead the Hawkeyes at Iowa City. The victory was Iowa’s 11th straight over the Bulldogs.

Clemson 71, The Citadel 54--Forward Dale Davis scored 17 of his 19 points in the second half as Clemson pulled away from a 24-22 lead in the second half at Charleston, S.C. Davis also pulled down 12 rebounds. The victory boosted Clemson’s record to 3-1.

Kentucky 76, Ohio University 73--Rick Pitino won in his debut as coach of the Wildcats at Lexington, Ky.

Kentucky opened a 48-32 lead on Jeff Brassow’s tip-in with 17:23 remaining in the game, but Ohio (1-1) battled back on Dave Jamerson’s outside shooting.

Jamerson, who scored 19 of his game-high 30 points in the second half, got 12 of them in a 22-8 run that trimmed Kentucky’s advantage to 56-54 with 10:18 left to play. Jamerson made two three-pointers in the spurt.

Reggie Hanson scored 24 for Kentucky.

Virginia 87, Samford 61--John Crotty scored a career-high 26 points and Bryant Stith powered a first-half Virginia surge at Charlottesville, Va.

Crotty, a junior point guard, sank four three-point shots and Kenny Turner, a junior forward, made all nine of his shots as the Cavaliers improved to 3-0. Stith added 18 points. Wisconsin 81, North Dakota State 55--Willie Simms scored 20 points and Danny Jones added 18 for the Badgers at Madison, Wis.