Illinois 81, Auburn 62: Rayvonte Rice scored 22 points to help the hot-shooting Illini to the non-conference win against the Tigers in a game played at Philips Arena in Atlanta.

Illinois (8-1) hit a season-high 61.5 percent from the field, led by Rice's 8-for-12 effort. Tracy Abrams added 17 points, seven rebounds and five assists while Jon Ekey pitched in with 14 points, including hitting 4-of-6 from 3-point range.

K.T. Harrell paced Auburn (4-3) with 23 points, while Tahj Shamsid-Deen added 13. Chris Denson, who entered the game as the SEC's leading scorer at 21.8 points per game, was held to a season-low eight points on 3-of-7 shooting for the Tigers.

Illinois gradually pulled away in the first half, thanks in large part to its defense. It was an eight-point game with just over 13 minutes to play, but Auburn scored just eight points the rest of the half to fall behind by 24 at halftime thanks to Abrams' 3-pointer at the buzzer.

It was more of the same in the second half as the Illini continued their hot shooting, upping the advantage to 30 just over three minutes into the stanza. The Tigers put up a little bit of a fight, going on a 21-8 run in the closing minutes, but they never put any serious doubt into the outcome.

GAME NOTEBOOK: The Illini set a season high for 3-pointers, hitting 12-of-23. … Auburn entered the game averaging 4.6 blocks a contest, but had just one against Illinois. … The game was the second straight in Atlanta for the Illini, who lost at Georgia Tech on Tuesday.