When the No. 5 Illini tripped around the zone defense of a Division-II team, head coach Bruce Weber told them to look for the open outside shot.

In doing so, he set the tone for Saturday’s game, in which Illinois would eventually defeat Lewis 92-61 at Assembly Hall.

“(Before the game) we emphasized so much that they were going to sag back in and not to shoot quick threes, so we hesitated a little bit,” Weber said. “…Then I just said, if you’ve got open threes, just shoot them, but it’s got to be within the rhythm of the offense.”

The guard-heavy Flyers, whose tallest players topped out at 6’7″, kept a strong presence in the game through the first 10 minutes. Running a zone defense in hopes of keeping the Illini in check, the Flyers stayed neck-and-neck with Illinois until guards Dee Brown, Luther Head and Deron Williams combined for a stack of seven three-pointers in the second 10 minutes of the first half.

“We knew that to give ourselves a chance even to be competitive, we had to play a zone,” said Lewis head coach Kyle Green. “…(Illinois) will see a lot of zone early in the year just because that’s what everybody does when you’re trying to beat somebody.”

Lewis may have accomplished its goals in its third exhibition game against a much more powerful opponent, but Illinois learned that it is not as strong a team as it will need to be in the regular season.

“I think it’s good going against a different system, in this case packing it in, now you’ve got to adjust to it,” Weber said. “In practice we’re so aggressive it’s easy to screen, now your screening angles are different. They went zone, I like that; we’re so bad at zone.”

Illinois was also reminded of its constant struggle at the free throw line, where it was 9-14.

“We didn’t get that many free throws last year, and we’re the only ones – I think in all the exhibition games if you watch stats – we’re about the only one that’s the home team, the Division-I team, that’s shooting less free throws than the Division-II team, so we’re getting screwed at home,” Weber said. “Some of it is the way we play, we’re so dependent on the perimeter game, we’ve got to get some free throws.”

Illinois made 50.7 percent of its shots against Lewis, including 13-of-31 from outside the three-point arc – which had been pushed back to the distance used in international play. Forwards senior Luther Head and junior James Augustine led the Illini with 14 points each. Sophomore guards Dee Brown and Deron Williams tallied an additional 12 and 11 points, respectively.

Augustine and senior Nick Smith controlled the boards, with Augustine snatching 11 rebounds – seven in the first half – and Smith adding another eight.

“I think this year it’s a lot different, because I like the spark down there,” Augustine said of Illinois’ post play. “This year I’ve been working on my post moves. I did have to work hard; the last couple minutes I didn’t make a post move just because it was weird being so far out there.”

Although Illinois had established a 42-23 lead at the half, it was an 11-point run in the second that enlivened the crowd. With 15:51 to play, Augustine slammed down a dunk on a fast break, which was immediately followed by a reverse layup by Head and a steal and a dunk by senior center Jack Ingram.

“We talked before the game about living up to potential, and you’ve got to do that everyday, it doesn’t matter who you’re playing,” Weber said. “We played pretty good basketball today.”