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The first half of Wednesday night’s game against Southern Illinois-Edwardsville at the Assembly Hall was a little tighter than the Illini would have liked.

But the second half was a different story as the Illini used a 9-0 run nearly five minutes into the half to take a 19-point lead, ensuring a 76-57 exhibition victory in front of a less than full crowd of 16,618.

While SIU-E had better early offensive rhythm because of its experienced team that knows how to play together, head coach Bruce Weber said the Illini’s defense disrupted them.

“We made some mistakes early, didn’t see the ball,” Weber said. “But the good thing is that we adjusted to it, and then I think our conditioning, our strength wore them down and our ball pressure, and that’s what you hope happens.”

Although the Illini wore the Cougars down, they committed 19 turnovers in the process.

“Nineteen turnovers is too many, and a lot of them are just from doing too much, trying to make plays when they’re not there,” Weber said. “Anytime we’ve got reversals with the basketball on offense, we were able to, I think, get pretty good shots. But they’ve got to learn that.”

For the second consecutive game, senior forward Warren Carter led the team in scoring. Carter had a game-high 17 points to go along with six rebounds.

Sophomore guard Chester Frazier, who was considered doubtful for Wednesday’s game after bruising his left quad on a routine ball screen at practice on Saturday, added 13 points, while sophomore guard Trent Meacham had nine points.

Ty Johnson led SIU-E with 13 points, but also committed eight turnovers, while Nick Arth added 10 points. The Illini got off to a 10-8 start before the Cougars went on a 5-0 run off a three-pointer and a jump shot from Johnson. After a J.B. Jones three-pointer with 7:17 to go in the first half shrank the Illini lead to 26-23, the Illini went on an 11-6 run to end the half.

The run, which was highlighted by lay-ups from Marcus Arnold, Chester Frazier, Shaun Pruitt and Richard Semrau, gave Illinois a 37-28 advantage after 20 minutes of play. Illinois shot 46.7 percent (14-of-30) from the field during the first half, while SIU-E shot 40 percent on 10-of-25 shooting.

Semrau added seven points and five rebounds in 12 minutes of play for the Illini and said advice from Frazier and sophomore guard Jamar Smith made him feel more comfortable.

“I think Chester and Jamar helped me, they talked with me about my confidence. I just stepped it up,” Semrau said. “This whole week, they’ve just been trying to fire me up and they say, ‘You’re a freshman, you’re here to do things, so just go out there and do what you need to do.'”

With four games to play next week, Weber said the game against SIU-E was good for the team. Still without Brian Randle and Rich McBride, Frazier said it has been hard for the Illini to have the two guards at practice, but not during games.

But with limited numbers on the perimeter and the coaches asking for pressure defense, Weber said he is happy with the way the Illini have responded.

For the Illini, who continue to take the season and each practice one step at a time, Frazier said it’s hard to tell if the Illini are ready to start the regular season on Monday.

“I can’t say we’re not ready (to play next week),” Frazier said. “We’re going to take everything one game a time, try to cut back on our turnovers, get better at rebounding, and we’ll see first game.”