Before the No. 23 Illinois basketball team kicked off the season against Southern Illinois-Edwardsville on Friday, head coach Bruce Weber talked to multiple Illini fans excited for the official season to start. After the 96-69 victory, Weber had his own reasons to be positive.

“I was definitely excited about the game, how we played with high energy — that was things we talked about before the game,” Weber said. “The whole thing was energy, excitement, and get off to a good early start. And we did all those things. The crowd got into it, it was a tremendous crowd.”

But energy wasn’t the only thing the Illini brought to the court Friday night. The strength of the bench was on display too, as 10 different Illini played for 11 or more minutes.

“All our guards, everybody on our team, you never know who will score the most points,” freshman guard D.J. Richardson said. “We’ve got a team full of players that can do a variety of things.”

Freshman guard Brandon Paul led the way with 22 points in 29 minutes, but it wasn’t just the freshman, or the other starters, who impressed Weber.

“I have to do a good job of using the bench, having confidence in them,” Weber said. “Performances like this today definitely helped my feeling about them.”

Junior Bill Cole turned in one of those impressive performances off the bench against the Cougars.

The forward played 20 minutes with seven points and three rebounds.

“I think Bill Cole has showed some nice signs,” Weber said. “He’s been solid. He’s older. He’s stronger. I think there’s competition there, which is good. It’s going to keep everybody on their toes.”

Another important part of the competitive Illinois bench this season may be center Richard Semrau.

The redshirt junior had six points and six rebounds in 15 minutes for the Fighting Illini on Friday.

But in the week leading up to the game, things didn’t look so positive for the Grafton, Ohio, native.

Semrau’s grandmother passed away the week before the Quincy game, and Semrau went home for two days following her death.

Once the junior returned to Champaign, Weber said his play was “lethargic.”

Assistant coach Jay Price called Semrau in for a conversation in the week leading up to the SIUE contest, telling the junior there was no point unless he was going to put in the effort.

On Friday, it appeared the talk may have had the desired effect.

“He was exciting,” Weber said of the 6-foot-10 Semrau. “He was on his toes. He was active. It definitely gives us … some post presence. He’s stronger, he’s got a little meat to him. If we can have confidence in him, keep rotating these guys in and out, it would help everybody.”

Forward Dominique Keller got in on the action too, despite being bumped from the starting lineup after the first exhibition game.

The senior had nine points and three rebounds in 15 minutes against the Cougars.

“I’ve got to convince Dominique that his goal should be sixth man of the year — play with that great energy,” Weber said. “He can do a lot of good for us, and he’s going to get his minutes if he does what he’s supposed to out on the court. Hopefully we can convince him of that. If we can, it’s going to really help our team.”

While the depth of the Illinois bench has made it harder to settle on a rotation, it’s also keeping the pressure on the starters.

“It’s a motivation for a lot of us,” Paul said. “We all want to start.”