Northern Illinois seemed to be just one piece away from victory at times on Tuesday night at the Assembly Hall. NIU’s top player, Xavier Silas, scored a team-high 18 points against Northwestern on Friday, but he fractured his hand in the second half of the loss and thus didn’t see any court time against Illinois.Without the junior transfer, the Huskies were unable to shut down Brandon Paul’s jumper or overcome Mike Davis’ defensive pressure, and the Illini went on to win 80-61.

“We don’t have anyone that can do what Xavier can do at this point,” NIU head coach Ricardo Patton said. “This Big Ten travel hasn’t been a lot of fun.”

Paul finished the game with 20 points, while Davis had 14 and grabbed a career-high 17 rebounds, putting up his second double-double in as many games this season. His toughness on the boards gave the No. 23 llini (2-0) the post presence they needed, and his aggressive play got him to the free-throw line, where he converted on 6-of-8 attempts.

“They were trying to jack a lot of threes and just shoot it real quick,” Davis said. “I tried to get in position and get the ball off the rim, and I think I did a good job of that.”

Paul was a little rusty on the defensive end in the first half and turned over the ball three times, but he managed to put up 20 points in just 14 minutes. The two squads traded buckets for about the first eight minutes until the score was deadlocked at 18-apiece, but several jumpers from Paul, Davis and freshman Tyler Griffey fueled the Illini to a 42-24 lead with five minutes to play before halftime.

Junior guard Demetri McCamey held everything together during the first 20 minutes, as he continuously dished the ball to Paul and Griffey. McCamey led Illinois in assists with eight.

“You never know who’s going to score,” McCamey said. “Different nights it’s different people, and I’m happy as long as we’re winning basketball games.”

But the Illini were then given a scare, as the Huskies went on a 17-7 run to finish the half down by only eight. NIU then scored the first five points in the second half. But a few words from Davis calmed them down.

Head coach Bruce Weber said he thought he was watching his team play summer basketball.

“It was the first time Demetri wasn’t in there and D.J. (Richardson) lost his confidence with the ball,” Weber said. “He’s a little gun shy right now … and Brandon got really tired.”

Paul never got his shot back after the break, going 0-for-5 from the field in the second half.

“I really don’t know what happened in the second half,” Paul said.

McCamey, senior forward Dominique Keller and junior forward Mike Tisdale each finished with 10 points. But Tisdale saw the court for just 16 minutes, far less than any of the other starters.

The Huskies had four different players score more than eight points, and guard Jake Anderson pulled 10 boards.