Matt Bollant started off his tenure at Illinois the same way he has everywhere he has coached: with a win.

Bollant became the fourth women’s basketball head coach in Illinois history to win his first game with Sunday’s 84-52 victory over Evansville.

“It’s rewarding,” said Bollant, who was an assistant coach at Evansville from 1997-2000, helping them to the 1999 NCAA tournament. “That’s probably the hardest thing as a coach is the first game with all of the unknowns.”

“A lot of head coaches go into the first game with a lot of fear, and I didn’t. I went into today with a lot of confidence.”

After two exhibitions in which the Illini outscored their opponents 209-66, Bollant had every right to be confident, but Evansville, who finished 5-25 last season, presented more of a challenge. The Illini got off to a slow start, leading 12-8 at the 10-minute mark and 38-25 at the half.

Illinois started slow because of early foul trouble. The Illini committed 13 first-half fouls, including 11 by their starting five. Sophomore point guard Alexis Smith and junior forward Kersten Magrum each had three at the halfway point.

With her teammates on the bench, junior Amber Moore stepped up and hit three first-half 3-pointers and took over communicationwise. Moore finished with 19 points, four assists and four rebounds.

“I was just trying to be the vocal leader,” Moore said. “We had three of our starters out, so I had to step up and help my teammates out because when I’m talking on the court, it helps everyone else out.”

Starting forwards Karisma Penn’s and Kersten Magrum’s foul trouble allowed freshman McKenzie Piper to play 25 minutes in her career opener. Piper took advantage of her time on the court to the tune of 14 points and seven rebounds.

Despite committing two fouls early, Penn paced the Illini with her 29th double-double of her career.

The senior finished with 11 points and 12 rebounds, in addition to four blocks, three assists and three steals. It was the first win in a season opener for the senior. Penn’s first block was the 200th of her career.

Newly converted point guard Taylor Tuck took advantage of Smith’s foul trouble. Tuck played 27 minutes and scored 12 points. Tuck also drew five fouls driving to the basket and tallied six points off of 10 free-throw attempts. The 6-foot Tuck had never played point guard before Bollant came to Illinois. Tuck played forward last season with the Illini as well as during high school.

“She’s so fast that the way we want to play, we want a fast point guard,” Bollant said. “We just challenged her and she said, ‘OK, I will start working on my ball-handling.’ She’s done great. She’s going to keep getting better. She’s so long and athletic that when she gets by, she really makes you pay.”

Evansville shot 38 free throws as a result of Illinois’ fouls.

“That’s way, way too many free throws,” Bollant said. “I think part of that was the excitement of the first game. We got a little tight, and I think our feet weren’t quite as good, especially in the first half.”

After Illinois’ 120-29 win last week, Bollant said the lack of communication on the defensive end was a major weakness.

“Overall, we were better than last game (with communication),” Bollant said. “But we still had two possessions in the second half where they set a screen and we didn’t know we were switching, and they got wide open 3s. They didn’t always make us pay when we didn’t talk, so we have to keep growing in that.”

Following the game, Bollant sent the team into the stands to thank its 1,625 supporters. Attendance only topped that number twice last season.

Johnathan can be reached at [email protected] and @jhett93.