The Illinois men’s basketball team opened its season Friday in silence.

A 3-pointer by Tracy Abrams gave Illinois a 3-0 lead over the visiting Colgate, and two more 3-pointers by Brandon Paul and Tyler Griffey increased the lead to 9-3. Yet Assembly Hall was eerily silent, except for a few muffled cheers and members of the Orange Krush whispering not to make noise.

Finally, Myke Henry connected from 3-point range for the team’s 12th point, and the crowd of 14,683 erupted, signaling a successful debut of Orange Hush as a tribute to head coach John Groce’s alma mater, Taylor University.

Groce’s other debut, Illinois’ regular season opener, was successful, too, as Illinois defeated Colgate 75-55 Friday night. Groce said his first career win as the Illini head coach was a substantially better performance from the previous two exhibition games.

“They were as disappointed as I was in the way that we played for the 40 minutes last Sunday (against West Chester),” Groce said. “We asked them to compete and play hard for 40 minutes and play unselfishly. I think we took strides in those areas at a high level.”

Illinois surged ahead in the first half behind a barrage of 3-pointers, making 13 on 30 attempts for the game. The 13 3-pointers were two more than last year’s season-high single game total, and six different Illini players connected from long range.

Ten of those 3-pointers came in the first half, as Illinois built its 43-25 halftime lead. Attempting 30 3-pointers in one game is abnormal, but Groce thought most of the attempts were good looks established through steady offense.

“We’ve got guys that can shoot the ball,” he said. “Guys that have worked very hard this summer to earn the right to make shots.”

Groce’s offense is predicated on tempo and driving to the basket, but the product of that offensive scheme often ends with an open 3-point attempt. Ohio University, Groce’s last team, attempted 809 3-point field goals last season, which is 198 more than the Illini attempted and just 68 shy of the total from the torrid shooting 2004-05 Illini team. If there is an open 3-pointer, Groce’s players are going to take it.

“I thought they turned down three attempts last Sunday,” Groce said. “That’s as bad as taking a bad shot, especially with these guys. They can make shots.”

Brandon Paul led Illinois in scoring and rebounds with 20 points and eight rebounds while adding five assists and two steals. Tracy Abrams, the other player composing the point guard-by-committee position, scored 13 points and had five assists. Together, their combined totals were 33 points and 10 assists on five turnovers, a promising statistical line for an offense driven by the point guard position.

“We kind of control the team as the point guards,” Paul said. “Today, I think we both did a good job of limiting the turnovers. I don’t want to force too many bad passes, and I just made the right decision.”

Thomas can be reached at [email protected] and @ThomasBruch.