Illinois just ripped apart St. Francis (Pa.) on Saturday afternoon. The Red Flash, coming over from the NEC, were certainly out of their normal depth against a group that earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament just last season, but the Fighting Illini left absolutely no doubt, cruising to a 106-48 win.

A key reason why: Illinois set a program record for 3-pointers made in the victory, per 247Sports’ Jeremy Werner.

The Illini hit 18 of their 34 attempts from beyond the arc (52.9%). It was a season-best in terms of shooting percentage and the best rate for the Illini in a game where they took more than 15 3-pointers since hitting 17-of-31 (54.8%) in a game on Nov. 25, 2020.

Eight different Illinois players made a 3 in the game. Alfonso Plummer hit 5 of his 10 looks (19 points total) and Jacob Grandison hit 4-of-6.

While the Illini lit up St. Francis from outside, it presented the perfect complement to All-American big man Kofi Cockburn’s inside dominance, allowing him to feast. He had 21 points and 11 boards on 9-of-11 shooting.

As a team so far this season, the Illini are hitting nearly 40 of their 3-point looks. They’ve had double-digit makes at better than 35% shooting now in 5 straight games.

Illinois plays Missouri next on Wednesday, Dec. 22, at 9 p.m. ET on BTN.