CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Nick Smith called Illinois coach Bruce Weber's recent chair-throwing tirade a reminder. It worked.

Four days after Weber's tantrum, Smith scored a career-high 22 points without missing a shot Wednesday night and No. 19 Illinois opened its Big Ten season with an 85-63 victory over Ohio State.

''Just my night, I guess,'' Smith said. ''Starting off making that 3 didn't hurt and then knocking down all my free throws. I don't know, just one of those nights.''

Smith, a 7-foot-2 center, was 6-for-6 from the field, including the one 3-pointer, and went 9-for-9 from the free throw line. He grabbed nine rebounds, also a career high for the junior.

Dee Brown scored 16 points for Illinois, which ran its Assembly Hall record to 43-1 over the past four seasons. Richard McBride and Roger Powell each scored 11 points for the Illini (10-2).

Smith bore the brunt of Weber's halftime anger in last Saturday's 80-73 overtime scare against Illinois State. He responded with 10 points in the second half of that game.

''He gives me reminders every once in a while because I tend to slack off and get lazy,'' Smith said. ''It was just a reminder and I've had a couple good games since.''

Illinois pressured Ohio State from the opening tip and held the Buckeyes to only six field goals in the first half. OSU went through a 7:39 stretch of the first half without a basket.

''The issue tonight was defensive pressure they put on us that we were not able to deal with,'' Buckeyes coach Jim O'Brien said. ''We were not strong enough or tough enough to deal with their defensive pressure.''

Terrance Dials had 11 points for Ohio State (8-6, 0-1), while Tony Stockman added 10. The Buckeyes never recovered from a first half in which they went 6-of-21 from the field.

''We thought we could disrupt them,'' Weber said. ''We thought if we trapped them, pressured them, got them out further, made them do some things they don't want to do, we thought it would cause some problems.''

The Illini outscored the Buckeyes 30-8 over a 12-minute span of the first half to go up 37-13. Ohio State went on a 27-14 run starting late in the half and trimmed the Illini lead to 53-42 with 12:47 to go in the game.

No. 19 ILLINOIS 85, OHIO ST. 63

OHIO STATE

(8-6) 

Sullinger 2-9 2-2 6, T.Dials 3-6 5-7 11, Radinovic 2-2 3-4 7, Fuss-Cheatham 1-1 1-3 3, N.Dials 0-6 3-4 3, Harris 3-7 0-0 6, Stockman 4-8 1-2 10, Nwankwo 0-1 0-0 0, Billings 2-5 1-4 7, S.Smith 0-0 1-2 1, Sylvester 0-0 0-0 0, Jenkins 3-6 1-5 7, Marinchick 1-1 0-2 2. Totals 21-52 18-35 63.

ILLINOIS

(10-2) 

Randle 3-5 4-5 10, Powell 5-7 1-1 11, Augustine 2-2 6-8 10, Williams 1-9 0-0 2, Brown 5-14 4-5 16, Spears 0-1 0-1 0, Howard 1-1 0-0 3, McBride 3-10 2-2 11, Nkemdi 0-0 0-0 0, Carter 0-0 0-0 0, N.Smith 6-6 9-9 22, Ingram 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 26-57 26-31 85.

Halftime-Illinois 39-22. 3-Point goals-Ohio St. 3-11 (Billings 2-3, Stockman 1-3, Nwanwko 0-1, Sullinger 0-1, N.Dials 0-3), Illinois 7-23 (McBride 3-9, Brown 2-6, N.Smith 1-1, Howard 1-1, Randle 0-1, Ingram 0-1, Williams 0-4). Fouled out-T.Dials, Radinovic. Rebounds-Ohio St. 33 (Sullinger 7), Illinois 42 (N.Smith 9). Assists-Ohio St. 12 (N.Dials 4), Illinois 18 (Williams, Brown 6). Total fouls-Ohio St. 25, Illinois 30. A-15,659.