CHAMPAIGN — The youth movement has arrived in Champaign.

Despite a sluggish start, the Fighting Illini managed to hold off the Ramblers of Loyola-Chicago 67-49 in the season opener on Friday night at the Assembly Hall in Champaign.

Seven newcomers line the Illini roster, including six freshmen. Two of those freshmen, Nnanna Egwu and Tracy Abrams, were awarded with starting slots for Bruce Weber’s squad.

“Tracy moved the ball well and grabbed seven rebounds, which proves he can run the floor well”, Weber said of his freshman point guard’s performance.

There is just one senior on the Illinois roster, that being Sam Maniscalco, so there will be a lot of inexperience on the court at times. Abrams, who runs the floor well, did a good job of handling the basketball and getting the ball down low to big men Meyers Leonard and Egwu.

Leonard, who didn’t start the game, said after the game that “it didn’t affect me not being in the starting lineup. It’s nice to start, but sometimes it might be Nnanna (Egwu) in there, or me.”

At a few stages, both Egwu and Leonard were in the game at the same time, Weber said after the game that Leonard was late to a shootaround, hence the start on the bench.

“I hated to not start Meyers, but if I start him after that incident, then what happens when four players do the same thing next week?” the Illini coach said.

Leonard, who had four blocked shots at the half, creates quite a presence underneath the basket, giving opponents who venture inside little to work with. Leonard finished with six blocks in the game, to go along with a game-high 15 points, which was a career high for the sophomore from Robinson.

Brandon Paul, a junior, added 14 points for the Illini, while Abrams had eight and grabbed a team high seven rebounds.

Paul, who played the point for a good portion of the game, thought that Abrams played well for his first game as an Illini.

“He played well, and even though he still has some learning to do, had a good debut”, Paul said.

Weber, who has said that he plans on running a 10- or 11-man rotation early on in the season, experimented with several different lineups at various stages of the game.

“We played both Nnanna and Meyers at the same time, which gives us some versatility on the court,’’ he said. “Also, with Sam and Tracy together at the same time, it gives us two ballhandlers on the floor, creating more chances to make plays.’’

Maniscalco, the senior transfer from Bradley, has been limited in practice, still recovering from an ankle injury sustained last season, played 19 minutes, scoring 5 points.

“We wanted to get Sam about 20 minutes, and he ended up with 19, so that was pretty good for the first game,” Weber said.

The Illini led the Ramblers at the break 28-18, and extended the lead to as much as 13 points before Loyola took advantage of some Illinois miscues to cut the lead to within five.

Loyola coach Porter Moser gave the Illini credit for continuing to come at his team.

“We were concerned about their depth at guard, and they eventually just wore us down,’’ Moser said. “They continued to push the ball at us, and we became so gassed down the stretch that they couldn’t keep up.”

Junior Tyler Griffey, who has been more of a role player for his first two seasons at Illinois, showed evidence of growth, as he scored 10 points and grabbed four rebounds.

The Illini, who won their 13th consecutive season opener, return to action on Monday at the Assembly Hall when they welcome the Cougars of SIU-Edwardsville in the opening round of the Cancun Challenge. Game time is set for 7:30 p.m.