University of Illinois
Penn State
Men's Basketball Game Notes vs. Penn State
February 10, 2018 | Men's Basketball
Illinois hosts vs. Nittany Lions Sunday at State Farm Center (6 pm CT on BTN)
| Game 26: ILLINOIS (12-13, 2-10) vs. Penn State (17-9, 7-6) | |
|---|---|
| Date | Sunday, Feb. 11, 2018 | 6 pm CT |
| Location | Champaign, Ill. | State Farm Center (15,544) | Fan Guide |
| Tickets | Buy Online | Promotions | Virtual Seating Map |
| Television | BTN (Cory Provus & Shon Morris) |
| Live Stream | BTN2Go.com |
| Radio | Fighting Illini Sports Network | Audio | TuneIn | Mandarin |
| Live Stats | FIGHTINGILLINI.com |
| Printable Notes | Illinois | Penn State | Big Ten |
| 2017-18 Stats | Illinois | Penn State | Big Ten |
| Shop | Online Store | Auctions | Publications |
| Social Media | @IlliniMBB  | #Illini | @IlliniMBB  | Facebook  | YouTube  |
| Illinois Starters (from last game) | |||||||||
| Pos. | No. | Name | Ht. | Wt. | Yr. | PPG | RPG | APG | Note |
| G | 1 | Trent Frazier | 6-1 | 170 | Fr. | 12.5 | 1.7 | 2.8 | CH 32 pts vs. WIS |
| G | 24 | Mark Alstork | 6-5 | 190 | Gr. | 6.8 | 4.0 | 2.0 | SH 19 pts at Ohio State |
| F | 2 | Kipper Nichols | 6-6 | 225 | r-So. | 9.3 | 4.3 | 0.6 | 13.4 ppg over last 5 |
| F | 12 | Leron Black | 6-7 | 230 | r-Jr. | 14.3 | 5.4 | 0.9 | Double-double vs. WIS |
| F | 43 | Michael Finke | 6-10 | 235 | r-Jr. | 9.6 | 4.8 | 1.1 | Team-high 51 Off. Rebs. |
| Off the Bench | |||||||||
| Pos. | No. | Name | Ht. | Wt. | Yr. | PPG | RPG | APG | Note |
| G | 3 | Te'Jon Lucas | 6-1 | 180 | So. | 5.1 | 2.0 | 3.1 | 24 steals |
| F | 4 | Matic Vesel | 6-10 | 215 | Fr. | 0.3 | 0.8 | 0.3 | Native of Slovenia |
| G | 10 | Drew Cayce | 6-1 | 175 | r-So. | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.0 | UI walkon |
| F | 11 | Greg Eboigbodin | 6-9 | 225 | Fr. | 2.2 | 2.4 | 0.2 | 19-26 FG last 10 gms (.731) |
| G | 13 | Mark Smith | 6-4 | 225 | Fr. | 6.4 | 1.4 | 1.4 | .826 FT% (38-46) |
| G | 20 | Da'Monte Williams | 6-3 | 190 | Fr. | 3.7 | 2.8 | 1.1 | Son of UI great Frank Williams |
| G | 23 | Aaron Jordan | 6-5 | 210 | Jr. | 8.6 | 3.2 | 0.7 | 2nd in B1G in 3FG% (.506) |
| G | 35 | Samson Oladimeji | 6-4 | 200 | So. | 0.0 | 0.7 | 0.0 | UI walkon |
| F | 45 | Cameron Liss | 6-6 | 220 | r-Jr. | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | B1G Distinguished Scholar |
| Sitting Out (*2016-17 Stats listed) | |||||||||
| Pos. | No. | Name | Ht. | Wt. | Yr. | PPG | RPG | APG | Note |
| G | 32 | Tyler Underwood | 6-1 | 165 | r-So. | 0.6* | 0.2* | 0.1* | Sitting out season (transfer) |
| G | 41 | Clayton Jones | 6-0 | 170 | r-Sr. | 0.4* | 0.0* | 0.0* | Recovering from torn ACL |
Head Coach Brad Underwood
Career Record: 121-40/.752 (5th year)
At Illinois: 12-13 (1st year)
Big Ten: 2-10
Series Notes vs. Penn State
Record: Illinois leads 28-16
Streak: Penn State W-3
Record in Champaign: Illinois leads 14-6
Streak in Champaign: Penn State W-1
Last Year's Meetings: PSU 71, ILL 67 (1/28/17 @PSU) // PSU 83, ILL 70 (2/11/17 @ILL)
Underwood vs. Penn State: First meeting
Opening Tips
• Illinois concludes its stretch of five out of six games at home, hosting Penn State on Sunday (6 p.m. CT, BTN).
• Illinois is forcing turnovers on 23.6 percent of opponent possessions during Big Ten play, the highest rate recorded by a conference team over the last nine years (Northwestern, 24.1, 2009).
• Illinois' defense is forcing 20 turnovers per game at home during conference play (120), averaging 23.7 points off opponent turnovers (142).
• Illinois leads the Big Ten in percentage of minutes played by newcomers (.484) and ranks second in the league behind Nebraska in percentage of points scored by newcomers (.411).
• Illinois has led during the second half in 10 of its 13 losses, including seven times in 10 Big Ten losses.
• Trent Frazier is coming off one of the best performances by a freshman in school history. Frazier scored a career-high 32 vs. Wisconsin, the most points in the Big Ten this season by a freshman and the third-highest total ever by an Illini freshman. Frazier made seven 3-pointers on the night, equaling the most by a UI freshman and one shy of the overall school record. It was the second time that Frazier has made seven treys in a game (Iowa on Jan. 11), joining Kevin Turner (1997-98) as the only Illini ever with two 7+ three-pointer games in a season.
• Frazier has scored in double figures in 14 of the last 15 games, averaging 17.0 points (255) and 1.7 steals (26) while shooting 41.9 percent from 3-point range (39-93) over that stretch.
• Frazier is averaging 12.5 points on the season, the highest scoring average by an Illini freshman since Cory Bradford averaged 15.4 points as a redshirt freshman in 1998-99.
• During conference play, Frazier leads all Big Ten freshmen in scoring (15.1 ppg), assists (3.8 apg), steals (1.2 spg) and 3-pointers (2.3 avg.).
• Junior Leron Black has scored at least 12 points in seven of the last eight games, averaging 14.3 points (114) on 63.3 percent shooting (50-79).
