Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader

Dec. 26, 2000

Fighting Illini Basketball
#9/6 Illinois (9-3) vs. Illinois-Chicago (6-5)
Friday, Dec. 29, 2000 * 7:07 p.m. CT (ESPN+ Local)
Rosemont, Ill. * Allstate Arena (17,500)

Series History
Illinois leads the all-time series between sister schools by a 9-margin, including a current seven-game winning streak since the Flames' only win in the series in 1990.

Final Shots
Almost the entire Illinois-Chicago staff has Fighting Illini ties. Head Coach Jimmy Collins was an assistant under Lou Henson at Illinois from 1984-96. UIC Assistant coaches Dick Nagy (1980-96) and Mark Coomes (1976, 1986-94) also served under Henson, while Gene Cross lettered at Illinois in 1993 and 1994. UIC director of basketball operations Andrew Haring was a student manager at Illinois, serving as the senior manager in 1992.

Illinois is making it second appearance in the Chicago area this season. On Dec. 16, Illinois knocked off No. 7 Arizona, 81-73, at the United Center. This is Illinois' first appearance at the Allstate Arena since winning games against Grambling and Memphis State Dec. 29-30, 1989. Other Illini appearances at the arena in Rosemont include a 64-62 win over Iowa State Dec. 30, 1985, a victory over Cincinnati Dec. 18, 1984, a loss to Loyola-Chicago on Dec. 22, 1984, a victory over Loyola-Chicago Nov. 26, 1983 and a win over Iowa State Jan. 3, 1983. Illinois is 6-1 all-time at the Allstate Arena.

Illinois junior forward Lucas Johnson is playing about as close to home as he will his entire career. Johnson is a native of Des Plaines and lives about 10 minutes from the Allstate Arena.

Last Time Out :
At Te x a s Following an emotional 86-81 over-time victory over Missouri on Dec. 21, Illinois dropped a 72-64 decision at Texas two nights later. Illinois shot just 34 percent from the field (its lowest percentage of the season), including 4-of-25 from three-point range. After falling behind by as many as 12 points in the second half, the Illini tied the score at 50-50 and again trailed by just two points at 59-57 with 4:05 remaining. Brian Cook was outstanding again for the Illini with 18 points and six rebounds.

Cook Big Ten Player of the Week
After breakout games against Missouri and Texas last week, Brian Cook was named the Big Ten Player of the Week on Monday, Dec. 25.

After missing his first shot against Missouri, Cook connected on his next ten field goals. He had 23 points at the half and finished the game with a new career high of 25, behind 10-14 shooting and a pair of treys. Cook also pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds to finish with a double-double. Two nights later against Texas, Cook scored a team-high 18 points behind 6-7 shooting and was a perfect 5-5 from the free throw line, along with six rebounds.

In the two games combined on the week, Cook averaged 21.5 points and 8.5 rebounds.

Williams Comes Up Big In Crunch Time
Frank Williams made all the right plays down the stretch in Illinois' victory over Missouri. He was forced to the bench at the end of the first half after picking up his third foul and had only four first-half points. But in the second half and overtime combined, he had 14 points, including three of Illinois' four final field goals of regulation. He scored six points in OT and also made two huge defensive plays in the extra session, forcing Mizzouri's Clarence Gilbert into a traveling violation, and blocking a Gilbert three-point attempt with less than a minute remaining.

National Exposure
So far this season, Illinois has played eight games on national television. The Illini have played five times on ESPN, twice on espn2, and once on CBS. Illinois' next nationally televised game will be Jan. 11 at Iowa on espn2.

Illini Head Coach Bill Self
Bill Self is in his first season at the helm of the Illini program following three years at Tulsa where he earned National Coach of the Year honors from the John & Nellie Wooden Foundation and The Sporting News in 2000. He led Tulsa to a 32-5 record and into a Regional Final appearance last season. Prior to his stop at Tulsa, Self spent four years at Or a l Roberts where he built a program from 6- 21 his first season to 22-6 in his fourth year.

A 1985 graduate of Oklahoma State, Self has worked under Larry Brown at Kansas and Leonard Hamilton and Eddie Sutton at Oklahoma State.

High Theft Area
After grabbing 98 steals through 12 games, Illinois leads the Big Ten in steals with an average of 8.17 per game. Frank Williams, who leads the Illini with 28 steals, ranks second in the conference individually behind Penn State's Titus Ivory.

Crashing the Boards
This season the Illini are rebounding the basketball with authority. Illinois has o u t rebounded 11 of its 12 opponents (Kansas State won the rebounding battle by just one, 37-36), highlighted by a 42-27 advantage against No. 1 Duke, and a 55-37 edge vs. Maryland in the Maui Invitational. On the ye a r, Illinois is averaging 44.0 rebounds per game, compared to 36.8 for the competition. Sergio McClain (7.3), Marcus Griffin (7.2), and Brian Cook (5.9) lead the Illini in rebounding. At the offen-sive end, Illinois is averaging 15.2 offensive boards per game, led by Griffins total of 40.

Bradford Nets NCAA Three-Point Record
Illinois junior guard Cory Bradford became sole owner of the NCAA record for consecutive games with a three-pointer with his first trey against Arizona Dec. 16. The previous record of 73 games was set by Wally Lancaster of Virginia Tech fro m 1986-89. Bradford tied the record with two treys in overtime of the victory over Seton Hall Dec. 9. Bradford has made a three pointer in eve ry game of his collegiate career. He also enters the UIC game with a streak of 76 consecutive starts for the Illini.

Top 10 Streak Alive
Illinois has been ranked in the Top 10 for nine consecutive polls, the longest stretch of Top 10 action since a string of 28 straight polls in the Top 10 in the 1989 and 1990 seasons.

"D" is Key for the Illini
In 12 games so far, Illinois has not allowed an opponent to shoot better than 45 percent from the field (including five Top 10 opponents). On Dec. 6, Wisconsin-Milwaukee shot 21.7 percent from the field (13-60) to set an all-time Assembly Hall re c o rd for lowest field-goal perc e n t a g e . Combined this season, opponents are shooting 38.2 percent from the field.

Top 10 Matchups
Illinois' game Dec. 16 against No. 7 Arizona was the Illini's fifth game between two Top 10 programs already this season. Five of Illinois' 12 opponents have been ranked at least seventh or higher with two No. 1s on the schedule.

Facing Two #1's in a Week There's a reason why many people point to Illinois' schedule as the toughest in the nation. The Illini have already played five teams ranked in the Top 10, including a pair of No. 1s. This marks the first time ever that the Illini have played two different No. 1 teams in the same season, and even more impressive, those games came less than a week apart. Illinois fell to then-No. 1 Arizona, 79-76, in the championship of the Maui Invitational on Nov. 22. Just six days later, the Illini faced No. 1 Duke in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, falling by just one point 78-77.

Michigan State, currently ranked No. 1 in both polls, is scheduled to play at the Illini at Champaign on Feb. 6.

Griffin Strong in the Post
Senior center Marcus Griffin has turned in quite a performance so far with his dominating inside play. He posted per-haps his best game at Illinois with 24 points and career-high 13 rebounds in the over-time victory over Seton Hall Dec. 9, and last week he posted a double-double against Missouri with 10 points and 11 boards and had 11 points and five rebounds vs. Texas. Griffin had 16 points and eight rebounds in the win over Texas Southern and responded with another 16 point outing while coming just one rebound shy of a double-double with nine boards against No. 1 Duke. The double-double that eluded him against the Blue Devils happened on Dec. 2 at Kansas State, when Griffin scored 20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in the victory. He led Illinois with 15 points in the victory over Arizona Dec. 16. Griffin is Illinois' second-leading scorer at 14.3 points per game and is also second on the team lead in rebound-ing at 7.2 boards per game. Forty of his 86 rebounds have been at the offensive end.