Nov. 14, 2001
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FOR OPENERS
Opening with Wins: Illinois has an all-time record of 83-13 (.865) in season openers, is 81-15 (.844) in home openers and is 31-7 (.816) in home openers at the Assembly Hall. The last loss in a home opener was to George Washington Nov. 17, 1998.
Sharing the Spotlight: Illinois is one of just three schools to have both its men's basketball and football teams ranked among the Top 12 in the nation. The Illini football team is ranked No. 12 in both major polls this week. Maryland (No. 9 FB, No. 6 MBK) and Florida (No. 3 FB, No. 7 MBK) join Illinois among the elite.
Starting High: Preseason pollsters have placed the Fighting Illini as high as they've ever been entering a season. The USA Today/ESPN Coaches Poll starts Illinois at No. 2 in the preseason poll, and the Associated Press has the Illini at No. 3. The two previous high marks for preseason rankings came in 1962 and 1984 when the AP had Illinois No. 2 in the preseason. The Sporting News ranked Illinois No. 1 in the preseason while Sports Illustrated has the Illini No. 2.
Williams Preseason Honors: Guard Frank Williams was named to the Associated Press Preseason All-America First-Team Nov. 6. Williams was joined on the team by Duke's Jason Williams, Missouri's Kareem Rush, Stanford's Casey Jacobsen and Kentucky's Tayshawn Prince. The last Illinois player to earn First-Team All-America honors from AP in the postseason was Andy Phillip in 1943.
Illini Newcomers: Expect to see at least four new faces on the floor for Illinois this season. Incoming freshmen are guard Luther Head (Chicago, Ill./Manley High School) and forward Roger Powell (Joliet, Ill./High). Both earned first-team all-state honors as seniors. Forward Blandon Ferguson transferred from the College of Southern Idaho following a strong junior college career. Nick Smith will make his debut after redshirting as a true freshman last year. And, at the beginning of the spring 2002 semester, junior Nick Huge regains his eligibility after transferring from Appalachian State last year. Huge is not on scholarship and does not count toward the limit of 13 scholarship players.
Las Vegas Invitational: Illinois will play in the Las Vegas Invitational in November. The Illini open pool play by taking on Eastern Illinois in Champaign before traveling west to play Penn and Georgia Tech at Valley High School in Las Vegas. The final game on Nov. 25 will matchup with either Iowa State, St. Louis, Southwest Missouri State or Hartford depending on the standings in both pools.
NCAA Tournament Notes: Illinois entered the 2001 NCAA Tournament for the second time as a No. 1 seed. Previously, Illinois was a No. 1 in 1989, also in the Midwest Region. That year Illinois advanced to the Final Four.
Select Company: Bill Self became the first coach in 22 years, just the sixth all-time in the Big Ten, and second Illini coach to win a Big Ten championship in his first season as coach at a conference school. Minnesota's Bill Musselman is the only coach to win an outright title in his first season in 1972. Other league rookies earning hardware are Iowa's Sam Barry in 1923, Michigan's George Veekner in 1929, Illinois' Doug Mills in 1937 and Purdue's Lee Rose in 1979.
More Select Company: When Illinois defeated Iowa on Feb. 24, 2001, Bill Self became just the fourth coach in the Big Ten since 1951 (when Michigan State joined the league) to defeat every other conference team in his first season. The other three coaches are Indiana's Bob Knight in 1972, Iowa's Tom Davis in 1987 and Penn State's Jerry Dunn in 1996.
Illini Milestone: Illinois became the 18th Div. I program to reach 1,400 all-time victories with the Feb. 17, 2001 win at Indiana.
20th 20-win Season: Last season, Illinois posted its 20th 20-win season in Illini basketball history. It also marked the second-earliest 20th win in school history (by calendar date). The earliest was Feb. 11, 1989 when the Illini defeated Northwestern. That team went on to win a school-record 31 games.
Wins, Wins and More Wins: Illinois' 27 victories during the 2000-01 season are the second-most wins in a season in school history. The school record for victories in a season is 31 in 1989.
Comeback Kids: Illinois overcame a 13-point second-half deficit to defeat Wisconsin 68-67 Feb. 13 in Champaign. Earlier in the season, the Illini set a school record by coming from 21 points down to defeat Seton Hall.
High-Scoring: Illinois averaged 77.9 points per game, the highest Illini scoring average since 1994 when Illinois averaged 84.0 points per game. In Big Ten games, the Illini ranked second in the league in scoring with an average of 75.3 points.
Very Offensive: In Big Ten play last season, the Illini led the league in three-point field goal shooting (.390), ranked second in scoring margin (+11.7), second in scoring (75.3 ppg) and third in field-goal shooting (.465). Illinois also ranked second in the league in assists (14.88) and third in offensive rebounds (12.63) and three-point field goals made (7.00 avg.).
Self Defense: For the 2000-01 season, opponents shot just 38.6 percent from the field. That is the lowest opponent shooting percentage since the 1955-56 season when Illini opponents shot 35.2 percent from the field. Illinois finished third in the nation in field-goal percentage defense, behind only Kansas and Holy Cross.
In league play, the Illini were second in the Big Ten in field-goal percentage defense (.387) while ranking second in blocked shots (5.19), second in steals (7.44) and fourth in scoring defense (63.6).
Defending Home Court: In Illinois' 12 homes games at the Assembly Hall during the 2000-01 season, opponents shot a combined 34.6 percent (240-693 FG) from the field and 29.4 percent (74-252 3FG) from three-point range.
Home Court Streakin': Illinois finished the 2000-01 season with an 18-game winning streak at the Assembly Hall, the longest home winning streak by the Illini since winning 28 straight from Feb. 11, 1988 to Jan. 15, 1990. Illinois completed its first unbeaten home season since the 1988-89 season (17-0). The current 18-game winning streak ranks ninth nationally entering the season.
Illinois' 14-game winning streak in conference games at the Assembly Hall ranks 10th in the nation entering the 2001-02 season.
Board Work: Illinois' average of 40.0 rebounds per game in 2001 was the team's highest average since 1979 when the Illini averaged 41.3 rebounds per game. Illinois' rebounding margin (6.7) ranked 13th in the nation.
Wayne McClain Joins Ilini Staff:
Legendary Illinois high school coach Wayne McClain joins the Illini as an assistant coach for the 2001-02 season. McClain, the father of former Illini player Sergio, replaces Rob Judson who was named head coach at Northern Illinois University on March 6.
Williams Big Ten Preseason Player of the Year
Junior Frank Williams was named Big Ten Preseason Player of the Year by both the media and coaches for 2001-02, as well as preseason First-Team All-Big Ten. Last year, Williams was the first Illini player to earn conference player of the year honors since Bruce Douglas was named co-Big Ten Player of the Year (with Purdue's Jim Rowinski) in 1984. Illinois' last league MVP before Williams in 2001 was Jim Dawson in 1967.
National Exposure
For the 2001-02 season, Illinois is scheduled to play at least 11, with the possibility of 13 regular-season games on national television. The Illini are scheduled to appear at least seven times on ESPN, at least three times on CBS and once on FOX Sports Net.
Bradford Nets NCAA 3-Point Record
Illinois junior guard Cory Bradford holds the NCAA record for consecutive games with a three-pointer with a trey in 88 straight games. He broke the previous record of 73 games set by Wally Lancaster of Virginia Tech from 1986-89 with his first trey against Arizona on Dec. 16, 2000.
Bradford also has started every game of his Illini career and enters the 2001-02 season with a school-record streak of 99 starts for the Illini.
Bradford enters his senior season with 1,329 career points, 14th on the Illini career scoring list.
Bradford's streak of consecutive starts set a school record against Northwestern on Feb. 3, 2001, passing Richard Keene's previous record streak of 85 consecutive games started in an Illini career.
Top 10 Streak Alive
Illinois has been ranked in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches' Top 10 for 22 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.
Illini Basketball is a Hot Ticket
For the first time in Assembly Hall history, the Fighting Illini sold out in season tickets with 16,500 sold. Of the six games not on the student season package (over the semester break), one is sold out and two others are within 400 of selling out. The eight sellouts last season were the most at the Assembly Hall since 1989.
Williams, Cook on Wooden List
Illinois' Brian Cook and Frank Williams are among 50 players on the list of preseason candidates for the 2002 Wooden Award All-American team. Williams, the 2001 Big Ten Player of the Year and a member of the 2001 Wooden All-America team, is on the list for the second consecutive season. Cook is making his first appearance on the list.
