Career Record: 124-48/.721 (6th year)
At Illinois: 15-21 (2nd year)
Series Notes vs. Xavier
Record: Illinois leads 2-1
Streak: Xavier W-1
Record at Neutral Sites: Tied, 1-1
Streak at Neutral Sites: Xavier W-1
Last Meeting: Xavier 65, Illinois 59 // Dec. 29, 2006 at Cincinnati (U.S. Bank Arena)
Underwood vs. Xavier at Illinois: First meeting
Underwood vs. Xavier All-Time: 0-1
Illini in Maui
Illinois is making its fifth appearance in the Maui Jim Maui Invitational, and its first under Head Coach Brad Underwood. The Illini won their first title in their last trip to the island in 2012. Illinois also owns a runner-up finish (2000) and pair of third-place finishes (1987 and 2007). Illinois is appearing in the consolation bracket for the first time at the Maui Invite, now owning an all-time record of 9-5 in the event:
Nov. 27, 1987 Illinois 73, Baylor 50
Nov. 28, 1987 Villanova 78, Illinois 76
Nov. 29, 1987 Illinois 81, #7 Kansas 75 (third place)
Nov. 20, 2000 #8 Illinois 74, UNLV 69
Nov. 21, 2000 #8 Illinois 90, #6 Maryland 80
Nov. 22, 2000 #1 Arizona 79, #8 Illinois 76 (second place)
Nov. 19, 2007 Illinois 77, Arizona State 54
Nov. 20, 2007 #13 Duke 79, Illinois 66
Nov. 21, 2007 Illinois 65, Oklahoma State 49 (third place)
Nov. 19, 2012 Illinois 94, USC 64
Nov. 20, 2012 Illinois 84, Chaminade 61
Nov. 21, 2012 Illinois 78, Butler 61 (champions)
Nov. 19, 2018 #3 Gonzaga 84, Illinois 78
Nov. 20, 2018 Iowa State 84, Illinois 68
Coach Underwood is leading a program for the second time at the Maui Invitational. He guided Oklahoma State to a third-place finish in 2016.
Quick Turnaround
Illinois will play its third game in less than 48 hours at the Maui Jim Maui Invitational, facing Xavier (2-3) in the 7th-place game on Wednesday at 8 p.m. Central Time/4 p.m. Hawaii Time on ESPNU.
Illinois and Xavier shared a charter flight to Maui, meeting last Thursday in Indianapolis. The teams will fly back to Indy on Thanksgiving Day.
Pressure D
Through three games the Illini defense ranks fourth in the nation in turnover rate, forcing turnovers on 27 percent of opponent possessions. The Illini steal rate of 12.1 percent, meanwhile, ranks 31st nationally.
Illinois forced Evansville into 26 turnovers in the opener, then forced Georgetown and Gonzaga into 22 turnovers apiece.
Illinois has scored 86 points off opponent turnovers, an average of 21.5 points per game.
Notes from Tuesday's Maui Invite Loss to Iowa State
• Illinois lost its third straight game, falling to Iowa State after a dominant second-half performance by the Cyclones.
• The Illini led 39-34 at halftime after holding ISU to 10-25 shooting, forcing nine turnovers that turned into 10 Illini points, and playing the Cyclones even on the boards.
• Illinois scored the first basket of the second half to take a 7-point lead, its largest lead of the game. But Iowa State took over from that point on, going on an 18-2 run over the next six minutes to claim a 52-43 lead.
• ISU later scored nine unanswered points, extending its 8-point lead to 17 (67-50) and putting the game out of reach in the closing minutes.
• Illinois tied its season high with 12 three-pointers and has now made double-digit threes in three of four games. The Illini are now averaging 10.0 made threes per game.
• Trent Frazier led the Illini in scoring for the second straight game with 15 points.
• Ayo Dosunmu reached double figures for the third time in his first four games, totaling 13 points.
• Aaron Jordan made 3-of-6 from 3-point range en route to 11 points. Jordan is now shooting 43.5 percent from behind the arc on the season (10-23).
• Freshman Alan Griffin followed up from his late-game success against Gonzaga with a strong first half against ISU, scoring a career-high 11 points.
• Graduate transfer Adonis De La Rosa saw his most playing time to date and responded with season highs of six points and team-high seven rebounds.
Notes from Monday's Maui Invite Quarterfinal Loss to Gonzaga
• Looking for its first victory over a Top-5 opponent in five years, the Illini came up just short, falling to No. 3 Gonzaga 84-78 in Maui.
• The game was tight for much of the first half before the Zags scored twice in the final minute to lead by seven at the break. Gonzaga then opened up a 13-point lead early after intermission before the Illini staged a furious late-game comeback.
• Trailing 69-57 with 8:10 left, the Illini went on a 10-0 run over the next 2:26 to pull within two with 5:44 remaining. Trent Frazier scored the first eight on a pair of free throws followed by consecutive 3-pointers, and Alan Griffin wrapped up the run with two free throws to cut it to 69-67.
• Gonzaga pushed its lead back to nine with 1:37 to go but the Illini again cut it two. Griffin drained a three, the Zags turned it over, and Frazier drained a 27-foot 3 plus the foul for a 4-point play to make it 80-78 with 1:01 remaining.
• The Illini defense then forced Gonzaga into a shot clock violation with 30 seconds remaining, setting up the game's pivotal possession. Illinois went for the win down two, but Frazier's 3-point attempt was short, and the Zags sealed the game in the final seconds.
• Illinois' defense forced Gonzaga into 22 turnovers, which the Illini converted into 20 points.
• Underclassmen accounted for 79.5 percent of the Illini's offensive production, with freshmen and sophomores combining for 62 of the team's 78 points.
• Sophomore Trent Frazier led all scorers in Maui on Monday, finishing with 29 points. It marked the sophomore's sixth career 20-point game and was just three shy of his career high of 32 points.
• Frazier was on fire in the second half, scoring 27 of his game-high 29 after intermission.
• Included in that 27-point second-half total were a pair of double-digit scoring runs. Frazier scored 11 straight for the Illini from 16:17 to 12:37, and later scored 10 in a row for the team from 8:17 to 6:33.
• Frazier finished the game with six 3-pointers, the most made in Maui on Monday and one shy of his career high of seven treys set twice.
• Frazier drew nine fouls on the night, also the highest total during Monday's quarterfinal games, and went a perfect 7-for-7 at the line.
• Frazier also made an impact on defense, tying his career high with five steals.
• Freshman Giorgi Bezhanishvili excelled in the paint, scoring a career-high 17 points while making 8-of-13 2-point attempts. He is now averaging 14.5 points over the last two games.
• Freshman Alan Griffin gave the Illini a big boost down the stretch, scoring a career-high seven points. Griffin's points came via a pair of free throws with 5:44 left and a driving layup with 4:20 remaining – both times cutting the Gonzaga lead to two – and a 3-pointer with 1:21 to go that brought the Illini within six.
• Senior Aaron Jordan grabbed a career-high 10 boards, leading the team in rebounding for the fourth time in his tenure.
• Sophomore Da'Monte Williams also set a career high in rebounds with nine, including four offensive.
• The Illini battled foul trouble throughout the evening. Key contributors whose playing time was limited due to fouls were Kipper Nichols (four fouls in 9 minutes), Andres Feliz (four fouls in 15 minutes) and Ayo Dosunmu (four fouls in 27 minutes).
