| Illinois Starters (from last game) |
| Pos. |
No. |
Name |
Ht. |
Wt. |
Yr. |
PPG |
RPG |
APG |
Note |
| G |
1 |
Trent Frazier |
6-1 |
170 |
Fr. |
12.3 |
1.8 |
2.9 |
Leads B1G frosh in pts & ast |
| G |
24 |
Mark Alstork |
6-5 |
190 |
Gr. |
6.3 |
3.7 |
2.0 |
SH 19 pts at Ohio State |
| G |
23 |
Aaron Jordan |
6-5 |
210 |
Jr. |
7.9 |
3.1 |
0.7 |
3rd in B1G in 3FG% (.455) |
| F |
2 |
Kipper Nichols |
6-6 |
225 |
r-So. |
9.7 |
4.5 |
0.7 |
4th in B1G in FT% (.855) |
| F |
12 |
Leron Black |
6-7 |
230 |
r-Jr. |
15.3 |
5.4 |
0.9 |
21.5 ppg last 4 games |
| Off the Bench |
| Pos. |
No. |
Name |
Ht. |
Wt. |
Yr. |
PPG |
RPG |
APG |
Note |
| G |
3 |
Te'Jon Lucas |
6-1 |
180 |
So. |
5.2 |
2.0 |
3.0 |
26 steals |
| F |
4 |
Matic Vesel |
6-10 |
215 |
Fr. |
0.5 |
0.6 |
0.4 |
Native of Slovenia |
| G |
10 |
Drew Cayce |
6-1 |
175 |
r-So. |
0.5 |
0.5 |
0.0 |
UI walkon |
| F |
11 |
Greg Eboigbodin |
6-9 |
225 |
Fr. |
2.1 |
2.6 |
0.3 |
.647 FG% in B1G play |
| G |
13 |
Mark Smith |
6-4 |
225 |
Fr. |
5.9 |
1.3 |
1.4 |
.808 FT% (42-52) |
| G |
20 |
Da'Monte Williams |
6-3 |
190 |
Fr. |
3.4 |
2.8 |
1.0 |
Son of UI great Frank Williams |
| G |
35 |
Samson Oladimeji |
6-4 |
200 |
So. |
0.0 |
0.6 |
0.0 |
UI walkon |
| F |
43 |
Michael Finke |
6-10 |
235 |
r-Jr. |
9.6 |
4.8 |
1.1 |
Missed last 4 games (inj.) |
| 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 |
Career Record: 122-43/.739 (5th year)
At Illinois: 13-16 (1st year)
Big Ten: 3-13
Series Notes vs. Purdue
Record: Purdue leads 100-87
Streak: Purdue W-2
Record in Champaign: Illinois leads 57-35
Streak in Champaign: Illinois W-2
Last Year's Meeting: #21 Purdue 91, Illinois 68 (Jan. 17, 2017 at West Lafayette)
Underwood vs. Purdue: First meeting
Opening Tips
• Illinois plays its final home game of the season on Thursday night, hosting No. 9 Purdue (6 p.m. CT, FS1).
• With the stretch of Nebraska at home (Feb. 18), at No. 2 Michigan State (Feb. 20), and No. 9 Purdue at home (Feb. 22), Illinois is facing back-to-back 1-day preps in league play for the first time in 28 years, since the 1990 Illini squad played at Wisconsin (Jan. 25), Ohio State at home (Jan. 27), and at Iowa (Jan. 29).
• Illinois is taking on top-10 ranked opponents in consecutive games for the first time since 2013, when the Illini defeated No. 8 Ohio State (Jan. 5) before falling to No. 8 Minnesota (Jan. 9).
• Illinois is looking for its first win over a ranked opponent since beating No. 20 Iowa in the second round of the 2016 Big Ten Tournament in Indianapolis (March 10). Illinois last defeated a top-10 opponent on Feb. 7, 2013, when Tyler Griffey's layup at the buzzer led the Illini to a 74-72 victory over No. 1 Indiana in Champaign.
• Illinois is forcing turnovers on 22.2 percent of opponent possessions during Big Ten play, the highest rate recorded by a conference team over the last eight years (Michigan, 22.2, 2010).
• 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 (.402).
• Illinois has led during the second half in 10 of its 16 losses, including seven times in its 13 Big Ten losses.
• The duo of junior Leron Black and freshman Trent Frazier have combined to score 42.3 percent of Illinois' points during Big Ten play (479 of 1,132).
• Black has been the Illini's leading scorer in each of the last four games and top rebounder in three of the last four games, averaging 21.5 points (86) and 5.4 rebounds (22) while shooting 59.6 percent from the field (31-52) and 70 percent from 3-point range (7-10).
• Black carries an active three-game streak scoring 20+ points, the longest of his career and the first by an Illini since Malcolm Hill had four-straight 20-point games last season (Dec. 21, 2016-Jan. 7, 2017).
• Black has scored at least 12 points in 11 of the last 12 games, averaging 16.7 points (200) on 61.8 percent shooting (81-131).
• Frazier was named Big Ten Freshman of the Week on Feb. 12 after averaging 19 points, 2.5 rebounds, two steals and 1.5 assists last week against Wisconsin and Penn State. Frazier scored a career-high 32 vs. the Badgers, the most points in the Big Ten by a freshman this season and third-highest total ever by an Illini freshman.
• Frazier has scored in double figures in 17 of the last 19 games, averaging 15.7 points (299) and 1.7 steals (33) while shooting 39.5 percent from 3-point range (47-119) over that stretch.
• Frazier is averaging 12.3 points on the season, most by an Illini freshman in the last 19 years, 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 (14.1 ppg), assists (3.6 apg), steals (1.3 spg) and 3-pointers (2.3 avg.).
• Sophomore Kipper Nichols has scored at least 12 points in three of the last four games and has led the Illini in rebounding three times in the last four games, averaging 11.8 points (47) and 5.5 boards (22).
