| Illinois Probable Starters (from last game) |
| Pos. |
No. |
Name |
Ht. |
Wt. |
Yr. |
PPG |
RPG |
APG |
Note |
| G |
1 |
Trent Frazier |
6-1 |
170 |
So. |
14.7 |
2.5 |
2.8 |
17.6 ppg, .527 3FG% last 5 |
| G |
11 |
Ayo Dosunmu |
6-5 |
185 |
Fr. |
14.2 |
4.2 |
3.2 |
Late 3 sealed OSU win |
| G |
20 |
Da'Monte Williams |
6-3 |
200 |
So. |
3.8 |
3.3 |
1.1 |
20 steals |
| G |
23 |
Aaron Jordan |
6-5 |
210 |
Sr. |
8.2 |
4.7 |
1.5 |
.393 3FG (44-112) |
| F |
15 |
Giorgi Bezhanishvili |
6-9 |
235 |
Fr. |
12.2 |
5.0 |
0.9 |
20 pts, 8 reb vs. WIS 1/23 |
| Off the Bench |
| Pos. |
No. |
Name |
Ht. |
Wt. |
Yr. |
PPG |
RPG |
APG |
Note |
| G |
0 |
Alan Griffin |
6-5 |
180 |
Fr. |
2.8 |
1.6 |
0.3 |
CH 16 mins at OSU |
| F |
2 |
Kipper Nichols |
6-6 |
220 |
r-Jr. |
6.6 |
3.1 |
1.3 |
18 pts vs. NEB 2/2/18 |
| G |
3 |
Drew Cayce |
6-1 |
175 |
r-Jr. |
0.4 |
0.6 |
0.2 |
Walkon in third year |
| F |
4 |
Zach Griffith |
6-6 |
210 |
So. |
0.0 |
0.8 |
0.3 |
Walkon is former manager |
| G |
5 |
Tevian Jones |
6-7 |
205 |
Fr. |
3.7 |
1.5 |
0.3 |
18 pts in win vs. Maryland |
| G |
10 |
Andres Feliz |
6-2 |
185 |
Jr. |
7.4 |
2.4 |
2.0 |
10.3 ppg in last six |
| C |
12 |
Adonis De La Rosa |
7-0 |
260 |
Gr. |
3.1 |
1.8 |
0.3 |
Grad transfer from Kent St. |
| F |
22 |
Anthony Higgs |
6-8 |
235 |
Fr. |
- |
- |
- |
Won 2 HS state titles in MD |
| G |
32 |
Tyler Underwood |
6-2 |
180 |
r-Jr. |
0.2 |
0.5 |
0.3 |
Son of Coach Underwood |
| C |
34 |
Samba Kane |
7-0 |
220 |
Fr. |
1.9 |
0.6 |
0.1 |
9 blocked shots |
| G |
35 |
Samson Oladimeji |
6-4 |
200 |
Jr. |
0.3 |
0.4 |
0.1 |
Third-year walkon |
Career Record: 133-60/.689 (6th year)
At Illinois: 24-33/.421 (2nd year)
Series Notes vs. Wisconsin
Record: Illinois leads 110-88
Streak: Wisconsin W-14
Record in Madison: Wisconsin leads 57-39
Streak in Madison: Wisconsin W-7
Last Meeting: WIS 72, ILL 60 (1/23 @ILL)
Underwood vs. Wisconsin: 0-3
Opening Tips
• After earning its first road win of the season at Ohio State, the Illini are on the road again Monday night, taking on No. 20 Wisconsin (7 p.m. CT, FS1).
• Illinois has won four in a row, owning the Big Ten's longest active winning streak (tied with Iowa). The Illini enter Monday's contest in search of their first five-game conference winning streak since Feb. 7-21, 2013.
• Illinois is aiming to halt Wisconsin's 14-game series win streak, which is the longest ever by a UI opponent. The Illini last defeated the Badgers on Jan. 2, 2011 in Champaign. Illinois' last victory at Kohl Center, meanwhile, came nine years ago on Feb. 9, 2010 (63-56).
• Illinois has won two straight against Top 25 teams, defeating No. 13 Maryland at Madison Square Garden (Jan. 26) and No. 9 Michigan State at home (Feb. 5). The Illini are now looking to snap a 12-game skid on the road versus ranked foes. The Illini's last road win over a ranked opponent came on March 8, 2014 at No. 24 Iowa.
• The Illini also head to Madison looking to win back-to-back games with both games coming on the road for the first time in 10 years (at Northwestern, Feb. 12, 2009 and at Indiana, Feb. 15, 2009).
• The Illini are 5-1 in their last six games and 6-3 over the last nine.
• Illinois is 4-0 so far in February, its best start to the month in 14 years, since going unbeaten in Feb. 2005 (7-0).
• For the first time in school history, Illinois has a pair of freshmen serving as its top-two leading scorers during conference play in Ayo Dosunmu (15.1 ppg) and Giorgi Bezhanishvili (14.1 ppg). They were recipients of the Big Ten's weekly awards on Feb. 11.
• After scoring a season-low 60 against Wisconsin on Jan. 23, Illinois is averaging 77.5 points over the last six games (465).
• Illinois has played the No. 5-ranked schedule in the nation according to Ken Pomeroy's ratings, while the Illini's average opponent NET rank is No. 4 nationally.
• Illinois has improved 47 spots in Ken Pomeroy's efficiency rankings in 2019 (from 113th on Jan. 1 to current ranking of 66th), the biggest jump of any team from the six major conferences.
• There is only one team below .500 with a higher kenpom rating than the 66th-ranked Illini (Penn State, 57th).
• Illinois checks in at 29th in T-Rank since Jan. 11 (6-3 record), standing seventh among Big Ten teams.
• Illinois' transition game has produced an average of 17.5 points over the last six games (105).
• Illinois is 8-2 when allowing less than one point per possession (losses are Florida Atlantic and Northwestern).
• Illinois games average 71.4 possessions, ranked 36th nationally (kenpom). Illinois and Iowa (71st) are the only Big Ten teams in the top 150 in tempo.
• Illinois has either led (nine times), been tied (twice), or trailed by two with the ball (once) during the second half in 12 of its 15 losses (exceptions are at Nebraska, Michigan, and at Iowa).
Notes from the Last Time Out: Road Win at Ohio State (Feb. 14)
• Illinois extended its league winning streak to four straight, its longest since also winning four in a row from Feb. 18-March 1, 2017.
• It was Illinois' first true road win of the season, snapping a six-game skid on opponents' home courts. The Illini previously defeated No. 13 Maryland on Jan. 26 in a neutral-site contest at Madison Square Garden.
• The victory was the first for the Illini at Ohio State since Feb. 22, 2009, snapping an eight-game, 10-year losing streak in Columbus. The 7-point victory margin, meanwhile, was Illinois' biggest at Value City Arena.
• Ohio State's 56 points was the fewest allowed by Illinois' defense in Big Ten play since Northwestern scored only 50 in a 68-50 Illini home victory on Feb. 21, 2017.
• The 56 points was Ohio State's lowest output on its homecourt in the last four years, since scoring 48 in a 72-48 home loss to Wisconsin on March 8, 2015.
• Illinois' defensive efficiency rating of 83.6 was its best mark in league play and third-best this season (kenpom).
• Illinois won for the first time this season when scoring less than 70 points.
• The Illini led for 30:07 of the game and trailed for just 4:16.
• Illinois tied its team season high with six blocked shots. The Illini also swatted six shots vs. UNLV (Dec. 8).
• The Illini outscored the Buckeyes 11-3 in fastbreak points and forced 18 OSU turnovers, converting those into 14 points.
• The trio of Trent Frazier (15 points), Ayo Dosunmu (15 points) and Giorgi Bezhanishvili (13 points) led the Fighting Illini attack. It was Dosunmu's 11th time leading the team in scoring this season (and ninth in the last 13 games), while Frazier has now led the UI in scoring eight times.
• Dosunmu hit the biggest shot of the game, a dagger 3-pointer with 29 seconds left to give the Illini a 62-56 lead. He also added four rebounds and three assists to his 15 points.
• Bezhanishvili blocked a career high four shots against the Buckeyes, the most by an Illini on the season, and pulled down a game-high seven rebounds to go along with his 13 points (6-9 FG), his 14th double-digit scoring game of the season.
• Frazier continued his hot shooting, hitting 6-of-11 from the field and 3-of-5 from three for his 15 points.
• Andres Feliz continued his solid play with nine points and six rebounds, tying his career high on the boards.
• Freshman Alan Griffin played a career-high 16 minutes, contributing two points, four rebounds and two steals.
Player Trends
• This is the first time in school history that Illinois has two freshmen (Ayo Dosunmu-2 and Giorgi Bezhanishvili-3) among its top-three season-leading scorers.
• Illinois has three underclassmen (So. Trent Frazier-1, Fr. Ayo Dosunmu-2, Fr. Giorgi Bezhanishvili-3) ranking as its top three leading scorers for the first time since the 2008-09 season (So. Demetri McCamey-1, So. Mike Davis-2, So. Mike Tisdale-3).
• Illinois is the only Big Ten team whose top three leading scorers on the season are all underclassmen.
• Illinois is the only Big Ten team with three players averaging at least 13 points during league play.
• After being held to single digits in back-to-back games Jan. 23-26, sophomore Trent Frazier is averaging 17.6 points over the last five games (88).
• Frazier is shooting 52.5 percent from 3-point range over the last six games (21-40), averaging 3.5 makes. He has made at least three treys in each of the last five games.
• Frazier recorded a season-high 30 points Jan. 30 at Minnesota. It marked his fourth 25+ point game of the season and came within two of his career high.
• Freshman Ayo Dosunmu has been the Illini's leading scorer in nine of the last 13 games, averaging 16.8 points (218) with six 20-point outings while shooting 54.6 percent on twos (59-108) during that stretch.
• Dosunmu has scored in double figures in all four games during the Illini's current winning streak, averaging 16.0 points (64).
• Dosunmu recorded at least 20 points four times in five games from Dec. 29-Jan. 16, becoming the first Illini freshman ever to record four 20-point performances over a five-game stretch.
• Dosunmu scored at least 15 points in six straight games from Dec. 29 through Jan. 20, the longest double-digits streak by an Illini freshman since Cory Bradford in 1999.
• Dosunmu is averaging 1.8 steals over the last 10 games (18).
• Fellow freshman Giorgi Bezhanishvili is averaging 15.3 points (153) on 59.8 percent shooting (64-107) over the last 10 games, scoring in double figures seven times with three 20-point performances.
• Bezhanishvili is shooting 65.4 percent from the field over the last five games (34-52).
• Bezhanishvili is averaging 21.3 points (64) on 68.4 percent shooting (26-38) over the last three games.
• Bezhanishvili is averaging 19.0 points through Illinois' six Big Ten home games (114) on 62.2 percent shooting (46-74).
• Senior Aaron Jordan is shooting 42.5 percent from 3-point range as an upperclassman (88-207) after shooting 33.3 percent from behind the arc his first two seasons (28-84).
• Jordan is second on the team in rebounding (4.7 rpg), standing just eight rebounds shy of the team lead for the season (4.8 rpg), after ranking fifth on the Illini in rebounding last year.
• Junior Andres Feliz is averaging 10.3 points over the last six games (62), reaching double figures three times.
» Complete Illinois-Wisconsin Game Notes (PDF)
