| Illinois Probable Starters (from last game) |
| Pos. |
No. |
Name |
Ht. |
Wt. |
Yr. |
PPG |
RPG |
APG |
Note |
| G |
1 |
Trent Frazier |
6-1 |
170 |
So. |
14.6 |
2.5 |
2.8 |
30 pts at MIN 1/30/19 |
| G |
11 |
Ayo Dosunmu |
6-5 |
185 |
Fr. |
14.2 |
4.1 |
3.1 |
24 pts vs. MSU 2/5/19 |
| G |
20 |
Da'Monte Williams |
6-3 |
200 |
So. |
3.9 |
3.3 |
1.1 |
18 steals on season |
| G |
23 |
Aaron Jordan |
6-5 |
210 |
Sr. |
8.3 |
4.8 |
1.5 |
41 made threes |
| F |
15 |
Giorgi Bezhanishvili |
6-9 |
235 |
Fr. |
11.2 |
4.9 |
0.9 |
2.5 OREB/gm in B1G |
| Off the Bench |
| Pos. |
No. |
Name |
Ht. |
Wt. |
Yr. |
PPG |
RPG |
APG |
Note |
| G |
0 |
Alan Griffin |
6-5 |
180 |
Fr. |
2.9 |
1.6 |
0.3 |
Son of NBA vet Adrian |
| F |
2 |
Kipper Nichols |
6-6 |
220 |
r-Jr. |
6.9 |
3.3 |
1.3 |
18 pts vs. NEB 2/2/19 |
| 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 former manager |
| G |
5 |
Tevian Jones |
6-7 |
205 |
Fr. |
4.1 |
1.5 |
0.3 |
8.3 ppg in last four |
| G |
10 |
Andres Feliz |
6-2 |
185 |
Jr. |
7.3 |
2.2 |
2.1 |
11.0 ppg in last four |
| C |
12 |
Adonis De La Rosa |
7-0 |
260 |
Gr. |
2.9 |
1.8 |
0.4 |
Drew 2 off fouls vs. MSU |
| F |
22 |
Anthony Higgs |
6-8 |
235 |
Fr. |
- |
- |
- |
Won 2 HS state titles in MD |
| G |
32 |
Tyler Underwood |
6-2 |
180 |
r-Jr. |
0.3 |
0.6 |
0.4 |
Son of Coach Underwood |
| C |
34 |
Samba Kane |
7-0 |
220 |
Fr. |
1.9 |
0.6 |
0.1 |
9 blocks in 78 mins. |
| G |
35 |
Samson Oladimeji |
6-4 |
200 |
Jr. |
0.3 |
0.4 |
0.1 |
Walkon in third year |
Career Record: 131-60/.686 (6th year)
At Illinois: 22-33/.400 (2nd year)
Series Notes vs. Rutgers
Record: Illinois leads 6-1
Streak: Illinois W-2
Record in Champaign: Illinois leads 3-0
Streak in Champaign: Illinois W-3
Last Year: ILL 91, RUT 60 (1/30/18 @ILL) // ILL 75, RUT 62 (2/25/18 @RUT)
Underwood vs. Rutgers 2-0
Opening Tips
• Illinois concludes its three-game homestand on Saturday afternoon, taking on Rutgers at State Farm Center (3 p.m. CT, BTN). Following last weekend's win over Nebraska, this is the first time Illinois is playing home league games on consecutive Saturdays since Feb. 4 & 11, 2017.
• Illinois enters Saturday's contest looking to win three straight Big Ten games for the first time since its four-game conference winning streak from Feb. 18-March 1, 2017.
• Illinois is coming off a 79-74 home win over No. 9 Michigan State on Tuesday night, the Illini's first victory over a top-10 team since defeating No. 1 Indiana on Feb. 7, 2013. It was the UI's second-straight win over a ranked opponent after beating No. 13 Maryland, 78-67, at Madison Square Garden on Jan. 26.
• The Illini are 3-1 in their last four games and 4-3 over the last seven.
• Illinois has played the No. 2-ranked schedule in the nation behind Kansas (kenpom).
• Illinois has climbed 45 spots in kenpom over the last month from 113th to its current ranking of 68th.
• There is only one team below .500 with a higher kenpom rank than the Illini (Penn State, 63rd).
• Illinois checks in at 28th in T-Rank since Jan. 11, standing seventh among Big Ten teams.
• After scoring a season-low 60 against Wisconsin on Jan. 23, the Illini are averaging 78.6 points over the last four games (303).
• Illinois' transition game has produced an average of 19.5 points over the last four games (78).
• Illinois is forcing turnovers on 22.4 percent of opponent possessions during league play, the highest turnover rate posted by a Big Ten defense since Purdue in 2008 (25.5).
• Illinois currently ranks 76th in defensive adjusted efficiency (kenpom), an improvement of 53 spots over last season's final defensive rating (129).
• Illinois is 7-2 when allowing less than one point per possession (losses are Florida Atlantic and Northwestern).
• Illinois is shooting 38.6 percent from 3-point range over the last two games with an average of 8.5 makes (17-44), after shooting just 27.9 percent from behind the arc the previous three games with an average of 6.3 makes (19-68).
• Illinois games average 71.6 possessions, ranked 38th 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, vs. Michigan, at Iowa).
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.
• After being held to single digits in back-to-back games Jan. 23-26, sophomore Trent Frazier is averaging 18.7 points over the last three games (56).
• Frazier is shooting 50 percent from 3-point range over the last four games (13-26), averaging 3.3 makes.
• 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.
• Frazier made 10-of-14 from the field against the Gophers after combining to shoot just 28.6 percent the previous three games (10-35).
• Freshman Ayo Dosunmu has been the Illini's leading scorer in eight of the last 11 games, averaging 17.4 points (191) with six 20-point outings while shooting 56.4 percent on twos (53-94) during that stretch.
• 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's 105 points during that five-game stretch was the highest total by a UI freshman in 20 years, since Cory Bradford scored 105 over five consecutive games as a redshirt freshman from Jan. 30-Feb. 13, 1999.
• Dosunmu was the first Illini freshman, meanwhile, to score in double figures in six straight games since Bradford in 1999.
• Dosunmu is averaging 1.9 steals over the last eight games (15).
• Fellow freshman Giorgi Bezhanishvili is averaging 12.7 points (105) on 55 percent shooting (44-80) over the last eight games, scoring in double figures five times with two 20-point performances.
• Bezhanishvili is averaging 15.8 points through Illinois' five Big Ten home games (63) on 57.1 percent shooting (32-56).
• Senior Aaron Jordan is shooting 42.5 percent from 3-point range as an upperclassman (85-200) after shooting 33.3 percent from behind the arc his first two seasons (28-84).
• Jordan is averaging 5.4 rebounds over the last five games (27), and is now just one rebound shy of the team lead for the season (4.8 rpg).
• Junior Kipper Nichols tied his season high with 18 points in last Saturday's win over Nebraska, snapping a five-game scoreless streak.
• Junior Andres Feliz is averaging 11.0 points over the last four games (44) while shooting 60 percent from the field (15-25).
Notes from the Last Time Out: Home Win Over #9 Michigan State (Feb. 5)
• The 79-74 victory over Michigan State marked Illinois' first win over an AP top-10 opponent since the Illini beat No. 1 Indiana, 74-72, on February 7, 2013.
• Illinois earned its first win at home over a ranked opponent since an 84-70 victory over No. 20 Purdue on Jan. 10, 2016.
• The Illini have now won their last two games vs. ranked teams (No. 13 Maryland and No. 9 Michigan State) after dropping 15 straight against AP ranked teams prior to the Maryland win.
• Illinois led for 34:38 of the game and by as many as 14 points (58-44). MSU led for only 2:06.
• The Illinois defense forced 24 Michigan State turnovers, the most by a Big Ten opponent since Rutgers had 25 turnovers last season in Champaign (Jan. 30, 2018).
• The 24 turnovers also marked the third-most by Michigan State in a game since 2005-06:
» 27 vs. Arizona Nov. 23, 2005
» 25 at Illinois Jan. 22, 2018
» 24 at Illinois Feb. 5, 2019
» 24 vs. Texas Nov. 23, 2018
• The Illini finished the game with a 28-6 edge in points off turnovers. It was Illinois' highest total in league play since scoring 37 points off Rutgers' 25 turnovers last season.
• The Illini defense forced Cassius Winston to commit a career-high nine turnovers. His previous high was eight at Illinois last season (Jan. 22, 2018).
• Illinois made 81.8 percent from the free throw line on the night, connecting on 18-of-22, including 5-of-6 in the final minute to clinch it. That was a sharp contract from the previous game, when the Illini shot a season-low 39.1 percent at the stripe (9-23).
• After trailing 68-65 at the 4:47 mark in the second half, the Illini went on a 14-6 run to close out the game, holding the Spartans without a basket and to just six free throws the rest of the way.
• With the game tied at 68 with three minutes left, freshman Ayo Dosunmu connected on back-to-back 3-pointers at the 2:32 and 1:54 marks to put the Illini ahead for good.
• Dosunmu scored a game-high 24 points, one shy of his career high (25 vs. Georgetown). Dosunmu tied career highs with four treys and three steals.
• Dosunmu made 4-of-8 from three against the Spartans after going 3-21 behind the arc the previous five games.
• Freshman Giorgi Bezhanishvili had 16 points (6-11 FG), reaching double digits for the first time in four games.
• Sophomore Trent Frazier finished with 15 points, his 15th game in double figures this season. He drained three treys, shot a caree-high eight free throws, and had three steals.
• Junior Andres Feliz scored in double figures for the third time in the last four games, adding 10 points.
» Complete Illinois-Rutgers Notes
