| Illinois Probable Starters (from last game) |
| Pos. |
No. |
Name |
Ht. |
Wt. |
Yr. |
PPG |
RPG |
APG |
Note |
| G |
11 |
Ayo Dosunmu |
6-5 |
185 |
So. |
15.8 |
4.3 |
3.3 |
Naismith Mid-Season 30 |
| G |
1 |
Trent Frazier |
6-2 |
175 |
Jr. |
9.5 |
2.0 |
2.0 |
185 career made threes |
| G |
20 |
Da'Monte Williams |
6-3 |
210 |
Jr. |
2.5 |
3.8 |
1.1 |
4-5 3FG last 2 games |
| F |
15 |
Giorgi Bezhanishvili |
6-9 |
235 |
So. |
7.8 |
4.8 |
1.9 |
CH 35 pts vs. RUT 2/9/19 |
| C |
21 |
Kofi Cockburn |
7-0 |
290 |
Fr. |
13.7 |
9.0 |
0.7 |
CH 17 rebs vs. RUT 1/11/20 |
| Off the Bench |
| Pos. |
No. |
Name |
Ht. |
Wt. |
Yr. |
PPG |
RPG |
APG |
Note |
| G |
0 |
Alan Griffin |
6-5 |
195 |
So. |
8.3 |
4.6 |
0.5 |
40% 3FG on season (32-80) |
| F |
2 |
Kipper Nichols |
6-6 |
220 |
r-Sr. |
3.7 |
2.1 |
0.7 |
19 pts vs. RUT 1/30/18 |
| F |
4 |
Zach Griffith |
6-6 |
210 |
Jr. |
0.8 |
0.5 |
0.1 |
Academic All-B1G |
| G |
5 |
Tevian Jones |
6-7 |
205 |
So. |
0.5 |
0.6 |
0.1 |
3 pts. vs. MSU las tgame |
| G |
10 |
Andres Feliz |
6-2 |
195 |
Sr. |
11.3 |
4.8 |
2.8 |
15.2 ppg, 6.0 rpg last 5 |
| F |
13 |
Benjamin Bosmans-Verdonk |
6-8 |
235 |
Fr. |
1.2 |
1.1 |
0.7 |
6.4 min. per game |
| G |
32 |
Tyler Underwood |
6-2 |
180 |
Gr. |
0.8 |
0.3 |
0.3 |
2-5 from three |
| C |
34 |
Jermaine Hamlin |
6-10 |
235 |
Fr. |
1.1 |
0.9 |
0.1 |
6-8 FG |
| F |
35 |
Samson Oladimeji |
6-4 |
210 |
Sr. |
0.3 |
0.4 |
0.0 |
2-time Academic All-B1G |
| Sitting Out 2019-20 Season (NCAA Transfers) |
| G/F |
3 |
Jacob Grandison |
6-6 |
200 |
Jr. |
13.9* |
5.0* |
2.9* |
'18-19 stats from Holy Cross |
| G |
22 |
Austin Hutcherson |
6-6 |
175 |
Jr. |
20.0* |
5.6* |
3.2* |
'18-19 stats from Wesleyan |
Career Record: 151-74 (.671), 7th year
At Illinois: 42-47 (.472), 3rd year
Big Ten: 19-32 (.373)
Series Notes vs. Rutgers
Record: Illinois leads 7-1
Streak: Illinois W-4
Last Meeting: ILL 54, RUT 51 (Jan. 11 at Champaign)
Record at Piscataway: Illinois leads 2-1
Streak at Piscataway: Illinois W-1
Last Meeting at Piscataway: ILL 75, RUT 62 (Feb. 25, 2018)
Underwood vs. Rutgers: 3-0
Opening Tips
• No. 22 Illinois heads East for back-to-back road games, beginning Saturday at Rutgers (3:30 p.m. CT, BTN).
• Following a seven-game winning streak, the Illini are now looking to snap a three-game skid.
• Illinois has won three Big Ten road games, tied with Maryland and Michigan State for second-most in the league behind only Penn State (4).
• Illinois leads the Big Ten in scoring defense during conference play, allowing 62.9 ppg.
• Illinois is in a current stretch of five-straight Quad 1 games that began Feb. 2 at Iowa.
• The Illini head to Rutgers looking for their sixth Quad 1 win of the season. Three of Illinois' five Quad 1 victories have come on the road: at Michigan (28), at Purdue (29) and at Wisconsin (31), with the home wins against Michigan (28) and Purdue (29).
• The Illini also have two Quad 2 wins, both at home, with the win over Rutgers (32) just missing Quad 1 status.
• Illinois is ranked for the fifth straight week in the Associated Press poll, checking in at No. 22. This is Illinois' longest streak since appearing in eight straight AP polls from Nov. 26, 2012-Jan. 14, 2013.
• Illinois (+8.5) trails just Penn State and West Virginia for the largest turnaround so far this season among schools from the six major conferences, and is tied for 12th across all of Div. I for most improved teams.
• Illinois has surpassed last year's win total by four games and last seasons's B1G win total by one game.
• The Illini rank fourth in field goal percentage defense (.401) and second in 3-point percentage defense (.305) in conference games.
• Illinois' defense has allowed an average of just 62.5 points on 39.6% shooting and 32.7% from 3-point range over the last 16 games.
• Illinois is averaging just 10.1 turnovers over the last 12 games, tallying single digits seven times.
• Illinois ranks third in the NCAA in rebound margin (+9.0), trailing Houston and UC Irvine.
• Illinois has outrebounded its opponent in 18 of 24 games, and 10 times by double digits.
• Illinois ranks seventh nationally in offensive rebound rate (36.4%) and is averaging 12.1 second-chance ppg.
• The Illini are 15-1 this season, and 35-3 in the Underwood era, when shooting better than the opponent.
• Illinois has made 40 more free throws than its opponents have attempted on the season, and are currently outscoring foes by an average of 5.8 points per game at the foul line.
• Illinois is No. 18 in the nation in defensive free throw rate at 23.2% (FTA/FGA), a complete contrast from last season when the Illini defense ranked 338th out of 353 teams in that same category (42.4%).
• Five of Illinois' remaining seven regular season games are either Quad 1 (4) or Quad 2 (1).
Player Items
• Sophomore Ayo Dosunmu has been named to the Naismith Trophy Midseason Team, announced Thursday by the Atlanta Tipoff Club.
• Dosunmu leads the team and is sixth in the Big Ten in scoring at 15.8 ppg. He has reached double digits in 20 of 24 games, with five 20-point performances.
• Dosunmu has scored in double figures in 14 of the last 15 games, including a career-long active streak of nine straight contests.
• Dosunmu is averaging 17.0 points (153) and 4.2 assists (38) over the last nine games.
• Dosunmu scored 15 of his 17 points against Michigan State in the second half.
• Kofi Cockburn has nine double-doubles, setting the Illinois freshman season record and tied for fifth among all freshmen nationally.
• Cockburn ranks 58th in the NCAA in rebounding – and No. 4 among freshmen – averaging 9.0 rpg.
• Cockburn is 23rd nationally in offensive rebound percentage (14.6).
• Cockburn is averaging 3.5 offensive rebounds over the last eight games (28).
• Cockburn is 38th nationally in fouls drawn per 40 minutes (6.5) and 50th in free throw rate (60.1).
• Cockburn has scored in double figures in 18 of 24 games, with five 20-point outings.
• Cockburn is shooting 80.5% from the foul line over the last eight games, making 33-of-41. And he is 75.2% at the line over the last 19 games (76-101).
• Senior Andres Feliz is averaging 15.2 points (76) and 6.0 rebounds (30) over the last five games while shooting 50.9% from the field (27-53) and 90.9% from the foul line (20-22).
• Feliz has tied his career-long streak by scoring in double digits in each of the last five games.
• Sophomore Alan Griffin is averaging 8.0 points (24) and 7.0 rebounds (21) over the last three games while shooting 42.9% from 3-point range (6-14) and making an average of 2.0 treys.
• Junior Trent Frazier is averaging 11.1 points (78) and shooting 43.6% from 3-point range (17-39) while averaging 2.8 made threes over the last seven games, scoring in double figures five times.
• Junior Da'Monte Williams has made 4-of-5 from 3-point range over the last two games after going nine straight games without a field goal.
SFC Sellouts
Momentum on the court is carrying over to the Illini fan base. Illinois has played in front of sellout crowds in each of the last three home games against Minnesota, Maryland and Michigan State. Two additional games have sold out: March 1 vs. Indiana and March 8 vs. Iowa (Senior Night). The Illini-Hoosiers matchup will be Stripe State Farm Center, with odd-numbered sections and Illinois students asked to wear orange, and even-numbered sections requested to wear blue.
Tickets are still available for the remaining home game, Feb. 24 vs. Nebraska, and can be purchased through FightingIllini.com or by phone at 1-866-ILLINI-1.
Last Time Out
Illinois staged one of the greatest comebacks in school history before falling in the closing seconds to Michigan State, 70-69, at State Farm Center.
The first half belonged to the Spartans, who scored the game's first eight points and led by as many as 19 before taking a 37-20 lead into the locker room.
After a sluggish first 20 minutes on offense, the Illini came out clicking following intermission, making seven of their first 11 shots. But MSU was still scoring on the other end, taking its largest lead of the night at 43-23 and still holding a 17-point lead with 12 minutes remaining.
That's when Illinois came surging back. The Illini reeled off 10 unanswered to cut the deficit to seven. The hosts then scored 12 of the next 16, taking their first lead of the night at 61-60 on an Ayo Dosunmu layup with 5:27 to go. That capped a 22-4 run over six minutes that brought the fans roaring to 111 decibels.
The lead would change hands seven times over the final five minutes, with each team answering the other. Kofi Cockburn made the biggest free throws of his young career, draining a pair with 19.1 seconds left to put the Illini ahead 69-68.
Cassius Winston drove the lane on MSU's final possession, missing a runner that only drew backboard. It was cleaned up by Xavier Tillman, who dunked it home with six seconds left to put the Spartans up by one.
Illinois had one last chance, but after racing up court, Dosunmu slipped while attempting to make a move and lost control of the ball, crashing to the floor as the clock expired.
Dosunmu led the Illini with 17 points and a career-high nine rebounds. Andres Feliz scored 15, and Cockburn added 11 points and eight boards.
» Complete Illinois-Rutgers Game Notes (PDF)
