| Illinois Probable Starters (from last game) |
| Pos. |
No. |
Name |
Ht. |
Wt. |
Yr. |
PPG |
RPG |
APG |
Note |
| G |
1 |
Trent Frazier |
6-2 |
175 |
Jr. |
9.4 |
2.2 |
2.0 |
189 career made threes |
| G |
11 |
Ayo Dosunmu |
6-5 |
185 |
So. |
16.2 |
4.2 |
3.2 |
Naismith Mid-Season 30 |
| G |
10 |
Andres Feliz |
6-2 |
195 |
Sr. |
11.0 |
5.0 |
2.8 |
26 pts, 16-17 FT vs. NW 3/3/19 |
| G |
20 |
Da'Monte Williams |
6-3 |
210 |
Jr. |
2.3 |
3.8 |
1.3 |
10 pts, 8-10 FT at NW 1/6/19 |
| C |
21 |
Kofi Cockburn |
7-0 |
290 |
Fr. |
13.6 |
9.0 |
0.6 |
11 double-doubles |
| Off the Bench |
| Pos. |
No. |
Name |
Ht. |
Wt. |
Yr. |
PPG |
RPG |
APG |
Note |
| G |
0 |
Alan Griffin |
6-5 |
195 |
So. |
8.8 |
4.8 |
0.5 |
40.0% 3FG on season (38-95) |
| F |
2 |
Kipper Nichols |
6-6 |
220 |
r-Sr. |
3.4 |
2.1 |
0.7 |
112 career games played |
| 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. |
1.0 |
0.8 |
0.1 |
6 pts. at RUT 2/15/20 |
| F |
13 |
Benjamin Bosmans-Verdonk |
6-8 |
235 |
Fr. |
1.2 |
1.1 |
0.7 |
6.4 min. per game |
| F |
15 |
Giorgi Bezhanishvili |
6-9 |
235 |
So. |
7.2 |
4.9 |
1.8 |
26 pts. vs. NW in '19 BTT |
| G |
32 |
Tyler Underwood |
6-2 |
180 |
Gr. |
0.7 |
0.2 |
0.2 |
2-6 from three |
| C |
34 |
Jermaine Hamlin |
6-10 |
235 |
Fr. |
1.0 |
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: 153-75 (.671), 7th year
At Illinois: 44-48 (.478), 3rd year
Big Ten: 21-33 (.389)
Series Notes vs. Northwestern
Record: Illinois leads 137-42
Streak: Illinois W-3
Record at Evanston: Illinois leads 62-28
Streak at Evanston: Northwestern W-1
Last Meeting: ILL 75, NU 71 (Jan. 18 at Champaign)
Last Meeting at Evanston: NU 68, ILL 66 (Jan. 6, 2019)
Underwood vs. Northwestern: 4-2
Opening Tips
• Illinois plays the second in a stretch of three games in less than six full days on Thursday night, facing Northwestern in Evanston (7 p.m. CT, BTN).
• Illinois (+9.0) owns the largest turnaround so far this season among schools from the six major conferences, and is tied for ninth across all of Div. I for most improved teams.
• Illinois has 10 conference wins, its most since 2010, and will finish at least .500 in Big Ten play for the first time since 2015.
• Illinois has exceeded last season's win total by six games and last year's B1G win total by three games.
• Illinois leads the Big Ten in scoring defense during league play, allowing 62.8 ppg.
• Illinois has won four Big Ten road games, tied for most in the league with Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State and Penn State.
• Illinois is one of 10 teams with at least four Quad 1 road wins, and the lone team in the country with four road wins over teams in the top 40 of the NET.
Stripe State Farm Center on Deck
Illinois' next home game on Sunday against Indiana is Stripe State Farm Center. Illini Athletics is asking all fans to participate by helping stripe the arena orange and blue for the first time ever at an Illinois Basketball game.
Fans holding tickets in odd-numbered sections should wear orange, while fan with tickets in even-numbered sections should wear blue. All University of Illinois students, meanwhile, are requested to wear orange. View Map – Stripe State Farm Center
Last Time Out
The Illini led from start to finish in a 71-59 home victory over Nebraska on Monday. Five players scored in double figures and the Illini dominated on the glass to earn the 12-point win despite a tough shooting night.
Illinois jumped out to a quick 9-2 lead and held a 10-point advantage with five minutes left in the first half. The Huskers responded with a 13-3 run to tie it at 31-all, but Trent Frazier put an exclamation on the end of the half. Frazier drained a stepback 3-pointer from the top of the key with 20 seconds left, then grabbed a defensive rebound and launched a 70-footer a split second before the clock expired and watched it land in the bottom of the net to ignite the State Farm Center crowd and give the Illini a 37-31 advantage at the break.
Nebraska pulled to another tie at 46-all early in the second half, but Illinois then held the Huskers without a basket during a six-minute stretch while outscoring the visitors 11-1 to open up a 10-point lead. Nebraska drew no closer than eight over the last 11 minutes as Illinois secured its 10th Big Ten win of the season.
The Illini shot just 39.4 percent, but grabbed 19 of its own misses as part of a 48-35 overall edge on the glass. Illinois scored 14 second-chance points and tallied 42 points in the paint.
Ayo Dosunmu led all scorers with 18 points on 9-of-16 shooting. Kofi Cockburn secured his 11th double-double of the season with 15 points and 10 boards. Alan Griffin had 13 points and seven rebounds off the bench, while Andres Feliz and Trent Frazier added 11 points apiece.
Illini Items
• The Illini have five Quad 1 win on the season, four of which have come on the road: at Michigan (22), at Penn State (25), at Wisconsin (30) and at Purdue (37). Illinois defeated Michigan (22) at home as well.
• Illinois' total of five Quad 1 wins is tied for 18th nationally.
• The Illini also have three Quad 2 wins – all at home – over Rutgers (34), Purdue (37) and Minnesota (44).
• Illinois recently played five-straight Quad 1 games from Feb. 2-18, finishing off a stretch with 12 out of 13 Quad 1 (9) or Quad 2 (4) games since the start of 2020.
• Illinois was ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 for five straight weeks from Jan. 13-Feb. 10. It marked Illinois' longest streak since appearing in eight straight AP polls from Nov. 26, 2012-Jan. 14, 2013.
• Over the last two games the Illini defense has allowed 57.5 points on 39.1% from the field and 26.5% from 3-point range.
• Illinois is averaging just 10.3 turnovers over the last 15 games, tallying single digits seven times.
• Illinois leads the Big Ten and ranks fourth in the NCAA in rebound margin (+8.8).
• Illinois ranks fourth in defensive field goal percentage (.405) and third in defensive 3-point percentage (.308) during Big Ten play.
• Illinois has outrebounded its opponent in 20 of 27 games, and 11 times by double digits.
• Illinois ranks sixth nationally in offensive rebound rate (36.3%) and is averaging 12.2 second-chance ppg.
• The Illini are 16-1 this season, and 36-3 in the Underwood era, when shooting better than the opponent.
• Illinois' bench has outscored the opposing bench in 11 of 16 Big Ten games.
• Illinois has made 38 more free throws than its opponents have attempted on the season, and are currently outscoring foes by an average of 5.4 points per game at the foul line.
• Illinois is No. 11 in the nation in defensive free throw rate at 22.8% (FTA/FGA), a complete contrast from last season when the Illini defense ranked 338th out of 353 teams in that same category (42.4%).
Player Trends
• Sophomore Ayo Dosunmu is averaging 17.7 points (195), 4.4 rebounds (48) and 3.7 assists (41) over his last 11 games.
• During his last 11 appearances, Dosunmu has scored at least 15 points nine times and has been the Illini's leading scorer seven times.
• Over the last four games, freshman Kofi Cockburn is averaging 12.5 points (50) and 8.8 rebounds (35) and shooting 51.4% (19-37). This follows a two-game stretch where he averaged just 7.5 points and 5.0 rebounds on 27.3% shooting.
• Senior Andres Feliz is averaging 12.8 points (102) and 6.1 rebounds (49) over the last eight games, scoring in double figures seven times. That included a career-long streak of six straight in double digits from Jan. 25-Feb. 15.
• Sophomore Alan Griffin is averaging 10.8 points (54) and 6.6 rebounds (33) over the last five games while shooting 50% from 3-point range (10-20) and making an average of 2.0 treys.
» Complete Illinois-Northwestern Game Notes (PDF)
