ILLINOIS (7-2; 0-1) vs. Rutgers (4-6, 0-1)
Date | Time	Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2022 | 7 p.m. CT
Location	Champaign, Ill. | State Farm Center
Tickets	FightingIllini.com
Live Stream	B1G+ App | bigtenplus.com
Radio	Busey Bank Illini Sports Network | Listen | Varsity App
Live Stats	StatBroadcast
Printable Notes	Illinois | Rutgers
Availability/Interviews	Indiana Post-Game Radio (12/4) | Rutgers Preview (12/6)
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Head Coach Shauna Green

Career Record: 163-77 (.679), ninth year
Division I Record: 134-52 (.720), seventh year
At Illinois: 7-2, first year
Big Ten: 0-1

Series Notes vs. Rutgers

All-Time Record: Illinois trails 1-9
Record in Champaign: Illinois trails 2-3
Streak:  Lost 6
Last Meeting:  L, 56-66 in Champaign, Ill., on Feb. 27, 2022
Green vs. Opponent: First Meeting

Opening Tips

• Illinois opened its 49th season of women's basketball with a 6-0 record for just the fourth time in program history before suffering its first loss.
• Shauna Green is the first coach in program history to open her Illinois career with a 3-0 start and pushed the new mark a 6-0 start.
• The Fighting Illini secured a win in the ACC/B1G Challenge over Pitt (11/30/22) for the first time since the 2014-15 season.
• It took the 2022-23 squad just eight games to match the previous season's win total (7).
• Illinois has five returners on the 2022-23 squad, including: Jada Peebles, Jayla Oden, Geovana Lopes, Adalia McKenzie and Kendall Bostic
• Shauna Green brought in eight newcomers since being hired on March 21, 2022 - four freshmen and four transfers. 
• Illinois' transfers include: Genesis Bryant (NC State), Makira Cook (Dayton), Aicha Ndour (NW Florida State College) and Brynn Shoup-Hill. Those three programs went a combined 85-13 last season.
• Shauna Green's trio of assistant coaches are no strangers to her or each other. Green, Calamity McEntire, DeAntoine Beasley and Ryan Gensler were on the Dayton Women's Basketball staff together for four seasons from 2017-21. With those four coaches leading from the sidelines, the Flyers posted a 79-34 overall record across four seasons.

Rutgers Story Lines

• The Knights are off to 4-6 (0-1) start, owning wins over Hofstra, NJIT, NC Central and Cornell.
• RU went 11-20 last season and 3-14 in B1G play.
• Rutgers holds a roster of 8 players with no starters returning from last season.
• Rutgers is the only Big Ten team along with Illinois to have a first-year head coach this season.

FIRST NET RANKINGS OF 2022-23

• With a 7-2 start, Illinois came in at No. 19 in the first NET rankings of 2022-23.
• In the same rankings a year prior, the Illini were No. 193 - marking a 174-spot difference.
• Big Ten Conference leads all Division I conferences with five teams in the top 20 and 10 schools among the top 50
• No. 4 Indiana, No. 14 Michigan, No. 15 Ohio State, No. 16 Iowa, No. 19 Illinois, No. 30 Michigan State, No. 34 Nebraska, No. 36 Maryland, No. 43 Purdue and No. 48 Penn State
• The NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) is the primary sorting tool used for determining NCAA Tournament teams.

BIG TEN OPENERS

• Illinois open its 41st season of Big Ten women's basketball on Sunday at No. 5/4 Indiana. The Illini are 14-27 all-time in conference openers following the close loss, and have dropped six-straight league openers. 
• Illinois last began Big Ten Play 1-0 after a 70-65 home win over Iowa to open the 2016-17 Big Ten schedule. 
• The Illini began conference play on the road for the third-straight season, opening the last two seasons at Michigan State and Nebraska, respectively.

COOK'S CAREER NIGHT LEADS ILLINI TO NEAR UPSET

• Makira Cook scored a career-high 33 points and added five rebounds in Illinois' 61-65 loss at No. 5/4 Indiana on Dec. 4 in the B1G opener.
• Cook scored at least 20 points in back-to-back games and three times on the season.
• She finished 6-for-6 from the free throw line, 3-for-4 from deep and 12-for-25 from the field.
• The junior became the first Illini to score 30 or more points since Alex Wittinger dropped 32 on Nov. 24, 2018 against Sacramento State.

THREE-POINT BARRAGE IN ACC/B1G CHALLENGE

• Illinois women's basketball rose to the top of the national 3-point percentage ranks after a 14-for-24 effort at Pitt on Nov. 30. That outing matched the second-most 3-pointers made by the Illini in a game all-time.
• Jada Peebles went 6-for-7 from deep against the Panthers, becoming just the 20th Illini to ever make 6 or more 3s in a game. She tied for the 7th most makes in a game all-time.
• Illinois won the first ACC/B1G Challenge in eight years with the 91-72 win at Pittsburgh.
• Through eight games, the Illini made 64 treys to just 32 by their opponents. Last season, the Illini made 157 total 3-pointers, working at a 31.8% rate.

NAME OF THE GAME IS DEFENSE

Illinois women's basketball has instilled the goal of holding opponents to 10 points or less per quarter. Through nine games, Illinois has limited opposition to 10 or less points in 10 of 36 chances. Opponents have been held below 15 points in 24 of those 36 periods.

BEST STARTS TO A SEASON

In the first season under Shauna Green, Illinois women's basketball tied the second-best start in program with a 6-0 mark before suffering a loss. The Illini's start was the best for the program in 35 years.

FIRST SEASONS AT A NEW SCHOOL

Shauna Green has quickly taken Illinois women's basketball out to a refreshing start. Green is one of 38 head coaches in their first season at a new school this season. Additionally, Green's 6-0 start put her in elite company. The following are teams that have secured a better start than Illinois - just two.

DOUBLE DOUBLE-DOUBLE

In Illinois' first loss of the season, the Illini had two players record double-doubles for the first time in the same game since Dec. 2, 2020 vs. Valparaiso.

Adalia McKenzie registered the first double-double of her career with 22 points, 10 rebounds along with 5 steals.

Makira Cook added the second double-double of her career - first as an Illini - and put her own twist on it. Cook tallied 16 points and 10 assists. She's the first Illini with double-digit assists since Jeanae Terry did so at Minnesota on Feb. 10, 2021. Cook's points/assists double-double was just the 20th of its kind through three weeks of play when Cook achieved it. Only seven of those occurrences saw a player score more than 16 points.

COMPLETE GAME NOTES (PDF)