| Illinois Probable Starters (from the last game) |
| Pos. |
No. |
Name |
Ht. |
Wt. |
Yr. |
PPG |
RPG |
APG |
Note |
| G |
1 |
Trent Frazier |
6-2 |
175 |
Sr. |
12.8 |
3.0 |
3.9 |
14.6 ppg over last 10 games |
| G |
11 |
Alfonso Plummer |
6-1 |
180 |
Gr. |
15.2 |
2.6 |
1.2 |
1st in B1G in 3FG (3.0 avg) |
| G |
20 |
Da'Monte Williams |
6-3 |
215 |
Sr. |
4.1 |
5.7 |
3.1 |
1st in B1G in assist/to ratio (3.09) |
| G/F |
3 |
Jacob Grandison |
6-6 |
210 |
Gr. |
10.5 |
4.0 |
2.3 |
41.9% on threes (44-105) |
| C |
21 |
Kofi Cockburn |
7-0 |
285 |
Jr. |
21.6 |
11.2 |
0.9 |
B1G & Naismith Trophy Player of Week |
| Off the Bench |
| Pos. |
No. |
Name |
Ht. |
Wt. |
Yr. |
PPG |
RPG |
APG |
Note |
| G |
0 |
Brandin Podziemski |
6-5 |
200 |
Fr. |
1.7 |
1.2 |
0.4 |
5 points vs Northwestern |
| F |
2 |
Connor Serven |
6-9 |
235 |
So. |
0.0 |
0.2 |
0.0 |
Team's lone walkon in second year |
| F |
4 |
Omar Payne |
6-10 |
240 |
Jr. |
2.0 |
1.9 |
0.2 |
7 pts, 3 reb, 2 blk vs MSU |
| G |
5 |
Andre Curbelo |
6-1 |
175 |
So. |
9.6 |
3.2 |
3.1 |
15 points at Purdue |
| G |
10 |
Luke Goode |
6-7 |
200 |
Fr. |
2.2 |
1.7 |
0.7 |
Career-high 9 points vs MSU |
| C |
12 |
Brandon Lieb |
7-0 |
220 |
So. |
0.8 |
0.7 |
0.1 |
Career-high 4 points vs St. Francis Pa. |
| F |
13 |
Benjamin Bosmans-Verdonk |
6-8 |
235 |
r-So. |
2.1 |
2.5 |
0.8 |
Career-high 8 points vs MSU |
| G |
15 |
RJ Melendez |
6-7 |
205 |
Fr. |
3.0 |
1.6 |
0.7 |
Career-high 8 points at Purdue |
| G |
22 |
Austin Hutcherson |
6-6 |
190 |
Gr. |
2.8 |
2.0 |
0.5 |
Out for remainder of season |
| F |
33 |
Coleman Hawkins |
6-10 |
215 |
So. |
5.4 |
4.1 |
1.4 |
3rd on team in steals (17) & blocks (12) |
Career Record: 197-89 (.689), 9th year
At Illinois: 88-62 (.587), 5th year
Big Ten: 50-41Â (.549)
Series Notes vs. Northwestern
All-Time Record:Â Illinois leads 141-42
Streak: Illinois W-7
Last Meeting: #24 Illinois 59, Northwestern 56 (1/29/2022 at Evanston)
Record at Champaign: Illinois leads 71-14
Streak at Champaign: Illinois W-5
Last Meeting at Champaign: #5 Illinois 73, Northwestern 66 (2/16/2021)
Underwood vs. Northwestern:Â 7-2
Opening Tips
• No. 13 Illinois plays its lone home game in the middle of a stretch with four out of five on the road, facing Northwestern on Sunday afternoon at sold out State Farm Center (1 p.m. CT, BTN).
• Illinois and Northwestern meet for the second time in two weeks after the Illini rallied from a six-point second-half deficit to defeat the Wildcats in Evanston, 59-56, on Jan. 29.
• Illinois has won seven straight against Northwestern in a series that has featured many close games lately, with eight of the last nine meetings decided by single digits.
• Illinois is tied with Wisconsin atop the Big Ten standings at 10-3 with seven games remaining.
• Illinois has won 10 of its last 11 Big Ten home games.
• Illinois is the Big Ten's winningest team over the last three seasons, with a 42-14 (.750) record vs. league foes.
• Illinois is 24-4 in its last 28 games versus Big Ten opponents.
• Illinois is second in defensive efficiency (98.5) in Big Ten play by kenpom, with its defense ranking first in effective field goal percentage (.452) and 2-point percentage (.443) and second in 3-point percentage (.316).
• Leading the way for Illinois is National Player of the Year candidate, and current Big Ten and Naismith Trophy Player of the Week Kofi Cockburn. He is the only NCAA player averaging 20+ points and 10+ rebounds this season.
• Cockburn has 40 career double-doubles, one away from the Illinois record set by Skip Thoren from 1963-65.
• Since returning to the court after missing two games, Cockburn is averaging 23.5 points (94) on 63.9% shooting (39-61) over his last four outings.
Super Bowl Prelude
Illinois is playing its 13th game on Super Bowl Sunday and has a home game for the 10th time. The Illini are 5-7 all-time when playing before the Super Bowl, but have dropped their last five:
1/22/89 – #2 Illinois 103, Georgia Tech 92, 2OT (Champaign) … XXIII – San Francisco 20, Cincinnati 16
1/30/94 – Illinois 88, #11 Indiana 81 (Champaign) … XXVIII – Dallas 30, Buffalo 13
1/25/98 – Illinois 64, #16 Michigan 53 (Champaign) … XXXII – Denver 31, Green Bay 24
1/30/00 – #9 Michigan State 91, Illinois 66 (East Lansing) … XXXIV – St. Louis 23, Tennessee 16
2/3/02 – Michigan State 67, #12 Illinois 61 (Champaign) … XXXVI – New England 20, St. Louis 17
2/6/05 – #1 Illinois 60, Indiana 47 (Champaign) … XXXIX – New England 24, Philadelphia 21
2/1/09 – #19 Illinois 62, Iowa 54 (Champaign) … XLIII – Pittsburgh 27, Arizona 23
2/5/12 – Northwestern 74, Illinois 70 (Champaign) … XLVI – New York Giants 21, New England 17
2/3/13 – Wisconsin 74, Illinois 68 (Champaign) … XLVII – Baltimore 34, San Francisco 31
2/7/16 – #5 Iowa 77, Illinois 65 (Champaign) … L – Denver 24, Carolina 10
2/4/18 – #17 Ohio State 75, Illinois 67 (Columbus) … LII – Philadelphia 41, New England 33
2/2/20 – #18 Iowa 72, #19 Illinois 65 (Iowa City) … LIV – Kansas City 31, San Francisco 20
Illini Items
• Illinois has six Quad 1 wins, tied for seventh-most nationally.
• Illinois has clinched a winning Big Ten record for the third straight season. This is the longest streak for the program since doing so for eight straight years from 2000 through 2007.
• Illinois is one victory away from reaching at least 11 Big Ten wins for a third-straight season. The Illini last achieved that as part of a seven-year streak from 2000 through 2006.
• Illinois has had nine different starting lineups this season, the most among high-major conference teams.
• Illinois rotation players have missed a combined 43 games so far this season.
• Illinois has outrebounded 15 of 23 opponents and ranks sixth in the NCAA in rebound margin at +8.1 rpg.
• Illinois is 14-1 this season when scoring at least 70 points in regulation, with the lone loss to Arizona (79-83).
• Illinois is unbeaten this season when shooting better than its opponent (15-0), and shooting at least 45% (12-0).
• Kofi Cockburn is vying to become the first Illini to average 20 points and 10 rebounds for a season since Nick Weatherspoon in 1973 (25.0 ppg, 12.3 rpg).
• Cockburn has scored in double figures in 33 straight games, the last 15 of his sophomore season and all 18 games this season. His streak began on Feb. 2, 2021.
• Cockburn is drawing 7.5 fouls per 40 minutes, which ranks second nationally.
• Cockburn has eight 20-point, 10-rebound games the season, ranking second in the NCAA.
• Cockburn has 40 career double-doubles, second in the NCAA since 2019-20 and one from the Illinois record.
• Despite missing five games, Cockburn still ranks 10th in the NCAA in double-doubles this season with 12.
• Cockburn has 16 assists in 18 games. His season total in 31 games last year was five.
• Trent Frazier is averaging 14.6 points over the last 10 games (146), scoring at least 13 points seven times.
• Frazier is averaging 5.1 assists over the last nine games (46).
• Frazier is No. 8 on the UI scoring list (1,702) and also ranks in the Illini top 10 in career games played (second), minutes (second), 3-pointers (third), starts (fifth) and steals (sixth).
• Frazier is five made 3-pointers away from reaching 300 for his career, and six steals shy of 200 career steals.
• Alfonso Plummer is averaging 17.1 points over the last 19 games (325), shooting 41.8% from 3-point range (64-153) while averaging 3.4 made threes.
• Plummer has scored in double figures 16 times, with eight outings of 20+ points.
• Plummer leads the Big Ten in 3-pointers, averaging 3.0 makes. He led the Pac-12 last season, averaging 2.6 made threes while at Utah.
• Plummer is 91 points away from reaching 1,000 for his career (909).
• Da'Monte Williams is Illinois' all-time leader in games played, currently at 149.
• Williams leads the Big Ten and ranks eighth in the NCAA in assist-to-turnover ratio at 3.09.
• Jacob Grandison is averaging 3.8 assists over the last four games (15).
Complete Illinois Game Notes (PDF)
