#20 ILLINOIS (20-8, 13-5) vs. Penn State (12-14, 7-11)
Date | Time	Thursday, March 3, 2022 | 6 p.m. CT
Location	Champaign, Ill. | State Farm Center
Tickets	FightingIllini.com
Television	FS1 (Joe Davis & Casey Jacobsen)
Live Stream	foxsports.com/live/fs1 | FOX Sports App
Radio	Busey Bank Illini Sports Network | Listen | Varsity Network App | Sirius 133, XM 195, SXM App 957
Cockburn for Player of Year	FightingIllini.com/KingKofi
Live Stats	FightingIllini.com
Printable Notes	Illinois | Penn State
Pregame Press Conference	Coach Underwood (March 2)
Stats	Illinois | Penn State
Record Book	Illinois
Shop	Online Store | Auctions
Social Media	@IlliniMBB | #Illini | @IlliniMBB | Facebook | YouTube

Head Coach Brad Underwood

Career Record: 200-91 (.687), 9th year
At Illinois: 91-64 (.587), 5th year
Big Ten: 53-43 (.552)

Series Notes vs. Penn State

All-Time Record: Illinois leads 31-19
Streak: Illinois W-3
Last Meeting: #22 Illinois 79, Penn State 65  (1/19/2021 at Champaign)
Record at Champaign: Illinois leads 15-8
Streak at Champaign: Illinois W-1
Underwood vs. Penn State: 3-3

Opening Tips

• No. 20 Illinois ends the regular season with a pair of home games, starting Thursday vs. Penn State (6 p.m. CT, FS1).

• Looking ahead to next week's Big Ten Tournament, Illinois currently has a seed range of 1 through 5. A win over Penn State would secure a top-3 seed, and a double bye for the third straight year.

• Illinois has won at least 13 Big Ten games in three straight seasons for the first time in school history.

• Illinois is the Big Ten's winningest team over the last three seasons with a 42-16 record in league play, and a 45-16 mark when including the conference tournament.

• Illinois' 42 wins in Big Ten play over the last three years is the winningest 3-year stretch in school history.

• Illinois is 27-6 in its last 33 games versus Big Ten opponents.

• Illinois has won 20 games, marking the 35th 20-win season all-time and the first stretch of three-straight 20-win seasons for the program since 2009 through 2011

• Illinois went 7-3 in Big Ten road games this season and has now totaled 20 B1G road wins over the last three years, three more than the next closest team (Wisconsin, 17). Illinois has gone 20-10 during this stretch (.667), one of only three teams above .500 on the road in B1G play.

• Leading the way for Illinois is National Player of the Year candidate Kofi Cockburn, the only player in the country averaging at least 21 points (21.5 ppg) and 10 rebounds (10.7 rpg) this season.

• Cockburn is the only player ranked in the top 10 nationally in both scoring (eighth) and rebounding (eighth).

• Cockburn has 42 career double-doubles, an Illinois record and second-most in the NCAA over the last three years.

• Alfonso Plummer is averaging 26.0 points and shooting 73.7% on threes the last two games, making 14-of-19.

• Plummer (992 points) is eight away from scoring 1,000 career points and becoming the fourth player on the current Illini roster to reach the 1,000-point milestone (Frazier-1,761, Cockburn-1,455, Grandison-1,155).

Big Run in the Big Ten

Illinois' performance in conference play during the Underwood era has reached historic level of success. The Illini's 42 Big Ten wins since 2020 is the most in program history over a three-year stretch:

42 B1G wins – 2020 (13), 2021 (16), 2022 (13)
39 B1G wins – 2004 (13), 2005 (15), 2006 (11)
39 B1G wins – 2003 (11), 2004 (13), 2005 (15)
39 B1G wins – 1987 (13), 1988 (12), 1989 (14)
39 B1G wins – 1951 (13), 1952 (12), 1953 (14)

Illinois has put together three straight 13+ win Big Ten seasons for the first time in program history.

Among the Greats

Kofi Cockburn is putting up numbers that rank among some of the best big men in recent college basketball history. Cockburn is the first player from a high-major conference in the last four years to average at least 21 points and 10 rebounds, and just the ninth player to do so in the last 20 seasons:

Mike Sweetney, Georgetown, 2002-03 – 22.8 ppg 10.4 rpg
Kris Humphries, Minnesota, 2003-04 – 21.7 ppg 10.1 rpg
Michael Beasley, Kansas State, 2006-07 – 26.2 ppg 12.4 rpg
Kevin Durant, Texas, 2006-07 – 25.8 ppg 11.1 rpg
Tyler Hansbrough, North Carolina, 2007-08 – 22.6 ppg, 10.2 rpg
Blake Griffin, Oklahoma, 2008-09 – 22.7 ppg 14.4 rpg
Luke Harangody, Notre Dame, 2008-09 – 23.3 ppg 11.8 rpg
Marvin Bagley, Duke, 2017-18 – 21.0 ppg 11.1 rpg
Kofi Cockburn, Illinois, 2021-22 – 21.5 ppg 10.7 rpg

Prolific Plummer

Illinois landed one of the top graduate transfers in college basketball with the addition of sharp-shooter Alfonso Plummer. He is second on the Illini and 12th in the Big Ten in scoring at 15.5 ppg. He has made 88 three-pointers so far, leading the league with an average of 3.1 treys per game and already ranking fourth on the Illinois single-season list:

1. 116 – Luther Head, 2005
2. 99 – Dee Brown, 2005
3. 96 – Cory Bradford, 2000
4. 88 – Alfonso Plummer, 2022
5. 87 – Jalen Coleman-Lands, 2016

Plummer is coming off an incredible shooting week where he made 73.7% behind the arc, combining to hit 14-of-19 threes against Ohio State and Michigan. The 14 threes tie the second-most in a 2-game stretch in Illinois history:

1. 15 Kevin Turner (8 at UCLA, 12/30/97 & 7 vs. Indiana, 1/2/98)
T2. 14 Alfonso Plummer (8 vs. Ohio State, 2/24/2022 & 6 at Michigan, 2/27/2022)
T2. 14 Dee Brown (6 vs. Northwestern 2/23/2005 & 8 vs. Purdue 3/3/2005)

Plummer's eight 3-pointers vs. Ohio State equaled the school record. He is the fifth Illini player ever to make eight threes in a game:

8 – Alfonso Plummer vs. Ohio State, 2/24/2022
8 – Brandon Paul vs. Ohio State, 1/10/2012
8 – Trent Meacham vs. Florida A&M, 11/19/2006
8 – Dee Brown vs. Purdue, 3/3/2005
8 – Kevin Turner at UCLA, 12/30/97

Plummer has now made at least five triples in nine games, the most by an Illini player in a season and tied for the most among high-major conference players this year.

Complete Illinois Game Notes (PDF)