| PROBABLE STARTERS (Based on previous game) |
| Pos. |
No. |
Name |
Ht. |
Wt. |
Yr. |
PPG |
RPG |
APG |
Note |
| G |
32 |
Kasparas Jakucionis |
6-6 |
205 |
Fr. |
13.6 |
6.0 |
6.0 |
1st among NCAA freshman in assists/game |
| G |
4 |
Kylan Boswell |
6-2 |
205 |
Jr. |
9.4 |
3.6 |
3.6 |
Season-highs 18 points vs. #19 Arkansas |
| G |
22 |
Tre White |
6-7 |
210 |
Jr. |
7.6 |
5.4 |
0.7 |
Season-high 16 points vs. Little Rock |
| F |
3 |
Ben Humrichous |
6-9 |
225 |
Gr. |
10.1 |
3.3 |
1.1 |
.429 3FG% (5th in Big Ten) |
| C |
13 |
Tomislav Ivisic |
7-1 |
255 |
So. |
16.3 |
8.9 |
1.3 |
4 double-doubles (8th in NCAA / 1st in Big Ten) |
| OFF THE BENCH |
| Pos. |
No. |
Name |
Ht. |
Wt. |
Yr. |
PPG |
RPG |
APG |
Note |
| F |
0 |
Carey Booth |
6-10 |
215 |
So. |
2.3 |
1.4 |
0.1 |
Four of five field goals are 3-pointers |
| G |
2 |
Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn |
6-1 |
185 |
So. |
7.3 |
2.1 |
0.1 |
Career-high 21 points vs EIU |
| G |
5 |
AJ Redd |
6-3 |
170 |
Jr. |
0.5 |
0.8 |
0.3 |
Former team manager turned walkon |
| F |
7 |
Will Riley |
6-8 |
195 |
Fr. |
15.4 |
4.6 |
1.9 |
.500 3FG% (2nd In Big Ten / 16th in NCAA) |
| F |
15 |
Jake Davis |
6-6 |
205 |
So. |
1.6 |
1.2 |
0.2 |
Season-high 4 rebounds vs. UMES |
| F |
21 |
Morez Johnson Jr. |
6-9 |
255 |
Fr. |
5.4 |
7.3 |
0.1 |
2.9 offensive rebounds/game (3rd in Big Ten) |
| G |
24 |
Keaton Kutcher |
6-2 |
195 |
r-Jr. |
0.5 |
0.3 |
0.3 |
Scored first Illinois points vs. SIUE |
| REDSHIRT (Averages from 2023-24 season) |
| Pos. |
No. |
Name |
Ht. |
Wt. |
Yr. |
PPG |
RPG |
APG |
Note |
| G/F |
20 |
Ty Rodgers |
6-6 |
210 |
Jr. |
6.2 |
5.3 |
2.0 |
Started all 38 games last season |
| F |
31 |
Jason Jakstys |
6-10 |
210 |
Fr. |
-- |
-- |
-- |
Third-Team All-State |
Career Record: 258-116 (.690), 12th year
At Illinois: 149-89 (.626), 8th year
Big Ten: 80-58 (.580)
Series History vs. Northwestern
All-Time Record / Streak: Illinois leads, 144-44 / Northwestern W1
Last Meeting: Northwestern 96, #10 Illinois 91 - OT (1/24/2024 at Evanston, Ill.)
Record at Northwestern / Streak: Illinois leads, 65-30 / Northwestern W2
Underwood vs. Northwestern: 10-4
Opening Tips
- A charter member of the Big Ten Conference, No. 19 Illinois begins its 120th season of league play Friday night at Northwestern (8 p.m. CT, BTN). Illinois is opening B1G play on the road for the seventh time in the last nine seasons.
- Illinois returned to the AP Top-25 rankings at No. 19 this week. Head coach Brad Underwood has led the Fighting Illini program to AP top-25 rankings in six consecutive seasons. The Illini are also 17th in the latest Coaches Poll.
- Illinois is No. 10 in the first NCAA NET rankings released Dec. 1. The Illini's ranking is the top mark in the Big Ten.
- Friday's matchup with Northwestern is the 189th in the series that dates back to the 1907-08 season. Illinois leads 144-44. The Illini are 65-30 vs. the Wildcats in Evanston and have won 10 of the last 12 meetings overall, with the lone losses coming in the Illini's last two visits to Welsh-Ryan Arena.
- Illinois' matchup at Northwestern is the Orange and Blue's only contest in a 12-day period following the team's Thanksgiving Day victory over #19 Arkansas on Nov. 28 and leading into the Orange and Blue's Big Ten home opener vs. #11 Wisconsin on Dec. 10 (8 p.m. CT/Peacock) at State Farm Center.
- Illinois is the winningest team in the Big Ten over the last five seasons, registering a 69-31 (.690) mark in league play. And when including the conference tournament, the Illini have a league-best 75 wins during this time span. The Illini won the 2024 Big Ten Tournament championship as the #2 seed, captured the regular season championship in 2022, and led the conference in wins while adding a B1G Tournament crown in 2021.
- Head coach Brad Underwood has also led Illinois to the Big Ten's best road record since the start of the 2019-20 season. During that span, the Illini are 29-21 (.580) in conference road matchups, and have finished .500 or better in four of the last five seasons.
- The Illini rank second in the nation with a scoring margin of +27.7. Illinois' 13-point win vs. #19 Arkansas was the largest by an unranked Illinois team over a top-25 foe under head coach Brad Underwood. Before the matchup with the Razorbacks, the Illini were coming off of the team's two largest victory margins of the season – vs. UMES (+47, 87-40) and vs. Little Rock (+58, 92-34).
- Illinois' Thanksgiving Day victory over No. 19 Arkansas marked the 149th victory of Brad Underwood's Illini tenure. In his eighth season in Champaign, Underwood now ranks fifth on the Illinois all-time coaching wins list, and is just two victories away from a tie for fourth place.
- Following the 2024 Elite Eight appearance and Big Ten Tournament Championship, Illinois has a dramatically different roster this season. The program returns just one rotation player – last year's ninth-leading scorer Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn – and returns just 2.9% of its minutes, 2.2% of its points, and 2.0% of its rebounds overall
- Newcomers to the Illini roster have accounted for 91.2% of the team's scoring so far (569 of 624 total points), with UI freshmen accounting for 38.6% of those points (241).
- Illinois leads the Big Ten and ranks among the top teams nationally in: 3-point attempts per game (3rd in NCAA, 33.9), 3-pointers made per game (7th, 11.9), total rebounds per game (1st, 47.9), rebound margin (1st, +15.3), defensive rebounds per game (2nd, 33.6), offensive rebounds per game (30th, 14.3), 3-point percentage defense (12th; .260), and blocks per game (18th, 5.6). The Illini also rank second nationally in scoring margin (+27.7) trailing only Big Ten foe Maryland by 0.4 points per game.
- KenPom.com ranks the Illini 14th in adjusted efficiency rating (+22.76). Illinois is one of 12 programs nationally to rank in the top 25 in both offensive efficiency (19th, 117.9) and defensive efficiency (24th, 95.2).
- According to KenPom, the Illini rank seventh nationally, first among Power Conference programs, with a 3-point attempt rate (3-point attempts/total field goal attempts) of 52.4%. The Illini boast the best overall offensive efficiency rating (117.9) among the top-25 programs in 3-point attempt percentage.
- Offensively, the Fighting Illini's scoring average of 89.1 ppg ranks as the team's highest since the 1964-65 team set the program record at 92.2 points per game.
- Illinois' scoring margin of +27.7 points per game is on pace for the program record. The 1942-43 Illini outscored opponents by 20.6 points per game. The team's top mark since 1960 is +15.9 set in 2004-05.
Complete Illinois Game Notes (PDF)
