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No. 17 Illinois looks to end a two-game skid, facing Northwestern on Sunday at sold-out State Farm Center (2 p.m. CT, BTN).
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Illinois has dropped consecutive Big Ten games for the first time since Feb. 14-18, 2023.
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The Illini have won eight straight at home over Northwestern, an active streak that began on Feb. 28, 2015.
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The Illini fell to the Wildcats 70-66 in overtime in their Big Ten opener in Evanston on Dec. 6.
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Sunday's matchup vs. Northwestern is the first of three doubles on Illinois' Big Ten schedule (along with Michigan State & Wisconsin).
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Illinois is 8-3 at State Farm Center this season – including a two-point loss at the buzzer to No. 1-ranked Tennessee on Dec. 14 – but has lost consecutive home games for the first time since Jan. 10-16, 2021.
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Kasparas Jakucionis has been named Midseason All-America third team by The Sporting News. Jakucionis was one of just two freshmen among the 15 players recognized, along with Duke's Cooper Flagg.
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Jakucionis recorded 21 points, seven rebounds and seven assists Thursday vs. Maryland. It marked his eighth 20-point game of the season, tying the Illinois program freshman record.
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Jakucionis has posted four game this season with 20+ points, 6+ rebounds and 5+ assists, tied for second nationally, one behind Northwestern senior Brooks Barnhizer.
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Illinois is No. 8 in the latest NCAA NET rankings, first among Big Ten teams. The Illini are tied for 11th nationally with four Quad 1 wins.
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Illinois is No. 11 in the latest KenPom net rating at 25.17. The Fighting Illini are on pace for their third top-15 ranking of the Underwood era.
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Four of Illinois' last five wins have come by 25+ points. The Illini defeated Chicago State, 117-64 (+53), recorded an historic 109-77 (+32) victory at No. 9 Oregon, earned a 91-52 (+39) home win over Penn State, and rolled to a 94-69 (+25) victory at Indiana.
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Illinois is averaging 85.9 points, the team's highest output since the 1988-89 Flyin' Illini averaged 86.4 ppg. Illinois is on pace for the No. 6 scoring offense mark in program history.
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Illinois ranks second in the Big Ten with a scoring margin of +16.7 points. That is on pace for No. 2 in the Illini record book behind the 1942-43 team, which outscored opponents by 20.6 points per game. The UI's top mark in the modern era is +15.9 ppg set in 2004-05.
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Illinois ranks second nationally in rebounding at 44.7 boards per game, on pace for the program's best average in 53 seasons, since posting 48.0 rebounds per contest in 1971-72. The Orange and Blue have outrebounded their opponent in 16 of 19 games this season.
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The Illini rank No. 11 in Ken Pom adjusted defensive efficiency (92.8), on pace for its highest ranking since reaching seventh during the 2021 season, and the second-best number of the Underwood era (88.9 in 2021).
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Illinois is seventh nationally in Ken Pom's effective field goal percentage defense (.436), ranking third in 3-point defense (.278) and 14th in 2-point defense (.444). Illinois joins Cincinnati, Florida, Kansas, and San Diego State as one of five programs to rank in the top 15 of both categories.
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Illinois is 3-3 against Top-25 ranked teams this season with wins over No. 19 Arkansas, No. 20 Wisconsin, and at No. 9 Oregon. The Illini's three ranked wins are tied for seventh most in the nation.
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Illinois is a combined 5-3 in road and neutral games away from State Farm Center this season, with a 3-2 mark in true road contests.
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Brad Underwood has led the Illini program to Top-25 rankings in six consecutive seasons, currently at No. 17 in the latest polls. Illinois has been ranked for a total of seven weeks this season, including an active streak of five-consecutive weeks, and has reached as high as 13th.
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Illinois has registered 74 wins in league play since the start of the 2019-20 season, one behind Purdue for the most in the conference over the last six seasons. And when including the conference tournament, the Illini have 80 wins during this time span, also one behind Purdue's mark.
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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, and the team's three total championships during that span are tied with Purdue for the most in the Big Ten.
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Illinois has the Big Ten's best road record since the start of the 2019-20 season. During this span, the Illini are 32-23 (.582) in conference road games, and have finished .500 or better in four of the last five seasons.
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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.
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Newcomers to the Illini roster have accounted for 91.9% of the team's scoring so far (1,483 of 1,613 total points), with UI freshmen accounting for 39.5% of those points (587).
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Eight different Illini players have recorded a 20-point game this season, tied for the top mark in the NCAA, and the most by any Big Ten program since at least 2004-05.
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Four of the Illinois' top scorers and rebounders are all in their first year of collegiate basketball. Freshman G Kasparas Jakucionis ranks first in scoring (16.2 ppg) and fifth in rebounding (5.2 rpg). Sophomore C Tomislav Ivisic nearly averages a double-double at 13.0 points (second on team) and a team-leading 8.5 rebounds. Freshman F Will Riley is the Illini's No. 4 scorer at 10.4 points per game. And Freshman F Morez Johnson Jr. ranks second on the team at 6.5 rebounds per game with a team-leading 45 offensive boards (2.4 per game).
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At 16.2 points per game, Kasparas Jakucionis is on pace to break the Illini freshman scoring average record of 15.9 points per game set by Kiwane Garris 31 years ago.
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Morez Johnson Jr., at 6.5 rebounds per game , is on track for the fourth-best freshman mark in Illini history.
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Ben Humrichous has knocked down at least one 3-pointer in 18 of 19 games this season. He leads the team and ranks 10th in the Big Ten averaging 2.0 triples per contest.
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After opening the year averaging 7.1 points and 5.0 rebounds in his first eight games, Tre White has found a rhythm on the court for the Illini. Beginning with a 23-point, 8 rebound effort vs. #20 Wisconsin on Dec. 10, White is averaging 12.8 points and 5.8 rebounds over the last 11 games, scoring in double figures seven times.
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During that same 11-game stretch, Kylan Boswell is averaging 14.2 points (156), 6.6 rebounds (73), and 4.2 assists (46). He scored a career-high 22 points in the Illini's win at Indiana (Jan. 14), and posted the seventh triple-double in program history vs. Chicago State (18 p, 10 r, 10a) on Dec. 29.
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Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn continues to make a big impact off the bench for the Illini in his sophomore season. Over his last nine games, Gibbs-Lawhorn is averaging 10.7 points (96) while shooting 56.3% (36-64) from the field.
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Morez Johnson Jr. is also excelling for the Illini. Over his last nine games Johnson is averaging 7.6 points (68) and 6.8 rebounds (61), highlighted by a 20-point, 11-rebound double-double in the win over Penn State (Jan. 8).
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Junior guard Kylan Boswell recorded the seventh triple-double in Illinois history and fifth of the Underwood era against Chicago State, tallying 18 points, career-high 10 rebounds, and career-high 10 assists.
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Point guard Kasparas Jakucionis scored 20+ points in six straight games from Nov. 25-Dec. 22, shattering the Illini freshman record for consecutive 20-point games (previous record was two).
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Jakucionis became the fourth Big Ten freshman since 1996-97 with at least six-straight 20-point games, and the first to do so since Indiana's Eric Gordon had seven in a row in 2007.
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Jakucionis has eight 20-point games this season, tying the Illini all-time record for 20-point games by a freshman with Cory Bradford who set the current mark as a redshirt freshman in 1998-99.
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Jakucionis is averaging 18.7 points (224) over his last 12 games, knocking down an average of 2.3 threes per game (28) on 41.7% from 3-point range (28-67) along with 89.5% from the foul line (60-67).
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Tomislav Ivisic is the No. 6 rebounder in the Big Ten at 8.5 rpg. Ivisic has led the Illini rebounding effort, which ranks No. 2 nationally in total rebounds per game, in 11 of 19 contests.
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Ivisic, classified as sophomore in his first season of collegiate competition, has recorded seven double-doubles through 18 games, ranking fourth in the Big Ten, tied for 28th in the NCAA overall, and first among power conference underclassmen.
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Only 17 games into his college career, Kasparas Jakucionis already has eight 20-point games, tying the Illini all-time record for 20-point games by a freshman with Cory Bradford (1998-99) set the current Illini mark as a redshirt freshman. Jakucionis' eighth 20-point game vs. Maryland broke a tie for second with Ayo Dosunmu (2018-19) and Kiwane Garris (1993-94).
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Three Illini scored 20+ points vs. Penn State - Ben Humrichous (21), Morez Johnson Jr. (20) and Tre White (20). It marked just the third time in the last 35 seasons that Illinois had a game featuring a trio of 20-point scorers.
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Freshman F Morez Johnson Jr. recorded his second double-double of the season Illinois' Jan. 8 win over Penn State, recording a career-high 20 points and pulling down a game-high 11 rebounds.
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Through 19 games, Johnson has recorded 20 total blocks, seventh in the Illini freshman record book with Nnanna Egwu who posted 20 rejections in 2011-12. Johnson is on pace to finish his freshman season third among Illini freshmen all-time behind only Deon Thomas (54 in 1990-91) and Kofi Cockburn (44 in 2019-20).
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According to KenPom, the Illini rank fourth nationally, and first among Power Conference programs, with a 3-point attempt rate (3-point attempts/total field goal attempts) of 30.0%.
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Illinois leads the Big Ten in eight team statistical categories, with the following NCAA rankings: defensive rebounds per game (1st in NCAA; 31.6), rebound margin (4th; 10.9), total rebounds per game (2nd; 44.7), 3-point percentage defense (3rd; .278), 3-point attempts per game (7th; 30.9), field goal percentage defense (25th; .394), free-throw attempts per game (28th; 23.6), and offensive rebounds per game (42nd; 13.1).
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Illinois' 32-point road win over #9 Oregon was the largest margin of victory ever by a road team over an AP Top-10 opponent, and the largest road win in Illinois program history against any top-25 opponent.
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In their 109-77 win at #9 Oregon, Illinois became the first Big Ten team since Feb. 9, 1989, to record 100+ points in a Top-10 road win (No. 10 Michigan defeated No. 8 Iowa, 108-107).
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Illinois also posted a dominant 94-69 win at Indiana on Jan. 14. The 25-point margin of victory was the second-largest for a Hoosiers' opponent in Assembly Hall history, while Illinois' 94 points marked the most ever scored by a visiting team in a regulation game at Assembly Hall.
