| 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 |
3.2 |
3.1 |
Season-high 29 points at Nebraska |
| G |
11 |
Alfonso Plummer |
6-1 |
180 |
Gr. |
15.9 |
2.4 |
1.1 |
1st in B1G in 3-pointers (3.0 avg) |
| G |
20 |
Da'Monte Williams |
6-3 |
215 |
Sr. |
4.3 |
5.4 |
3.2 |
16th in NCAA in assist/to radio (3.0) |
| G/F |
3 |
Jacob Grandison |
6-6 |
210 |
Gr. |
12.1 |
4.0 |
2.4 |
20th in kenpom offensive rating (133.5) |
| C |
21 |
Kofi Cockburn |
7-0 |
285 |
Jr. |
22.0 |
12.5 |
1.1 |
2nd in NCAA with six 20/10 games |
| Off the Bench |
| Pos. |
No. |
Name |
Ht. |
Wt. |
Yr. |
PPG |
RPG |
APG |
Note |
| G |
0 |
Brandin Podziemski |
6-5 |
200 |
Fr. |
1.9 |
1.6 |
0.4 |
2021 Wisconsin Mr. Basketball |
| 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. |
1.9 |
1.9 |
0.2 |
8 pts, 5 reb, 4 blk at Nebraska |
| G |
5 |
Andre Curbelo |
6-1 |
175 |
So. |
9.3 |
4.3 |
5.5 |
Second in nation in assist rate (44.6) |
| G |
10 |
Luke Goode |
6-7 |
200 |
Fr. |
2.5 |
1.8 |
0.7 |
2021 Indiana first-team All-State |
| C |
12 |
Brandon Lieb |
7-0 |
220 |
So. |
1.1 |
1.0 |
0.1 |
Career-high 4 points vs St. Francis Pa. |
| F |
13 |
Benjamin Bosmans-Verdonk |
6-8 |
235 |
r-So. |
1.6 |
2.8 |
1.0 |
4th on UI with 19 offensive rebounds |
| G |
15 |
RJ Melendez |
6-7 |
205 |
Fr. |
3.4 |
1.8 |
0.7 |
2021 Florida SIAA Player of the Year |
| 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. |
7.7 |
5.7 |
2.0 |
8 rebounds in each of last three games |
Career Record: 192-86 (.691), 9th year
At Illinois: 83-59 (.585), 5th year
Big Ten: 45-38 (.542)
Series Notes vs. Michigan
All-Time Record: Illinois leads 90-85
Streak: Illinois W-3
Last Meeting: #4 Illinois 76, #2 Michigan 53 (3/2/21 @Ann Arbor)
Record at Champaign: Illinois leads 57-28
Streak at Champaign: Illinois W-1
Last Meeting at Champaign: Illinois 71, #5 Michigan 62 (12/11/2019)
Underwood vs. Michigan at Illinois / All-Time: 3-2 / 3-3
Opening Tips
• Winners of five straight games and 10 of its last 11 – and tied atop the Big Ten standings – No. 25 Illinois is back in action Friday night, hosting Michigan at sold out State Farm Center (8 p.m. CT, FS1).
• Illinois is 5-0 in Big Ten play for the first time since 2005, when the Illini won its first 15 league games.
• Illinois carries a nine-game Big Ten winning streak, claiming its final four games last season along with this year's 5-0 start. This is Illinois' longest streak since setting a school record with 25 consecutive Big Ten victories across the 2004 (10) and 2005 (15) seasons (Jan. 31, 2004-March 3, 2005).
• When including its run to the 2021 Big Ten Tournament championship, Illinois has won 12 straight games against conference opponents, and is 19-1 in its last 20 games versus league foes.
• Illinois has won its last seven Big Ten home games.
• Reigning Big Ten Co-Player of the Week and Wooden Award Midseason Top 25 honoree Kofi Cockburn is in the top five nationally in both points and rebounds, ranking fifth in scoring at 22.0 ppg and third in rebounding at 12.5 rpg. Cockburn is the only player listed among the top 15 in both categories, and is the nation's lone player averaging at least 20 points and 10 rebounds.
• Senior guard Trent Frazier is coming off a season-high 29 points in Tuesday's win at Nebraska. Frazier is averaging 22.5 points over the last two games, and 17.0 points over the last seven.
• Illinois leads the nation in offensive rebound percentage (41.3).
• Illinois has outrebounded 13 of 15 opponents and ranks second in the NCAA in rebound margin at +14.1 rpg.
• Illinois ranks 18th nationally in 3-point percentage (.387) and 28th in made 3-pointers (9.8 avg.).
• Illinois is averaging 84.3 points over the last 11 games (927), leading to a 10-1 record. The Illini rank 26th nationally in scoring offense for the season, averaging 80.5 points.
• Illinois is unbeaten this season when shooting better than its opponent (10-0), and when shooting at least 45% (9-0).
• Illinois is 12-1 this season when scoring at least 70 points, with the lone loss to Arizona (79-83).
• 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).
• At 12.5 rpg, Cockburn is on pace to record the third-best rebounding season in Illinois history and the most by an Illini since Skip Thoren's single-season record of 14.5 rpg in 1965.
• Cockburn's scoring average of 22.0 points, meanwhile, currently ranks fifth-best in school history and the most since Nick Weatherspoon averaged 25.0 ppg in 1973.
• Cockburn has six 20-point, 10-rebound games the season, ranking second in the NCAA.
• Cockburn ranks third in kenpom national player of the year standings and fifth in offensive rating (121.8).
• Cockburn is averaging 14.0 rebounds over the last eight games (112).
• Cockburn is averaging 22.8 points over the last five games (114), scoring 20+ four times.
• Cockburn has 38 career double-doubles, most in the NCAA among active players since 2019-20 and three shy of equaling the Illinois all-time record.
• Despite missing three games, Cockburn still ranks fourth in the NCAA in double-doubles with nine. He has posted double-doubles in eight straight games, including all five Big Ten contests.
• Cockburn has drawn 82 fouls through 12 games (6.8 avg). He is drawing 7.8 fouls per 40 minutes, which ranks fourth nationally.
• Cockburn has 13 assists through 12 games. His season total in 31 games last year was five.
• Alfonso Plummer is averaging 19.5 points over the last 11 games (214), shooting 43.5% from 3-point range (40-92) while averaging 3.9 made threes. He has scored in double figures 10 times, with seven outings of 20+ points.
• Plummer leads the Big Ten and ranks 32nd in the NCAA in 3-pointers, averaging 3.0 makes. He led the Pac-12 last season, averaging 2.6 made threes while at Utah.
• Plummer leads the nation in free throw shooting at 97.7% (42-43). He made his first 35 free throw attempts to start the season, the second-longest streak in school history.
• Jacob Grandison is averaging 13.3 points over the last eight games (106), scoring in double figures six times. He is shooting 46.8% on 3-pointers during that stretch (22-47), making an average of 2.8 threes.
• Coleman Hawkins has grabbed eight rebounds in each of the last three games in just 16.3 mpg.
• Da'Monte Williams ranks second in the Big Ten and 16th in the NCAA in assist/turnover ratio at 3.0.
• Williams is Illinois' all-time leader in games played, currently at 141.
• Trent Frazier is No. 11 on the UI scoring list (1,601), 52 points away from cracking the all-time Top 10.
• Frazier already ranks in the Illini top 10 in career games played (second), 3-pointers (third), steals (sixth), and minutes (sixth).
Best in the B1G
Coach Underwood came to Champaign to recapture the success the program has achieved historically. The transformation happened in a relatively short amount of time.
In his third season in 2019-20, the Illini finished one-game back of the league title going 13-7 to place fourth and earn a bye to the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals for the first time since 2011.
Underwood's fourth Illini squad last season led the league with 16 Big Ten wins while playing the full conference schedule, but was designated as runner-up because an unequal number of games played creating a win percentage differential of .024.
Illinois is off to a 5-0 start to Big Ten play this season, tied for first with Michigan State.
Illinois owns the top winning percentage and the most victories over the last three Big Ten seasons, a significant achievement during a span when the league has reached unprecedented levels of competitiveness top-to-bottom.
Big Ten Wins (2020, '21 & '22)
1. Illinois 34
T2. Michigan State 28
T2. Wisconsin 28
4. Ohio State 27
5. Iowa 26
Big Ten Win Percentage (2020, '21 & '22)
1. Illinois .756 (34-11)
2. Michigan .625 (25-15)
T3. Michigan State .622 (28-17)
T3. Wisconsin .622 (28-17)
5. Ohio State .600 (27-18)
Cash Frazier
When super senior Trent Frazier goes on a heater, he has the ability to take over a game. He did so many times as an underclassmen, ranking second on the team in scoring as both a freshman (12.5 ppg) and sophomore (13.7 ppg) while combining for 10 games of 20+ points and totaling 141 treys.
As the Illini have added more talent to the roster, the unselfish Frazier developed other parts of his game and has earned a reputation as one of the top guard defenders in the country. But he can still change a game with his scoring, and that has been the case many times over the last two years playing alongside All-Americans Ayo Dosunmu and Kofi Cockburn.
Frazier ranks third on the Illini in scoring this season at 12.8 ppg. He has scored in double figures seven times, with three 20+ point outings.
Frazier has turned up the offense recently, scoring at least 15 points in five of the last seven games, and averaging 17.0 points while shooting 45.8% from behind the arc with an average of 3.1 treys during this stretch.
Notes from the Last Time Out: Illini 81, Nebraska 71 | Box Score
• With the game tied at 65 with less than four minutes remaining, Illinois pulled ahead with seven straight points as a part of a 16-6 run over the final 3:30 to secure the victory.
• Illinois has now won six straight Big Ten road games (streak began Feb. 27, 2021), and 11 of its last 12 Big Ten road games dating back to Dec. 23, 2020.
• Illinois' six-game Big Ten road winning streak is its longest since it set a school record with 13 consecutive conference road victories spanning the 2004 (6) and 2005 (7) seasons (Feb. 3, 2004-Feb. 19, 2005).
• Illinois improved to 5-0 in Big Ten play for the first time since 2005, when it won its first 15 league games.
• Illinois extended its Big Ten winning streak to nine in a row.
• Illinois' nine-game Big Ten winning streak is its longest since it set a school record with 25 consecutive Big Ten victories spanning the 2004 (10) and 2005 (15) seasons (Jan. 31, 2004-March 3, 2005).
• Illinois outrebounded Nebraska 42-31, posting a double-digit rebound margin for the fifth time in five league games.
• Illinois had a season-high 9 blocked shots.
• The Illini scored 44 points in the paint, two shy of its season high.
• Trent Frazier had scored a season-high 29 points, his most since his sophomore season when he had 30 points at Minnesota, 1/30/19.
• It was Frazier's third 20-point game of the season, and 17th of his career.
• Kofi Cockburn had 16 points and 13 rebounds for his eighth-straight double-double and 10th of the season, tied for the fourth-most in the nation.
• Omar Payne had a season-high eight points with five rebounds and season-high 4 blocks off the bench in 10 minutes, which included playing the final 3:57.
Complete Illinois Game Notes (PDF)
