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Illinois enters the postseason at No. 24 in the latest AP Top 25, and 25th in the most recent coaches poll.
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Brad Underwood has led the Illini program to Top-25 rankings in seven consecutive seasons. Illinois has been ranked for a total of 10 weeks this season, which included a run of seven straight, and reached as high as 13th.
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The Illini closed the regular season on a three-game winning streak with victories over Iowa (81-61), at #15 Michigan (93-73), and vs. #18 Purdue (88-80) by an average of 16.0 points per game (262-214).
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Illinois entered the B1G Tournament leading the league in five team statistical categories, with the following NCAA rankings: total rebounds per game (2nd in NCAA; 42.4), defensive rebounds per game (2nd; 29.5), 3-point attempts per game (4th; 30.3), scoring offense (11th; 83.7), and offensive rebounds per game (35th; 12.9).
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Illinois is 20-1 on the season when scoring at least 80 points. The Illini's 21 games with 80+ points are tied for the Big Ten lead (Iowa), and tied for 10th nationally. Among teams with at least 16 80-point games, Illinois' .952 win percentage ranks third in the nation behind Duke at 19-0 (1.000) and Akron at 21-1 (.955).
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The Illini secured their 13th home win of the season in the team's regular-season finale vs. #18 Purdue. It marks the team's sixth straight season with at least 10 home wins at State Farm Center under Brad Underwood.
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Since 2019-20, the Illini are 82-17 (.828) at State Farm Center, tied with Purdue and Iowa for the most wins by a Big Ten team over the last six seasons. Nationally, the Illini's 82 home wins rank tied for 14th, overall, and tied for seventh among teams that have played each of the last six seasons in a power conference.
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Illinois is 8-7 away from State Farm Center this season, with a 5-5 mark in true road contests, and a 3-2 mark in neutral site games.
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Illinois is 34-26 (.567) in Big Ten road games since the start of the 2019-20 season, the best mark in the league over the last six seasons. The Illini have finished .500 or better on the road in league play in five of the last six seasons.
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Under Brad Underwood, Illinois has finished in the top 40 in KenPom adjusted efficiency for both offense and defense in four of the last six seasons. The Illini offense is currently No. 14 (122.3), while the team is 40th on defense (97.7).
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Illinois is No. 29 nationally in KenPom's effective field goal percentage defense (.472), including a No. 23 ranking (first in the Big Ten) in 2-point defense (.463).
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According to KenPom, the Illini rank No. 29 nationally, and fifth among Power Conference programs, with a 3-point attempt rate (3-point attempts/total field goal attempts) of 47.1%. Among major conference teams, Illinois ranks second nationally with five games of 15+ made 3-pointers, one behind BYU (6).
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Illinois is averaging a Big Ten-leading 84.4 points per game, ahead of the pace of last year's team that averaged 83.4 points en route to a Big Ten Tournament Championship and Elite Eight run. The Illini are on pace for the program's top team scoring average in 36 seasons, since 1988-89 Flyin' Illini averaged 86.4 ppg.
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Illinois has won 11 games by 20+ points, with six coming against Big Ten Opponents, and four of those games coming on the road. The Illini defeated Eastern Illinois, 112-67 (+45); Oakland, 90-58 (+32); UMES, 87-40 (+47); and Little Rock, 92-34 (+58) all within the first month of the season. Illinois then 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; rolled to a 94-69 (+25) victory at Indiana; posted 95-74 (+21) win at Minnesota; notched an 81-61 (+20) victory over Iowa, and rolled to a 93-73 (+20) road win at #15 Michigan.
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Illinois is second nationally in rebounding at 42.4 boards per game, on pace for the program's best average in 52 seasons (44.4 rpg in 1972-73). The Orange and Blue have outrebounded their opponent in 25 of 32 games this season, going 20-5 in those contests.
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Illinois is 5-6 against Top-25 ranked teams this season with wins over No. 19 Arkansas, No. 20 Wisconsin, at No. 9 Oregon, at No. 15 Michigan, and vs. #18 Purdue. The Illini's five ranked wins are tied for seventh nationally.
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Illinois has registered 81 wins in league play since the start of the 2019-20 season, tied with Purdue for the most in the conference over the last six seasons. When including the conference tournament, the Illini's 88 wins over Big Ten teams during that time span are also tied with the Boilermakers for the league's best 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 over the last six seasons are tied with Purdue for the most in the B1G.
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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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Entering the BTT Quarterfinal vs. #11 Maryland, newcomers to the Illini roster have accounted for 92.3% of the team's scoring (2,493 of 2,701 total points), with UI freshmen accounting for 41.8% of those points (1,041).
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Illinois' top three scorers and top three rebounders are all in their first year of collegiate basketball. Freshman G Kasparas Jakucionis ranks first in scoring (15.0 ppg) and third in rebounding (5.5 rpg). Sophomore C Tomislav Ivisic averages 12.8 points (second on team) and a team-leading 7.7 rebounds. Freshman F Will Riley is the Illini's No. 3 scorer at 12.5 points per game. And Freshman F Morez Johnson Jr. ranks second on the team at 6.6 rebounds per game with a team-leading 75 offensive boards (2.8 per game), despite missing the final five games of the regular season with a wrist injury.
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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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Illinois has recorded two games this season with three 20+-point scorers. It is just the fourth time in the last 35 seasons that the Illini had a game with a trio scoring at least 20 points. Against Penn State (Jan. 8) Ben Humrichous (21), Morez Johnson Jr. (20) and Tre White (20) each hit that threshold. Thursday in the BTT second round vs. Iowa, Kylan Boswell (24), Tre White (22), and Will Riley (21), all poured in more than 20 points, becoming the first team to feature three 20+-point scorers in a Big Ten Tournament game.
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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.
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With the Illinois' 93-73 road win at #15 Michigan (March 2) and the team's 109-77 win at #9 Oregon (Jan. 2), Illinois became just the fourth program since 1950 with multiple 20+-point ranked road wins, joining 1997 Kentucky, 2004 Pitt, and 2007 North Carolina.
