No. 13 Illinois closes out a two-game homestand with the team’s first meeting as conference opponents against Big Ten newcomer USC on Saturday at State Farm Center (11 a.m. CT, BTN).
Illinois is aiming for its fifth straight Big Ten victory, which would mark its longest streak in conference play since winning 10 in a row from Feb. 25, 2021-Jan. 14, 2022.
Illinois and USC last met in November 2012, when the Illini beat the Trojans, 94-64, for its first win of the team’s Maui Invitational title run. USC is making its first trip to Champaign since Dec. 1, 1977 (82-59 UI win).
The Fighting Illini enter the matchup vs. USC coming off a dominant 91-52 home victory Wednesday night vs. Penn State, its seventh 30+ point win of the season and second in B1G play.
Tre White is averaging 19.0 points and 8.3 rebounds over the last three games. He has scored in double figures in six of the last seven games, averaging 16.1 points and 6.3 rebounds over that seven-game stretch. The junior transfer spent last season at Louisville after playing his freshman year at Saturday’s opponent, USC.
Illinois is 8-1 at home this season, including a 2-0 mark at State Farm Center in Big Ten play.
Illinois is navigating a stretch of five games in 13 days across four cities and three time zones from Jan. 2-14.
Illinois is riding a season-high five-game win streak. Since a last-second defeat to No. 1 Tennessee, the Illini earned a Braggin’ Rights win over rival Missouri in St. Louis, posted a blowout win over Chicago State, recorded the largest road win over an AP Top-10 program in college basketball history at No. 9 Oregon (32 points), and pulled out a hard-fought 81-77 win at Washington before Wednesday’s 39-point win over PSU.
Illinois has won three of its last four games by 30+ points, defeating Chicago State, 117-64 (+53), at home on Dec. 29, recording an historic 109-77 (+32) victory at No. 9 Oregon on Jan. 2, earning a 91-51 (+39) point victory in their last outing vs. Penn State.
Three Illini scored at least 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 that featured a trio of 20-point scorers.
Illinois leads the Big Ten in the latest NCAA NET rankings at No. 8.
Brad Underwood has led the Illini program to Top-25 rankings in six consecutive seasons. Illinois has been ranked for five weeks this season, and is currently at No. 13, its highest ranking of the year.
The Penn State win was Underwood’s 155th at Illinois. He ranks fourth on the program’s all-time coaching wins list.
Point guard Kasparas Jakucionis was named Big Ten Co-Freshman of the Week on Monday. Jakucionis led the Illini to three wins during the nomination period, averaging a team-best 16.0 points and 5.3 assists along with 5.0 rebounds, while shooting 60% from the field, 39% from 3-point range, and making all seven free throw attempts.
Jakucionis has also been named to the Wooden Award Midseason Top 25 Watch List.
The Illini 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).
Illinois is 3-2 against ranked teams this season, with wins over No. 19 Arkansas, No. 20 Wisconsin, and No. 9 Oregon. The Illini’s three top-25 victories are tied for fourth most in the nation, one behind co-leaders Alabama, Auburn, and Texas A&M with four each.
Illinois’ 32-point road win over 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.
The 109 points scored vs. the Ducks are the second-most any team has ever scored in a regulation road game against a top-10 opponent, trailing only Kansas State’s 116 at Texas in 2023. Illinois’ 109 points are also the most ever scored by a road team at Oregon.
Six Illini scored in double figures at Oregon, including sophomores Jake Davis (12) and Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn (11), who scored all 23 of their combined points in the first half to help the Illini build a 45-38 lead at the break. It marked Davis’ first double-digit effort as an Illini and just the fourth in two seasons for Gibbs-Lawhorn.
During the Fighting Illini’s five-game win streak, Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn is averaging 10.2 points per game while shooting 60.0% (21-35) from the field. Gibbs-Lawhorn is one
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.
Over the last seven games, Boswell is averaging 13.9 points (97), 5.7 rebounds (40), and 4.7 assists (33).
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).
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.
While his 20-point game streak was snapped with a 14-point outing vs. Chicago State, Jakucionis is still averaging 19.9 points (179) over his last nine games, knocking down an average of 2.8 threes per game (25) on 46.3% from 3-point range (25-54) along with 89.9% from the foul line (44-49).
Tomislav Ivisic scored a career-and game-high 23-points vs. Chicago State, leading the team in scoring for the third time this seasons (second to Kasparas Jakucionis’ seven).
Ivisic has recorded six double-doubles through 14 games, ranking third in the Big Ten, tied for 24th in the NCAA overall, and first among power conference underclassmen.
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 92.1% of the team’s scoring so far (1,214 of 1,318 total points), with UI freshmen accounting for 40.2% of those points (488).
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 (16.4 ppg) and third in rebounding (5.6 rpg). Sophomore C Tomislav Ivisic nearly averages a double-double at 13.1 points (second on team) and a team-leading 9.0 rebounds per game. Freshman F Will Riley is the Illini’s No. 5 scorer at 11.1 points per game. And Freshman F Morez Johnson Jr. ranks second on the team at 6.5 rebounds per game.
Only 14 games into his college career, Jakucionis already has six 20-point games, just two away from equaling the Illini all-time record for 20-point games by a freshman. Cory Bradford (1998-99) set the current Illini mark with eight, followed by Ayo Dosunmu (2018-19) and Kiwane Garris (1993-94) at seven each.
Jakucionis is the fifth freshman of the Underwood era to record at least five total 20-point games in his rookie season, joining Dosunmu (7 in 2018-19), Trent Frazier (5 in 2017-18), Giorgi Bezhanishvili (5 in 2018-19), and Kofi Cockburn (5 in 2019-20).
Jakucionis, at 16.4 ppg, is on pace to break the Illini freshman scoring average record of 15.9 ppg set by Kiwane Garris 31 years ago.
Freshman F Morez Johnson Jr. recorded his second double-double of the season in Wednesday’s win over Penn State, recording a career-high 20 points and pulling down a game-high 11 rebounds.
Johnson is averaging 9.0 points (45) and 7.0 rebounds (35) over the Illini’s five-game win streak vs. Mizzou, vs. Chicago State, at No. 9 Oregon, at Washington, and vs. Penn State. Johnson also has recorded six blocks during that stretch.
Tomislav Ivisic is the No. 3 rebounder in the Big Ten at 9.0 rpg, trailing Michigan’s Danny Wolf (10.2) and Indiana’s Oumar Ballo (9.5).
Illinois currently ranks No. 7 in KenPom adjusted defensive efficiency (92.1), its highest ranking since also reaching seventh during the 2021 season, and the second-best number of the Underwood era (88.9 in 2021).
Illinois stands fourth nationally in effective field goal percentage defense (.421), ranking sixth in 2-point defense (.424) and fourth in 3-point defense (.278).
Illinois leads the Big Ten in seven statistical categories, with the following NCAA rankings: total rebounds per game (1st in NCAA; 45.9), defensive rebounds per game (1st; 32.5), rebound margin (1st, 13.3), 3-point attempts per game (7th, 31.5), field goal percentage defense (10th; .376), 3-point percentage defense (10th; .278), and offensive rebounds per game (37th; 13.3).
According to KenPom, the Illini rank 25th nationally, and seventh among Power Conference programs, with a 3-point attempt rate (3-point attempts/total field goal attempts) of 32.6%.
The Illini’s scoring average of 87.9 ppg is the team’s highest in 60 years since the 1964-65 team posted a school-record mark of 92.2 ppg.
Illinois’ scoring margin of +21.7 points per game is on pace to break the program record held by the 1942-43 team, which outscored opponents by 20.6 points per game. The team’s top mark since 1960 is +15.9 set in 2004-05.
Illinois ranks third nationally in rebounding at 45.9 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 opponents in 14 of 15 games this season.
Illinois is the winningest team in the Big Ten since 2019-20, registering a 73-32 (.695) mark in league play. And when including the conference tournament, the Illini have a league-best 79 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 31-22 (.585) in conference road matchups, and have finished .500 or better in four of the last five seasons.
