| Illinois Probable Starters (from the previous game) |
| Pos. |
No. |
Name |
Ht. |
Wt. |
Yr. |
PPG |
RPG |
APG |
Note |
| G |
3 |
Te'Jon Lucas |
6-0 |
170 |
Fr. |
4.5 |
1.5 |
2.8 |
11.0 ppg, 6.5 apg last 2 |
| G |
21 |
Malcolm Hill |
6-6 |
225 |
Sr. |
16.8 |
5.6 |
2.8 |
1,679 career pts |
| F |
2 |
Kipper Nichols |
6-6 |
225 |
r-Fr. |
5.5 |
3.4 |
0.1 |
10.3 ppg, 65% FG last 3 |
| F |
12 |
Leron Black |
6-7 |
220 |
r-So. |
8.4 |
6.1 |
0.4 |
10 pts, 7 rebs 1/25 vs. IA |
| C |
22 |
Maverick Morgan |
6-10 |
245 |
Sr. |
10.2 |
4.1 |
0.7 |
Double-figs 10 of last 12 |
| Off the Bench |
| Pos. |
No. |
Name |
Ht. |
Wt. |
Yr. |
PPG |
RPG |
APG |
Note |
| G |
0 |
D.J. Williams |
6-7 |
210 |
So. |
2.5 |
1.0 |
0.5 |
5 BLK |
| G |
1 |
Jaylon Tate |
6-3 |
170 |
Sr. |
2.7 |
1.4 |
3.1 |
2.4 A/TO |
| G |
5 |
Jalen Coleman-Lands |
6-3 |
190 |
So. |
8.2 |
2.4 |
1.2 |
Team-high 52 3FG |
| G |
13 |
Tracy Abrams |
6-2 |
185 |
Gr. |
8.1 |
2.6 |
2.2 |
Recently turned 25 yo |
| G |
23 |
Aaron Jordan |
6-5 |
190 |
So. |
1.1 |
1.1 |
0.3 |
6-17 3FG |
| C |
33 |
Mike Thorne Jr. |
6-11 |
280 |
Gr. |
5.4 |
3.5 |
0.3 |
56.3% FG |
| G |
35 |
Samson Oladimeji |
6-5 |
195 |
Fr. |
0.5 |
0.8 |
0.0 |
4 G |
| G |
41 |
Clayton Jones |
6-0 |
170 |
r-Jr. |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
6 G |
| F |
43 |
Michael Finke |
6-10 |
230 |
r-So. |
7.1 |
4.3 |
0.3 |
17 p in 1/25 win over IA |
| G |
44 |
Alex Austin |
6-4 |
190 |
r-Sr. |
0.6 |
1.0 |
0.0 |
7 G |
| Sitting Out |
| Pos. |
No. |
Name |
Ht. |
Wt. |
Yr. |
PPG |
RPG |
APG |
Note |
| G |
10 |
Drew Cayce |
6-1 |
165 |
So. |
- |
- |
- |
Sitting out season (transfer) |
| F |
45 |
Cameron Liss |
6-6 |
220 |
Jr. |
0.6* |
0.0* |
0.2* |
Redshirting season |
Career Record: 176-129/.577 (9th year)
At Illinois: 91-73/.555 (5th year)
Big Ten: 33-52/.388
Series Notes vs. Iowa
Series Record: Illinois leads 84-71
Series Streak: Illinois W-2
Record at Iowa City: Iowa leads 54-21
Series Streak at Iowa City: Iowa W-1
Last Meeting: Illinois 76, Iowa 64 // Jan. 25, 2017 at Champaign
Groce vs. Iowa: 3-4
Opening Tips
• Illinois closes out the regular season with three of its last five games away from home, beginning with Saturday afternoon's contest at Iowa (1 p.m., BTN).
• The Illini are looking for a second consecutive road win after defeating Northwestern last week in Evanston.
• Illinois is shooting 44.4 percent from 3-point range over the last two games (16-36).
• The Illini freshman and sophomore classes have accounted for at least half the minutes played in 10 of the last 11 games, led by a season-high 118 combined minutes vs. Penn State last weekend.
• Currently eighth on the Fighting Illini career scoring chart with 1,679 points, senior Malcolm Hill enters Saturday 13 points away seventh place on the UI's all-time list, and 21 points shy of becoming the seventh Illini ever to reach the 1,700-point marker.
• Freshman point guard Te'Jon Lucas is coming off back-to-back strong performances against Northwestern and Penn State when he combined to average 11.0 points, 4.5 rebounds, 6.5 assists and 1.5 steals.
Notes from the 68-61 Win at Northwestern
• The Fighting Illini won their first road game of the season and snapped a nine-game road skid overall.
• After falling behind 59-56 with 3:31 left, Illinois finished the game on a 12-2 run. And after the Wildcats tied it at 61-61, the Illini scored seven unanswered points over the game's final 1:37.
• The Illini defense held Northwestern to 33.9 percent shooting (19-of-56) and 30.0 percent from downtown (6-of-20), while also forcing 14 turnovers, continuing a trend of solid defense over the last three games.
• Senior Malcolm Hill scored a team-high 14 points, all in the second half, to jump two spots into eighth place on the Illinois career scoring list. Hill finished the game with 1,665 points, moving past Mark Smith (1,653, 1978-81) and Brandon Paul (1,654, 2010-13) on the UI all-time list.
• It was Hill's 19th consecutive game scoring in double figures.
• Hill also added game highs of nine rebounds and three steals in the win.
• Michael Finke also came up big in the second half, scoring all 11 of his points and hitting 3-of-4 from behind the arc after halftime. Finke tied the game with a 3-pointer at the 2:36 mark to start the 12-2 game-ending run for the Illini. He had five points and two steals in the final 2:36 to help seal the victory.
• Te'Jon Lucas set career highs in points (11), rebounds (5) and minutes (33) while running the offense well, also dishing out a game-high six assists.
• Maverick Morgan was the fourth Illini in double-figures, scoring 11 points. It was Morgan's fifth straight game in double-figures – equaling his career-long streak – and 10th time in the last 11 games.
• Jalen Coleman-Lands dished out a career-high five assists, including the go-ahead points with 1:37 left on a feed to Lucas. He also grabbed five rebounds and tallied five points.
• Kipper Nichols added nine points on 3-of-4 shooting with two treys, continuing his strong play off the bench.
Illini Team Trends
• The Illini have scored at least 75 points in 12 of their 14 wins.
• The Illini are 10-2 this season when shooting at least 45 percent from the field, and are 13-2 when shooting better than their opponent.
• Illinois has shot at least 50 percent during the second half in 10 of its 14 wins.
• Illinois' defense allowed an average of 64.5 points (387) over a recent six-game stretch from Jan. 21-Feb. 7. During that six-game period, the Illini never allowed more than 71 points.
• Illinois has shown improvement on the offensive glass, recording double digits in 17 games on the season and averaging 10.3 o-boards per game. Last season Illinois ranked last in the Big Ten with 7.6 offensive rebounds per contest.
• Illinois has scored more second-chance points than its opponent in 14 games.
• Illinois is also getting it done on the defensive glass. The Illini rank third in the Big Ten and 77th nationally in defensive rebounding percentage (.731).
• Illinois is 11-3 when outrebounding the opponent.
Illini Player Trends
• Preseason Wooden Award, Naismith Trophy and Senior CLASS Award candidate Malcolm Hill ranks sixth in the Big Ten in scoring (16.8 ppg).
• Hill has scored in double figures in 24 of 25 games against Div. I opponents, including an active streak of 20 straight.
• Hill has nine outings of 20+ points and two 30-plus point performances on the season.
• Hill ranks eighth on the Illinois career scoring chart (1,679 points). At his current season average, Hill would finish as the Illini's No. 4 all-time leading scorer.
• Hill is the only Illini to start every game this season. He also started every game last year, carrying an active streak of 60 consecutive starts. Overall, Hill has started 104 of the last 105 games dating back to his first career start as a freshman at Penn State on Feb. 9, 2014.
• Hill is shooting 57 percent on 2-pointers during Big Ten play (53-93).
• Hill's career-high 40 points vs. Northern Kentucky (Nov. 13) is tied for the No. 12 scoring performance in the NCAA this season.
• Hill has made 41 three-pointers in 26 games after making 37 treys in 34 games last season.
• Hill continues to be one of the nation's best at getting to the line. He ranks 66th in the NCAA with 119 made free throws. His 151 attempts, meanwhile, rank 80th nationally. Hill ranks third among Big Ten players in each category.
• Hill ranks third all-time at Illinois with 480 career made free throws. Last season he went 193 of 235 from the line, ranking as the second-highest single-season school totals for free throws made and attempted.
• Hill is drawing 6.1 fouls per 40 minutes, ranking 91st nationally.
• Senior Maverick Morgan is second on the team in scoring, also averaging double figures at 10.2 ppg. In conference games only, Morgan's average increases to 11.3 points.
• Morgan ranks seventh in the Big Ten in field goal shooting at 56.6 percent (107-189).
• Morgan has scored in double figures 13 times in the last 16 games. His career-long tying streak of five straight games scoring in double digits was snapped last weekend vs. Penn State (6 points).
• Sophomore Leron Black ranks third on the team in scoring, averaging 8.4 points. He entered the year as a 4.9 ppg career scorer.
• Black has been the Illini's leading rebounder in nine games and leads the team on the year, averaging 6.1 boards (13th in B1G).
• Sophomore Jalen Coleman-Lands is the Illini's fourth-leading scorer at 8.2 ppg. He has registered double figures nine times on the season, including 12 points vs. Penn State in his most recent outing.
• Coleman-Lands is 5-for-11 from the field over the last two games.
• After setting an Illini freshman record with 87 three-pointers last season, Coleman-Lands again leads the Illini with 52 treys this year.
• After missing the last two years due to injury, sixth-year senior Tracy Abrams has scored in double figures in eight games, ranking fifth on the team in scoring (8.1 ppg).
• Abrams is shooting 40.5 percent from 3-point range this season (34-84) after entering his final season as a 27 percent career 3-point shooter.
• Freshman Te'Jon Lucas has totaled 45 assists over the last 11 games (4.1 apg).
• Lucas ranks second in the Big Ten with a 2.8 assist-to-turnover ratio during conference play.
• Lucas also ranks fourth in the Big Ten in steals during conference action (1.5 spg).
• Sophomore Michael Finke is the Big Ten's top 3-pointer shooter in league play, connecting on 52.9 percent from behind the arc (18-34).
• Finke is shooting 56.3 percent from the field over the last three games (9-16).
• Freshman Kipper Nichols has played double digit minutes in each of the last 11 games.
• Nichols has made six consecutive 3-point attempts over the last three games.
Hill Joins Historic UI Club
Senior Malcolm Hill scored his 1,600th career point in a win over Iowa on Jan. 25. He then grabbed his 600th rebound Feb. 4 vs. Minnesota, becoming just the fifth Illini player ever in the 1,600-point/600-rebound club:
Deon Thomas (1991-94) – 2,129 points 846 rebounds
Brian Cook (2000-03) – 1,748 points 815 rebounds
Eddie Johnson (1978-81) – 1,692 points 831 rebounds
Mark Smith (1978-81) – 1,653 points 722 rebounds
Malcolm Hill (2014-) – 1,679 points 612 rebounds
Hill is now just 21 points away from joining Deon Thomas and Brian Cook as the only players in school history with career totals of 1,700 points and 600 rebounds.
Hill also is looking to become the 11th active Div. I player – and just the fourth from the six major conferences – with career totals of more than 1,700 points and 600 rebounds:
Strong Scheduling
Illinois felt it had constructed a competitive non-conference schedule prior to the season. Numbers from the NCAA show that to be the case. Illinois had the fourth-strongest non-conference schedule among Big Ten teams, rated No. 42 nationally.
The Illini now rank No. 10 overall in Strength of Schedule (SOS), having played nine games against top-50 RPI opponents (2-7) and 17 vs. top-100 foes (5-12). Here is the current SOS ranking of all Big Ten teams:
Rk. B1G Team SOS (RPI)
1. Nebraska 1 (84)
2. ILLINOIS 10 (72)
3. Michigan State 17 (42)
4. Minnesota 18 (23)
5. Ohio State 21 (65)
Kip Coming On
Illini freshman Kipper Nichols has been a bright spot off the bench in recent games. After joining the active roster on Dec. 17, Nichols has moved his way up the rotation and over the last five games is averaging 8.6 points and 3.6 rebounds while shooting better than 58 percent from the field and nearly 78 percent from 3-point range in less than 20 minutes per game:
