Illinois hosts the B1G home opener against #20 Wisconsin on Tuesday

Head coach Brad Underwood

Career balance: 258-117 (.688), 12th year

In Illinois: 149-90 (.623), 8th year

Big Ten: 80-59 (.576)

Series history vs. Wisconsin

All-time record/series: Illinois leads, 118-89 / Illinois W8

Last meeting: #13 Illinois 93, Wisconsin 87 (03/17/2024 in Minneapolis // BTT Championship)

Record in Champaign / Streak: Illinois leads, 71-28 / Illinois W3

Last meeting in Champaign: Illinois 79, #14 Wisconsin 69 (07/01/2023)

Underwood vs. Wisconsin: 8-4

Tips for opening

• The Fighting Illini close out Big Ten play in early December on Tuesday night, hosting the 20th-ranked Wisconsin Badgers at State Farm Center. Illinois is 5-0 at home this season.

• Illinois sits at No. 12 in the NCAA NET rankings after games played Dec. 8. The Illini are in first place in the Big Ten.

• Tuesday’s matchup against #20 Wisconsin is the 208th in the series, which dates back to 1905-2006. Illinois has played more games against Wisconsin than any other opponent in program history.

• The Illini have won eight straight games in the series, most recently defeating the Badgers to claim the 2024 Big Ten Tournament championship at the Target Center in Minneapolis last March. Illinois’ current streak is the second-longest in the series (after only 16 winning streaks from 1981 to 1989).

• The matchup between Illinois and #20 Wisconsin is the first of two consecutive games against ranked opponents this week. Illinois also hosts #1 Tennessee on Saturday (4:30 p.m. CT/FOX) at State Farm Center.

• After Tuesday’s contest against UW, the Illini will play three consecutive non-conference games to close out December – against #1 Tennessee, Braggin’ Rights against Missouri in St. Louis and at home against Chicago State

• Before returning to the Big Ten, they make their first B1G trip to the Pacific Northwest to face conference newcomers No. 12 Oregon and Washington.

• Illinois joins Purdue as the Big Ten’s winningest teams since 2019-20, posting a 69-32 (.683) record in league play. And when you include the conference tournament, the Illini and Boilermakers each have a league-best 75 wins during that span. The Illini won the 2024 Big Ten Tournament championship as a No. 2 seed, won the 2022 regular season championship and led the conference in wins while claiming 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. Over that span, the Illini are 29-22 (.569) in conference away games and have finished .500 or better in four of the last five seasons.

• Head coach Brad Underwood has led the Fighting Illini program to the AP Top 25 rankings in six consecutive seasons. The Illini are receiving votes in the latest AP and coaches polls released Monday.

• The Illini are ranked third nationally with a points advantage of +23.8. Illinois’ 13-point win over #19 Arkansas was the most by an unranked Illinois team against a top-25 opponent under a head coach Brad Underwood. Before facing the Razorbacks, the Illini had the team’s two largest victory margins of the season – against UMES (+47, 87-40) and against Little Rock (+58, 92-34).

• Illinois’ Thanksgiving Day victory over No. 19 Arkansas was its 149th victory Brad Underwoodis Illini’s tenure. In his eighth season in Champaign, Underwood is now fifth on the Illinois all-time coaching wins list and is just two wins away from a tie for fourth place.

• After appearing in the Elite Eight in 2024 and winning the Big Ten Tournament Championship, Illinois has a completely different roster this season. The program returns just one rotation player — last year’s ninth-leading scorer Dra Gibbs Lawhorn – and returns a total of just 2.9% of his minutes, 2.2% of his points and 2.0% of his rebounds

• Freshmen on the Illini roster have scored 92% of the team’s points so far (635 of 690 total points), with UI freshmen accounting for 43.9% of those points (279).

• Kasparas Jakucionis scored more than 20 points in three consecutive games, becoming the first Illini freshman in program history to do so. Jakucionis is the fifth newcomer to the Brad Underwood Era has at least three games with a total of 20 points in his rookie season, along with Ayo Dosunmu (7 in 2018-19), Trent Frazier (5 in 2017-18), Giorgi Bezhanishvili (5 in 2018-19) and Kofi Cockburn (5 in 2019-20).

• Illinois leads the Big Ten and is among the NCAA leaders in: 3-point attempts per game (4th in NCAA, 33.9), 3-point shots per game (6th, 11.5). ), Total rebounds per game (1st, 47.4), Defensive rebounds per game (1st, 34.0), Rebound margin (2nd, +13.4), Offensive rebounds per game (51st, 13.4), 3-point defense percentage (4th; .251), field goal defense percentage (7th; .366) and blocks per game (20th, 5.4). The Illini also rank third nationally and second in the Big Ten in points margin (+23.8), behind only Tennessee (+26.8) and Big Ten foe Maryland (+24.4 ).

• KenPom.com ranks the Illini 17th in Adjusted Efficiency Rating (+21.82). Illinois is one of 11 programs nationally in both Defensive Efficiency (17th, 94.5) and Offensive Efficiency (28th, 116.3) ranked among the top 30.

• According to KenPom, the Illini rank 11th nationally and second among power conference programs with a 3-point attempt percentage (3-point attempts/total field goal attempts) of 52.2%. The Illini have the best overall offensive efficiency rating (116.3) among the top 20 programs in 3-point attempt percentage.

• The Fighting Illini’s scoring average of 86.3 ppg is the team’s highest since 1988-89, when the Flyin’ Illini averaged 86.4 points per game.

• With a margin of +23.8 points per game, Illinois is on pace to set a program record. The 1942-43 Illini outscored their opponents by 20.6 points per game. The team’s best mark since 1960 is +15.9 from the 2004/2005 season.

Complete Illinois Game Notes (PDF)