#22 Illini Close Northwest Road Swing Sunday in Washington

Illinois concludes its road trip through the Pacific Northwest following Thursday’s 109-77 win over No. 9 Oregon with a game Sunday afternoon at Washington (3 p.m. CT, BTN).

Sunday’s game against the Huskies will be the second straight game for Illinois, as four of six games will be on the road. Illinois is 1-1 in true road games and 3-2 on the road this season.

Illinois has won back-to-back games by more than 30 points, defeating Chicago State 117-64 at home on Dec. 29 before a historic 109-77 win at No. 9 Oregon on Thursday, the program’s first road win against a Top 10 opponent since March 6, 2021 at No. 7 Ohio State.

Illinois’ 32-point road win over the Ducks was the largest margin of victory ever by a road team against an AP Top-10 opponent and the largest road win in Illinois program history against a Top-25 opponent.

The 109 points scored against Oregon are the second most ever scored by a team in a regular season road game against a top-10 opponent, trailing only Kansas State’s 116 points at Texas in 2023. Illinois’ 109 points are also the most ever scored by an Oregon road team.

The Illini became the first Big Ten team since February 9, 1989 to score more than 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. Illinois’ three top-25 wins are the second-most in the nation, one behind Auburn (4th). ).

Illinois leads the Big Ten in the latest NCAA NET rankings at No. 5, jumping six spots after Thursday night’s road win over No. 9 Oregon, which entered the contest with a NET rating of 12.

Brad Underwood has led the Illini program to a top-25 ranking in six consecutive seasons. Illinois has been ranked for four weeks so far this year, currently at No. 22.

Illinois’ victory at Oregon marked the Underwood’s 153rd in Illinois. It ranks fourth on the program’s all-time coaching wins list.

Six Illini scored in double figures at Oregon, including a sophomore Jake Davis (12) and Dra Gibbs Lawhorn (11), who scored all 23 of their combined points in the first half and helped the Illini build a 45-38 lead at the break. It was Davis’ first double-digit win as an Illini and just the fourth in two seasons for Gibbs-Lawhorn.

Junior guard Kylan Boswell recorded the seventh triple-double in Illinois history and fifth in the Underwood era against Chicago State with 18 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists, a career-best.

In the last five games Boswell is averaging 15.6 points (78), 6.2 rebounds (31) and 5.2 assists (26).

Point guard Kasparas Jakucionis scored more than 20 points in six straight games from November 25th to December 25th. 22, breaking the Illini freshman record for consecutive 20-point games (the previous record was two).

Jakucionis became the Big Ten’s fourth freshman since 1996-97 with at least six straight 20-point games and the first to do so since Indiana’s Eric Gordon scored seven straight games in 2007.

While his 20-point streak was broken by a 14-point game against Chicago State, Jakucionis Still averaging 20.1 points (161) over the last eight games and hitting an average of 2.9 three-pointers per game (23) on 48.9% from 3-point range (23-47) and 88.9% from the foul line (40-47). 45).

Tomislav Ivisic scored a career-high and game-high 23 points against Chicago State, leading the team for the third time this season (second ahead). Kasparas Jakucionis’ six).

Ivisic posted six double-doubles in 13 games, ranking second in the Big Ten this season behind Northwestern’s Brooks Barnhizer for the most in the Big Ten, 16th in the NCAA overall and first among Power underclassmen Conference.

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 accounted for 92.4% of the team’s points so far (1,059 of 1,146 total points), with UI freshmen accounting for 41.1% of those points (435).

Illinois’ top three scorers and rebounders are all in their first year of college basketball. Freshman G Kasparas Jakucionis ranks first in scoring (16.3 ppg) and third in rebounding (5.6 rpg). Second semester C Tomislav Ivisic He is averaging nearly a double-double with a team-leading 14.2 points and 9.2 rebounds per game. Freshman F Will Riley is the Illini’s third-best scorer with 12.0 points per game. And freshman F Morez Johnson Jr. ranks second on the team with 6.2 rebounds per game.

Only 13 games into his college career, Jakucionis already has six 20-point games, just two away from tying the Illini all-time record for 20-point games by a rookie. Cory Bradford (1998–99) set the current Illini mark with eight, followed by Ayo Dosunmu (2018-19) and Kiwane Garris (1993-94) seven each.

Jakucionis joins Dosunmu (7 in 2018-19), Trent Frazier (5 in 2017-18) and Giorgi Bezhanishvili as the fifth rookie in the Underwood era to record at least five games totaling 20 points in his rookie season (5 in 2018-19) and Kofi Cockburn (5 in 2019–20).

JakucionisAt 16.3 ppg, he is on pace to break the Illini freshman scoring average record of 15.9 ppg set by Kiwane Garris 31 years ago.

Freshmen Morez Johnson Jr. averaged 7.0 points (21) and 6.3 rebounds (19) during the Illini’s three-game winning streak against Mizzou, Chicago State and No. 9 Oregon. Johnson has recorded five blocks in his last two games, including three rejections against CSU and two more against the Ducks.

Tomislav Ivisic is the No. 3 rebounder in the Big Ten with 9.2 RPG, trailing Michigan’s Danny Wolf (10.2) and Indiana’s Oumar Ballo (9.4).

Illinois currently ranks seventh in KenPom-adjusted defensive efficiency (93.5), its highest mark since seventh in the 2021 season and second-best mark of the Underwood era (88.9 in 2021).

Illinois ranks fifth nationally in effective field goal defense (.422), sixth in 3-point defense (.272) and 12th in 2-point defense (.429).

Illinois leads the Big Ten in eight statistical categories with the following NCAA rankings: defensive rebounds per game (1st, 32.4), total rebounds per game (2nd, 45.2), rebound margin (4th, 12.4), 3-point attempts per game (7th in NCAA, 31.9), 3-point defense percentage (9th; .272), defense with Field goals made (9th; .377), 3 points made per game (10th; 11.2) and offensive rebounds per game (60th; 12.9)

According to KenPom, the Illini rank 12th nationally and fourth among power conference programs with a 3-point attempt percentage (3-point attempts/total field goal attempts) of 50.0%.

The Illini’s scoring average of 88.2 ppg is the team’s highest in 60 years, since the team posted a school record 92.2 ppg in 1964-65.

With a scoring margin of +21.7 points per game, Illinois is on pace to set the best in program history, surpassing the 1942-43 Illini, who outscored their opponents by 20.6 points per game. The team’s best mark since 1960 is +15.9 from the 2004/2005 season.

Illinois ranks second nationally in rebounding with 45.2 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 outscored their opponents in 12 of 13 games this season.

Illinois is the Big Ten’s winningest team since 2019-20, posting a 71-32 (.689) record in league play. And if you include the conference tournament, the Illini have a league-best 77 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. During that span, the Illini are 30-22 (.577) in conference away games and have finished .500 or better in four of the last five seasons.