IU basketball game day essentials: Hoosiers travel to face Illinois

Game Day Essentials:

Indiana (17-8, 8-6) vs. No. 8 Illinois (20-5, 11-3)

• Tip Time: 1:00 p.m. Eastern, Sunday
• Location: State Farm Center (15,544), Champaign, Ill.
• Television: CBS (Andrew Catalon, Clark Kellogg)
• Radio: IU Radio Network (Don Fischer, Errek Suhr, John Herrick)
• Stream: Paramount
• Point Spread:  Illinois is around a 10.5-point favorite
• KenPom Projected Score:  Indiana 71  Illinois 82
• History: Indiana leads, 96-93
• Last Meeting: ILL 94, IU 69 on Jan. 14, 2025, in Bloomington
• Tickets (via our StubHub affiliate link)

Illinois’s Brad Underwood

Brad Underwood is in his ninth season at the helm of Illinois men’s basketball. Across his Division I coaching career, he’s gathered a 294-133 (.689) record.

Underwood had a variety of stints at the junior college and assistant ranks, highlighted by programs such as Kansas State and South Carolina. Underwood got his first Division I head coach opportunity with Stephen F. Austin, where he led the Lumberjacks to a dominant three seasons. SFA won three straight conference regular-season and tournament titles from 2013 to 2016.

After a brief season with Oklahoma State, Underwood was announced as Illinois head coach on March 18, 2017. Underwood has led Illinois to a 185-106 record during his tenure and has won one Big Ten regular-season title. Under his direction, Illinois has made the NCAA Tournament the past five seasons and made the Elite Eight in 2024.

Illinois’s results and roster

Illinois’s game notes (via Illinois Athletics)

OPENING TIPS

• Illinois is looking to bounce back after a stretch of five games in 13 days that ended with back-to-back overtime losses at No. 10 Michigan State and home vs. Wisconsin. Illinois had previously won 12 consecutive games, the team’s longest win streak in the last 13 seasons.
• Illinois ranks fifth in the latest NET rankings and is tied for second in the nation with five Quad 1A wins.
• Illinois is 20-5 overall, the program’s best start since opening 21-5 in 2008-09.
• Illinois’ 11-3 Big Ten record is its best since the 2021-22 team also started 11-3 on its way to the regular season title.
• Illinois has secured its seventh straight 20-win regular season under Brad Underwood. Illinois, Gonzaga, and Houston are the only three programs to win at least 20 regular season games every year since 2019-20.
• Illinois has also clinched a winning Big Ten record for the seventh straight season. Illinois is the only team to finish above .500 in Big Ten play every year since 2019-20.
• Illinois is 12-2 at home this season, the program’s best mark since going 15-2 at State Farm Center in 2022 23. The Illini are averaging 88.7 points at home this season, with an average scoring margin of +22.3 ppg.

WAGLER’S WORLD

• Illini star Keaton Wagler‘s rapid ascent during his freshman season has been remarkable for an unheralded
  recruit. Now contending for Big Ten Player of the Year and All-America honors, the Shawnee, Kansas native was ranked 150th by 247Sports and 179th by Rivals in the Class of 2025, and he had just two high-major offers before committing to the Fighting Illini.
• Wagler is currently ranked No. 6 in the KenPom national player of the year ratings, and second among B1G players.
• Among players with at least 24% possessions used, Wagler ranks first nationally in offensive rating at 135.8.
• Wagler is one of only two power conference freshmen averaging at least 18.0 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 4.0 assists on the season, alongside Duke’s Cameron Boozer.
• Since moving to the point guard position at the beginning of December, Wagler is averaging 20.8 points, 4.8 rebounds and 5.4 assists over the last 17 games on 47.5% shooting from the field, 46.3% from three, and 79.6% from the line, while leading the Illini to a 14-3 record during this stretch.

ILLINI ITEMS

• Four Fighting Illini average at least 12 points per game, tied for second nationally: Keaton Wagler (18.5 ppg), Kylan Boswell (14.3), Andrej Stojakovic (13.7), and David Mirkovic (12.6).
• Illinois is the only team in the nation with seven players averaging at least 4.0 rebounds (minimum 15 games): David Mirkovic (8.0 rpg), Tomislav Ivisic (5.7), Zvonimir Ivisic (5.4), Keaton Wagler (4.9), Andrej Stojakovic (4.6), Kylan Boswell (4.2), and Ben Humrichous (4.0).
• Freshman F David Mirkovic is one of only three freshmen in the nation, along with Duke’s Cameron Boozer and North Carolina’s Caleb Wilson, averaging at least 12.0 points, 8.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists.
• Senior G Kylan Boswell is the Illini’s active career leader with 1,195 career points (687 at Illinois), with eight 20+ point games and 36 career double-digit scoring games in Orange and Blue. Boswell is tied for the team lead with five games this season with 20+ points this season, and has eclipsed the 20-point mark eight times over the last two years.

No. 7 Illinois KenPom notable numbers:

(out of 365 teams)

Tempo – No. 276 (Offense No. 324 / Defense No. 206)

Offensive Efficiency – No. 1

• Illinois holds an effective field goal percentage of 55.9 percent on the year (No. 32). The Illini are shooting 36.1 percent from three (No. 63) and 57.8 percent on twos (No. 29). They’re scoring a higher percentage of their points on three-pointers, which have accounted for 40.1% of their total point distribution (No. 18).
• Their three-point attempt rate is one of the highest in the country at 51.3 percent (No. 9).
• Illinois gets a good amount of offensive rebounds at 38.8 percent (No. 6). They turn the ball over at a 14 percent clip (No. 22).
• The Illini don’t get to the free throw line at a high rate.  Their FTA/FGA ratio of 34.2% ranks No. 214.

Defensive Efficiency – No. 30

• Opponents have shot a 47% effective field goal percentage against Illinois this season (No. 26). Teams are shooting 32.0 percent from three (No. 71) and 46.3 percent on 2s (No. 20).
• Illinois is the worst team, statistically, at forcing turnovers in the country. Their 11.3% turnover percentage ranks No. 365.
• On the flipside, they are the best team at limiting opportunities from the free-throw line, with an 18.8 percent attempt rate (No. 1). Opposing teams are only getting 12.5% of their total point distribution from the charity stripe.

OG’s Pick:

Overall: 16-7 

Indiana has a good chance to finish out with some quality wins heading into the tournament, but I don’t think they get one here. Illinois has an on-fire offense that is just going to get better if Andrej Stojakovic and Kylan Boswell return from injuries on Sunday. If IU does make it out with the win, it’ll be hard to keep them out of the NCAA Tournament.

Pick Illinois 82 – Indiana 73

The Daily Hoosier –“Where Indiana fans assemble when they’re not at Assembly”

• Find us on Facebook:  thedailyhoosier
• You can follow us on Twitter:  @daily_hoosier
• Seven ways to support completely free IU coverage at no cost to you.