Head coach Brad Underwood

Career balance: 258-116 (.690), 12th year

In Illinois: 149-89 (.626), 8th year

Big Ten: 80-58 (.580)

Series history vs. Northwestern

All-time record/series: Illinois leads, 144-44 / Northwestern W1

Last meeting: Northwestern 96, #10 Illinois 91 – OT (01/24/2024 in Evanston, Ill.)

Record at Northwestern / Streak: Illinois leads 65-30 / Northwestern W2

Underwood vs. Northwestern: 10-4

Tips for opening

• As a founding member of the Big Ten Conference, No. 19 Illinois plays its 120th league season on Friday night at Northwestern (8 p.m. CT, BTN). Illinois opens B1G road play for the seventh time in the last nine seasons.
• Illinois returned to the AP Top 25 rankings this week at No. 19. Head coach Brad Underwood has led the Fighting Illini program to the AP Top 25 rankings in six consecutive seasons. The Illini are also ranked 17th in the latest coaches poll.
• Illinois is No. 10 in the inaugural NCAA NET rankings released Dec. 1. The Illini ranking is the highest in the Big Ten.
• Friday’s game against Northwestern is the 189th in the series, which dates back to the 1907-08 season. Illinois leads 144-44. The Illini are 65-30 against the Wildcats in Evanston and have won 10 of the last 12 meetings overall, with the only losses coming in the Illini’s last two visits to Welsh-Ryan Arena.
• The Illinois matchup at Northwestern will be the Orange and Blue’s only matchup in a 12-day period following the team’s Thanksgiving Day win over #19 Arkansas on November 28th and the Orange and Blue’s Big Ten opener against #11 Wisconsin on December 10 (8 p.m. CT/Peacock) at State Farm Center.
• Illinois has been the Big Ten’s winningest team over the past five seasons, posting a record of 69-31 (.690) in league play. And if you include the conference tournament, the Illini 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. During that span, the Illini have posted a 29-21 (.580) record in conference away games and have finished .500 or better in four of the last five seasons.
• The Illini are ranked second nationally with a points advantage of +27.7. 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 accounted for 91.2% of the team’s points (569 of 624 total points), with UI freshmen accounting for 38.6% of those points (241).
• Illinois leads the Big Ten and is among the best teams nationally in: 3-point attempts per game (3rd in NCAA, 33.9), 3-point shots per game (7th, 11.9), total -Rebounds per game (1st, 47.9), rebound margin (1st, +15.3), defensive rebounds per game (2nd, 33.6), offensive rebounds per game (30th, 14.3 ), 3-point defense percentage (12th; .260) and blocks per game (18th, 5.6). The Illini also rank second nationally in scoring (+27.7), trailing Big Ten opponent Maryland by just 0.4 points per game.
• KenPom.com ranks the Illini 14th in Adjusted Efficiency Rating (+22.76). Illinois is one of 12 programs nationally ranked in the top 25 in both offensive efficiency (19th, 117.9) and defensive efficiency (24th, 95.2).
• According to KenPom, the Illini rank seventh nationally with a 3-point attempt rate (3-point attempts/total field goal attempts) of 52.4%, first among power conference programs. The Illini have the best overall offensive efficiency rating (117.9) among the top 25 programs in 3-point attempt percentage.
• Offensively, the Fighting Illini’s scoring average of 89.1 points per game is the team’s highest since the team set the program record of 92.2 points per game in 1964–65.
• With a margin of +27.7 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)