2020–21 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

2020–21 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
	† 2021 Big Ten Tournament winner ; As of February 9, 2021; Rankings from AP Poll

Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
2020–21 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 6
AP	No. 6
2020–21 record	13–5 (9–3 Big Ten)
Head coach	Brad Underwood (4th season);
Assistant coaches	Orlando Antigua; Stephen Gentry; Ron Coleman; Geoff Alexander;
Captain	Ayo Dosunmu; Da’Monte Williams
Home arena	State Farm Center

The 2020–21 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team will represent the University of Illinois in the 2020–21 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. Led by fourth-year head coach Brad Underwood, the Illini will play their home games at the State Farm Center in Champaign, Illinois as members of the Big Ten Conference.

Previous season

The Illini finished the 2019–20 season 21–10, 13–7 in Big Ten play to finish in fourth place. Their season ended when the Big Ten Tournament and the NCAA Tournament were canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.[1]

Offseason

Departures

On April 7, 2020, freshman big man Kofi Cockburn declared for the NBA draft, but did not hire an agent, leaving open the chance that he would return to school for his sophomore season.[2] On April 16, sophomore guard Ayo Dosunmu also declared for the draft.[3] Dosunmu did not hire an agent, but stated that he intended to stay in the draft. On July 31, Dosunmu withdrew his name from the NBA Draft and will return for his junior season.[4]

Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown	Notes
Andrés Feliz	10	G	6'2"	195	Senior	Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic	Graduated
Alan Griffin	0	F	6'5"	195	Sophomore	White Plains, NY	Transferred[5]
Tevian Jones	5	F	6'7"	205	Sophomore	Culver City, CA	Transferred[6]
Kipper Nichols	2	F	6'6"	220	RS Senior	Cleveland, Ohio	Graduated
Samson Oladimeji	35	C	6'4"	210	Senior	Rolling Meadows, Illinois	Graduated

2020 Recruiting Class

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes
Name	Hometown	High school / college	Height	Weight	Commit date
André Curbelo PG	San Juan, Puerto Rico	Long Island Lutheran (NY)	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	Nov 3, 2019
André Curbelo PG	Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: ESPN grade: 83
Coleman Hawkins PF	Antelope, California	Prolific Prep	6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)	215 lb (98 kg)	Nov 16, 2019
Coleman Hawkins PF	Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: ESPN grade: 80
Adam Miller SG	Chicago, Illinois	Morgan Park	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	170 lb (77 kg)	Nov 21, 2019
Adam Miller SG	Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: ESPN grade: 89
Brandon Lieb C	Deerfield, Illinois	Deerfield	7 ft 0 in (2.13 m)	205 lb (93 kg)	Jun 25, 2020
Brandon Lieb C	Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: N/A ESPN grade: N/A
Overall recruiting rankings:
Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "2020 Illinois Commits". Rivals.com. "2020 Team Ranking". Rivals.com.

Future Recruiting

US college sports recruiting information for 2021 recruits
Name	Hometown	High school / college	Height	Weight	Commit date
Luke Goode SG	Fort Wayne, Indiana	Homestead	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	Apr 17, 2020
Luke Goode SG	Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: ESPN grade: 83
Overall recruiting rankings:
Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "2021 Team Ranking". Rivals.com.

Roster

2020–21 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Previous school	Hometown
G	1	Trent Frazier	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	Sr	Wellington (FL)	Wellington, Florida
F	2	Connor Serven (W)	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	215 lb (98 kg)	Fr	St. Rita (IL)	Bushnell, Illinois
G/F	3	Jacob Grandison	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	205 lb (93 kg)	RS Jr	Phillips Exeter Academy (NH)/ Holy Cross	Oakland, California
F	4	Zach Griffith (W)	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	220 lb (100 kg)	Sr	Fisher High School	Fisher, Illinois
G	5	André Curbelo	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	Fr	Long Island Lutheran (NY)	Vega Baja, Puerto Rico
G	10	Edgar Padilla Jr. (W)	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	165 lb (75 kg)	Fr	Colegio San Ignacio de Loyola	Carolina, Puerto Rico
G	11	Ayo Dosunmu (C)	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	Jr	Morgan Park	Chicago, Illinois
C	12	Brandon Lieb	7 ft 0 in (2.13 m)	210 lb (95 kg)	Fr	Deerfield	Deerfield, Illinois
F	13	Benjamin Bosmans-Verdonk	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	235 lb (107 kg)	RS Fr	KA Pegasus	Lommel, Belgium
F	15	Giorgi Bezhanishvili	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	245 lb (111 kg)	Jr	The Patrick School (NJ)	Rustavi, Georgia
G	20	Da'Monte Williams (C)	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	215 lb (98 kg)	Sr	Manual	Peoria, Illinois
C	21	Kofi Cockburn	7 ft 0 in (2.13 m)	297 lb (135 kg)	So	Oak Hill Academy (VA)	Kingston, Jamaica
G	22	Austin Hutcherson	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	RS Jr	Hun School of Princeton (NJ)/ Wesleyan	New York City
G	32	Tyler Underwood (W)	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	GS	Nacogdoches High School / Oklahoma State	Nacogdoches, Texas
F	33	Coleman Hawkins	6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	Fr	Prolific Prep (CA)	Sacramento, California
C	34	Jermaine Hamlin	6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)	235 lb (107 kg)	So	Lincoln	Lincoln, Illinois
G	44	Adam Miller	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	Fr	Morgan Park	Peoria, Illinois

Head coach

Brad Underwood (Oklahoma State University)

Assistant coach(es)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

Roster
Last update: October 10, 2020

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	High points	High rebounds	High assists	Site (attendance) city, state
Non-Conference regular season
November 25, 2020* 1:00 PM, BTN	No. 8	North Carolina A&T	W 122–60	1–0	28 – Tied	10 – Tied	7 – Williams	State Farm Center (132) Champaign, IL
November 26, 2020* 11:00 AM, BTN	No. 8	Chicago State	W 97–38	2–0	22 – Dosunmu	11 – Cockburn	7 – Dosunmu	State Farm Center (143) Champaign, IL
November 27, 2020* 12:00 PM, BTN	No. 8	Ohio	W 77–75	3–0	27 – Dosunmu	14 – Cockburn	8 – Dosunmu	State Farm Center (155) Champaign, IL
December 2, 2020* 9:00 pm, ESPN	No. 5	vs. No. 2 Baylor Jimmy V Classic	L 69–82	3–1	18 – Dosunmu	7 – Williams	5 – Dosunmu	Bankers Life Fieldhouse (0) Indianapolis, IN
December 5, 2020* 8:00 PM, BTN	No. 5	UT-Martin	Cancelled due to COVID-19 within UT-Martin program					State Farm Center Champaign, IL
December 8, 2020* 8:30 PM, ESPN	No. 6	at No. 10 Duke ACC–Big Ten Challenge	W 83–68	4–1	18 – Dosunmu	12 – Dosunmu	5 – Dosunmu	Cameron Indoor Stadium (0) Durham, NC
December 12, 2020* 7:00 PM, ESPNU	No. 6	at Missouri Braggin' Rights	L 78–81	4–2	36 – Dosunmu	6 – Cockburn	4 – Curbelo	Mizzou Arena (578) Columbia, MO
Big Ten regular season
December 15, 2020 6:00 PM, ESPN2	No. 13	Minnesota	W 92–65	5–2 (1–0)	33 – Cockburn	13 – Cockburn	9 – Curbelo	State Farm Center (173) Champaign, IL
December 20, 2020 12:00 PM, ESPN2	No. 13	at No. 19 Rutgers	L 88–91	5–3 (1–1)	22 – Dosunmu	12 – Cockburn	6 – Dosunmu	Rutgers Athletic Center (0) Piscataway, NJ
December 23, 2020 5:30 PM, BTN	No. 18	at Penn State	W 98–81	6–3 (2–1)	30 – Dosunmu	7 – Grandison	8 – Curbelo	Bryce Jordan Center (158) University Park, PA
December 26, 2020 3:00 PM, FS1	No. 18	Indiana Rivalry	W 69–60	7–3 (3–1)	30 – Dosunmu	15 – Cockburn	5 – Dosunmu	State Farm Center (178) Champaign, IL
January 2, 2021 5:00 PM, BTN	No. 15	Purdue	W 66-58	8-3 (4-1)	14 – Cockburn	10 – Tied	6 – Curbelo	State Farm Center (167) Champaign, IL
January 7, 2021 8:00 PM, BTN	No. 12	at Northwestern Rivalry	W 81-56	9-3 (5-1)	18 – Cockburn	12 – Cockburn	7 – Curbelo	Welsh–Ryan Arena (0) Evanston, IL
January 10, 2021 7:00 PM, BTN	No. 12	Maryland	L 63-66	9-4 (5-2)	23 – Dosunmu	10 – Cockburn	5 – Tied	State Farm Center (169) Champaign, IL
January 16, 2021 11:00 AM, FOX	No. 14	No. 21 Ohio State	L 81–87	9–5 (5–3)	22 – Dosunmu	11 – Cockburn	5 – Dosunmu	State Farm Center (175) Champaign, IL
January 19, 2021 7:30 PM, BTN	No. 22	Penn State	W 79-65	10-5 (6-3)	21 – Cockburn	12 – Cockburn	5 – Dosunmu	State Farm Center (148) Champaign, IL
January 29, 2021 8:00 PM, FS1	No. 19	No. 7 Iowa Rivalry	W 80–75	11–5 (7–3)	25 – Dosunmu	10 – Tied	8 – Curbelo	State Farm Center (190) Champaign, IL
February 2, 2021 8:00 PM, ESPN	No. 12	at Indiana Rivalry	W 75–71 ^OT	12–5 (8–3)	19 – Frazier	10 – Cockburn	4 – Curbelo	Assembly Hall (0) Bloomington, IN
February 6, 2021 1:30 PM, FOX	No. 12	No. 19 Wisconsin	W 75–60	13–5 (9–3)	23 – Cockburn	14 – Cockburn	12 – Dosunmu	State Farm Center (180) Champaign, IL
February 11, 2021 6:00 PM, ESPN	No. 6	at No. 3 Michigan	Postponed due to return-to-play for Michigan					Crisler Center Ann Arbor, MI
February 12, 2021 8:00 PM, BTN	No. 6	at Nebraska						Pinnacle Bank Arena Lincoln, NE
February 16, 2021 BTN		Northwestern Rivalry						State Farm Center Champaign, IL
February 20, 2021 FOX/FS1		at Minnesota						Williams Arena Minneapolis, MN
February 23, 2021 6:00 PM, FS1		at Michigan State						Breslin Center East Lansing, MI
February 27, 2021 ESPN/ESPN2		at Wisconsin						Kohl Center Madison, WI
March 2-4, 2021 (TBA) BTN		Nebraska						State Farm Center Champaign, IL
March 6, 2021 ESPN/ESPN2		at Ohio State						Value City Arena Columbus, OH
Big Ten Tournament
March 10 - 14, 2021								Lucas Oil Stadium Indianapolis, IN
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time.

Source[7]

Rankings

Ranking movements
**Legend:** ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes. т = Tied with team above or below. ( ) = First place votes.
	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	Final
AP	8	5	6	13	18	15	12	14	22	19	12	6									Not released
Coaches	10	10^	9	13	18	16	12	13	24	22	13	6

*AP does not release post-NCAA Tournament rankings
^Coaches did not release a Week 1 poll.

References

"2020 NCAA Tournament canceled due to growing threat of coronavirus pandemic". CBSSports.com. Retrieved 2020-03-16.
Ryan, Shannon. "Kofi Cockburn declares for the NBA draft, and the Illinois freshman will get feedback from teams before making a final decision". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 2020-05-12.
"Illinois' Dosunmu declares for NBA draft". ESPN.com. 2020-04-17. Retrieved 2020-05-12.
Ryan, Shannon. "Illini guard Ayo Dosunmu's dad says his son is '98% or 99%' committed to remaining in the NBA draft". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 2020-05-12.
Cobb, David. "Syracuse lands prized Illinois transfer Alan Griffin, son of Raptors assistant Adrian Griffin". cbssports.com. Retrieved 2020-04-05.
joey.wagner@lee.net, JOEY WAGNER. "Illinois sophomore Tevian Jones enters transfer portal". Herald-Review.com. Retrieved 2020-05-12.
https://fightingillini.com/schedule.aspx?path=mbball

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[1] "2020 NCAA Tournament canceled due to growing threat of coronavirus pandemic". CBSSports.com. Retrieved 2020-03-16.

[2] Ryan, Shannon. "Kofi Cockburn declares for the NBA draft, and the Illinois freshman will get feedback from teams before making a final decision". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 2020-05-12.

[3] "Illinois' Dosunmu declares for NBA draft". ESPN.com. 2020-04-17. Retrieved 2020-05-12.

[4] Ryan, Shannon. "Illini guard Ayo Dosunmu's dad says his son is '98% or 99%' committed to remaining in the NBA draft". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 2020-05-12.

[5] Cobb, David. "Syracuse lands prized Illinois transfer Alan Griffin, son of Raptors assistant Adrian Griffin". cbssports.com. Retrieved 2020-04-05.

[6] y.wagner@lee.net, JOEY WAGNER. "Illinois sophomore Tevian Jones enters transfer portal". Herald-Review.com. Retrieved 2020-05-12.

[7] ttps://fightingillini.com/schedule.aspx?path=mbball

Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
Venues	Kenney Gym (1906–1925) Huff Hall (1926–1963) State Farm Center (1963–present) Prairie Capital Convention Center (2015)
Rivalries	Indiana Iowa Missouri Northwestern
Culture & lore	Whiz Kids Flyin' Illini Orange Krush Fighting Illini Sports Network Oskee Wow-Wow Illinois Loyalty Chief Illiniwek 1960s slush fund scandal
People	Head coaches NBA draftees Consensus All-Americans Statistical leaders
Seasons	1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21
Helms and Premo-Porretta national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics