2001–02 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

The 2001–02 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

2001–02 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
NCAA tournament, Sweet Sixteen
ConferenceBig Ten Conference
Ranking
CoachesNo. 11
APNo. 13
Record26–9 (11–5 Big Ten)
Head coach
Assistant coaches
MVPFrank Williams
Captains
Home arenaAssembly Hall
Seasons
2001–02 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
No. 13 Illinois 11 5   .688 26 9   .743
No. 23 Indiana 11 5   .688 25 12   .676
Wisconsin 11 5   .688 19 13   .594
Michigan State 10 6   .625 19 12   .613
Minnesota 9 7   .563 18 13   .581
Northwestern 7 9   .438 16 13   .552
Iowa 5 11   .313 19 16   .543
Purdue 5 11   .313 13 18   .419
Michigan 5 11   .313 11 18   .379
Penn State 3 13   .188 7 21   .250
No. 14 Ohio State*† 0 0   0 0  
2002 Big Ten tournament winner
Rankings from AP poll
*Ohio State: 30 reg. season games; 2 NCAA Tourn. games vacated due to sanctions against the program
Disputed record: Ohio State-(24-8)(11-5)

Regular season

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In 2002, the Illini earned a four-way share of the Big Ten title before advancing to the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA tournament. Frank Williams again earned first-team All-Big Ten honors as the five seniors who finished their careers took the Illini from an 11th-place finish in the league in 1999 to consecutive Big Ten titles in 2001 and 2002.

Roster

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2001–02 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team
Players Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Previous school Hometown
G 00 Brett Melton 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 195 lb (88 kg) So Mahomet-Seymour High School Mahomet, Illinois
G 4 Luther Head 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 175 lb (79 kg) Fr Manley High School Chicago, Illinois
G 13 Cory Bradford (C) 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 200 lb (91 kg) RS Sr Raleigh Egypt High School Memphis, Tennessee
F/C 21 Robert Archibald 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 250 lb (113 kg) Sr Lafayette High School Ballwin, Missouri
F 22 Lucas Johnson 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 230 lb (104 kg) Sr Maine West High School Des Plaines, Illinois
F 23 Blandon Ferguson 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 205 lb (93 kg) Jr St. Joseph Notre Dame High School Oakland, California
G 24 Sean Harrington 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 185 lb (84 kg) Jr Elgin High School Bartlett, Illinois
G 25 Jerrance Howard 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 200 lb (91 kg) RS So Peoria High School Peoria, Illinois
G 30 Frank Williams (C) 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 212 lb (96 kg) RS Jr Manual High School Peoria, Illinois
G 31 Nick Huge   6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 215 lb (98 kg) Jr Christian High School/Appalachian State University Charlotte, North Carolina
F 33 Damir Krupalija 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 231 lb (105 kg) Sr Rockford Boylan High School Rockford, Illinois
F 34 Brian Cook 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 240 lb (109 kg) Jr Lincoln Community High School Lincoln, Illinois
F 42 Clayton Thomas (W) 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 240 lb (109 kg) Sr Larkin High School Elgin, Illinois
F 43 Roger Powell 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 220 lb (100 kg) Fr Joliet Central High School Joliet, Illinois
C 45 Nick Smith 7 ft 2 in (2.18 m) 240 lb (109 kg) RS Fr Bloomingdale High School Valrico, Florida
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)

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

Roster
Last update: 2014-11-12

Schedule

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Source[1]


Date
time, TV
Rank# Opponent# Result Record Site (attendance)
city, state
Non-Conference regular season
11/16/2001*
no, no
No. 3 Gonzaga W 76–58  1–0
Assembly Hall (16,500)
Champaign, Illinois
11/19/2001*
no, no
No. 2 Eastern Illinois
Las Vegas Invitational (1st Round)
W 93–53  2–0
Assembly Hall (13,827)
Champaign, Illinois
11/22/2001*
no, no
No. 2 vs. Penn
Las Vegas Invitational
W 78–71  3–0
Valley High School (1,700)
Las Vegas, Nevada
11/23/2001*
no, no
No. 2 vs. Georgia Tech
Las Vegas Invitational
W 105–66  4–0
Valley High School (2,000)
Las Vegas, Nevada
11/24/2001*
no, no
No. 2 vs. Southern Illinois
Las Vegas Invitational, (Championship)
W 75–72  5–0
Valley High School (2,500)
Las Vegas, Nevada
11/27/2001*
no, no
No. 2 at No. 5 Maryland
Big Ten-ACC Challenge
L 63–76  5–1
Cole Field House (14,500)
College Park, Maryland
12/1/2001*
no, no
No. 2 Texas A&M–Corpus Christi W 80–56  6–1
Assembly Hall (16,500)
Champaign, Illinois
12/6/2000*
no, no
No. 5 vs. No. 7 Arizona L 82–87  6–2
US Airways Center (10,697)
Phoenix, Arizona
12/8/2001*
no, no
No. 5 vs. Arkansas W 94–91  7–2
United Center (18,671)
Chicago, Illinois
12/16/2001*
no, no
No. 10 Western Illinois W 98–62  8–2
Assembly Hall (14,653)
Champaign, Illinois
12/18/2001*
no, no
No. 9 Illinois State W 87–73  9–2
Assembly Hall (16,500)
Champaign, Illinois
12/22/2001*
no, no
No. 9 vs. No. 8 Missouri
Braggin' Rights
W 72–61  10–2
Scottrade Center (22,153)
St. Louis, Missouri
12/29/2001*
no, no
No. 7 Loyola (Chicago) W 87–72  11–2
Assembly Hall (16,500)
Champaign, Illinois
Big Ten regular season
1/2/2002
no, no
No. 7 Minnesota W 76–53  12–2
(1–0)
Assembly Hall (16,500)
Champaign, Illinois
1/5/2002
no, no
No. 7 at Wisconsin L 66–72  12–3
(1–1)
Kohl Center (17,142)
Madison, Wisconsin
1/9/2002
no, no
No. 9 at Purdue L 74–84  12–4
(1–2)
Mackey Arena (12,876)
West Lafayette, Indiana
1/12/2002
no, no
No. 9 Michigan W 94–70  13–4
(2–2)
Assembly Hall (16,500)
Champaign, Illinois
1/15/2002
no, no
No. 11 No. 17 Iowa
Rivalry
W 77–66  14–4
(3–2)
Assembly Hall (16,500)
Champaign, Illinois
1/23/2002
no, no
No. 9 Wisconsin W 80–48  15–4
(4–2)
Assembly Hall (16,500)
Champaign, Illinois
1/26/2002
no, CBS
No. 9 at Indiana
Rivalry
L 57–88  15–5
(4–3)
Assembly Hall (17,456)
Bloomington, Indiana
1/29/2002
no, no
No. 12 at No. 25 Ohio State L 67–78  15–6
(4–4)
Value City Arena (19,200)
Columbus, Ohio
2/3/2002
no, CBS
No. 12 Michigan State L 61–67  15–7
(4–5)
Assembly Hall (16,500)
Champaign, Illinois
2/7/2002
no, no
No. 21 at Michigan W 68–60  16–7
(5–5)
Crisler Arena (10,710)
Ann Arbor, Michigan
2/9/2002
no, no
No. 21 Purdue W 69–67  17–7
(6–5)
Assembly Hall (16,500)
Champaign, Illinois
2/12/2002
no, no
No. 18 at Michigan State W 63–61  18–7
(7–5)
Breslin Student Events Center (14,759)
East Lansing, Michigan
2/16/2002*
no, CBS
No. 18 at Seton Hall W 75–65  19–7
Continental Airlines Arena (10,070)
South Orange, New Jersey
2/20/2002
no, no
No. 16 Penn State W 83–56  20–7
(8–5)
Assembly Hall (16,500)
Champaign, Illinois
2/23/2002
no, no
No. 16 at Northwestern
Rivalry
W 56–41  21–7
(9–5)
Welsh-Ryan Arena (8,117)
Evanston, Illinois
2/26/2002
no, no
No. 15 No. 25 Indiana
Rivalry
W 70–62  22–7
(10–5)
Assembly Hall (16,500)
Champaign, Illinois
3/3/2002
no, CBS
No. 15 at Minnesota W 67–66  23–7
(11–5)
Williams Arena (14,612)
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Big Ten tournament
3/8/2002
no, no
(3) No. 10 vs. (6) Minnesota
Quarterfinals
W 92–76  24–7
Conseco Fieldhouse (18,996)
Indianapolis, Indiana
3/9/2002
no, CBS
(3) No. 10 vs. (2) No. 21 Ohio State
Semifinals
L 88–94  24–8
Conseco Fieldhouse (18,996)
Indianapolis, Indiana
NCAA tournament
3/15/2002
no, CBS
(4 MW) No. 13 vs. (13 MW) San Diego State
First Round
W 93–64  25–8
United Center (20,850)
Chicago, Illinois
3/17/2002
no, CBS
(4 MW) No. 13 vs. (12 MW) Creighton
Second Round
W 72–60  26–8
United Center (21,525)
Chicago, Illinois
3/22/2002
no, CBS
(4 MW) No. 13 vs. (1 MW) No. 2 Kansas
Sweet Sixteen
L 69–73  26–9
Kohl Center (16,310)
Madison, Wisconsin
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.
All times are in Central Time.

Season Statistics

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Legend
  GP  Games played   GS  Games started  Avg  Average per game
  FG  Field-goals made  FGA  Field-goal attempts  Off  Offensive rebounds
 Def  Defensive rebounds   A  Assists   TO Turnovers
 Blk  Blocks  Stl  Steals  High  Team high
Final Individual Statistics [2]
Minutes Scoring Total FGs 3-point FGs Free-Throws Rebounds
Player GP GS Tot Avg Pts Avg FG FGA Pct 3FG 3FA Pct FT FTA Pct Off Def Tot Avg A TO Blk Stl
Williams, Frank 35 34 1135 32.4 566 16.2 174 443 .393 54 159 .340 164 203 .808 32 131 163 4.7 153 96 10 71
Cook, Brian 35 34 1008 28.8 471 13.5 174 342 .509 27 74 .365 96 110 .873 64 169 233 6.7 44 77 50 29
Bradford, Cory 35 35 1133 32.4 406 11.6 133 312 .426 74 189 .392 66 86 .767 32 78 110 3.1 87 68 5 29
Archibald, Robert 34 31 769 22.6 362 10.6 114 173 .659 0 1 .000 134 205 .654 70 118 188 5.5 44 67 38 25
Harrington, Sean 35 14 868 24.8 223 6.4 73 178 .410 56 141 .397 21 29 .724 7 53 60 1.7 87 39 0 28
Head, Luther 35 13 581 16.6 156 4.5 63 124 .508 16 55 .291 14 25 .560 17 50 67 1.9 59 43 5 34
Krupalija, Damir 21 1 332 15.8 146 7.0 49 84 .583 11 23 .478 37 50 .740 37 62 99 4.7 29 23 5 7
Smith, Nick 33 4 334 10.1 127 3.8 49 91 .538 0 3 .000 29 44 .659 26 48 74 2.2 20 28 19 5
Powell, Roger 27 0 160 5.9 79 2.9 27 50 .540 3 5 .600 22 36 .611 19 29 48 1.8 2 10 4 3
Ferguson, Blandon 30 7 232 7.7 67 2.2 23 60 .383 0 3 .000 21 28 .750 18 28 46 1.5 18 26 1 10
Johnson, Lucas 17 2 304 17.9 64 3.8 15 38 .395 7 24 .292 27 37 .730 14 29 43 2.5 30 18 3 13
Howard, Jerrance 21 0 81 3.9 20 1.0 7 18 .389 2 7 .286 4 4 1.000 6 7 13 0.6 14 11 0 4
Melton, Brett 7 0 45 6.4 17 2.4 5 11 .455 4 8 .500 3 5 .600 0 3 3 0.4 2 1 0 0
Thomas, Clayton 8 0 13 1.6 2 0.3 1 5 .200 0 0 .000 0 0 .000 1 3 4 0.5 0 2 1 0
Young, Walter 2 0 5 2.5 2 1.0 1 3 .333 0 0 .000 0 0 .000 0 1 1 0.5 1 0 0 0
Team 49 63 112 3
Total 35 7000 2708 77.4 908 1932 .470 254 692 .367 638 862 .740 392 872 1264 36.1 590 512 141 258
Opponents 35 7000 2369 67.7 815 1960 .416 235 691 .340 504 760 .663 405 711 1116 31.9 449 540 101 195

NCAA basketball tournament

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  • Midwest regional
    • Illinois 93, San Diego State 64
    • Illinois 72, Creighton 60
  • Regional semifinal
    • Kansas 73, Illinois 69

[3]

Awards and honors

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Team players drafted into the NBA

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Player NBA Club Round Pick
Frank Williams Denver Nuggets 1 25
Robert Archibald Memphis Grizzies 2 31

[5]

Rankings

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References

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  1. ^ University of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 2001-02 Archived 2013-06-25 at the Wayback Machine, FightingIllini.com
  2. ^ University of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 2001-02 Archived 2013-06-25 at the Wayback Machine, FightingIllini.com
  3. ^ 2002 NCAA Tournament
  4. ^ "List of MVPs" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on October 30, 2014. Retrieved January 15, 2013.
  5. ^ 2002 NBA draft Archived 2009-04-30 at the Wayback Machine