2001–02 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

American college basketball season March 2026 August 2023 Basketball 2001–02 Illinois Fighting Illini 2001–02 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team.jpg 300px Big Ten Conference Big Ten 11 13 26–9 11–5 Bill Self 2nd 2nd 1st 2nd Billy Gillispie Wayne McClain Norm Roberts Cory Bradford Frank Williams Frank Williams Assembly Hall Big Ten Regular Season co-championsLas Vegas Invitational, Champion NCAA tournament Sweet Sixteen The 2001–02 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois. Regular season 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 2001 Illinois Fighting Illini y yes Brett Melton 00 G 6 5 195 SO Mahomet, Illinois Mahomet-Seymour High School n Luther Head 4 G 6 3 175 FR Chicago, Illinois Manley High School y Cory Bradford 13 G 6 3 200 SR y Memphis, Tennessee Raleigh Egypt High School y C Robert Archibald 21 F/C 6 11 250 SR Ballwin, Missouri Lafayette High School y Lucas Johnson 22 F 6 8 230 SR Des Plaines, Illinois Maine West High School n Blandon Ferguson 23 F 6 3 205 JR Oakland, California St. Joseph Notre Dame High School n Sean Harrington 24 G 6 3 185 JR Bartlett, Illinois Elgin High School n Jerrance Howard 25 G 6 1 200 SO y Peoria, Illinois Peoria High School y Frank Williams 30 G 6 3 212 JR y Peoria, Illinois Manual High School y Frank Williams (basketball) C Nick Huge 31 G 6 4 215 JR yes Charlotte, North Carolina Christian High School/Appalachian State University n Damir Krupalija 33 F 6 9 231 SR Rockford, Illinois Rockford Boylan High School y Brian Cook 34 F 6 10 240 JR Lincoln, Illinois Lincoln Community High School y Brian Cook (basketball) Clayton Thomas 42 F 6 7 240 SR Elgin, Illinois Larkin High School n W Roger Powell 43 F 6 6 220 FR Joliet, Illinois Joliet Central High School y Roger Powell (basketball) Nick Smith 45 C 7 2 240 FR y Valrico, Florida Bloomingdale High School n Bill Self (Oklahoma State) (2nd year) Billy Gillispie (Southwest Texas State) (2nd year) Norm Roberts (Queens College) (2nd year) Wayne McClain (Illinois State) (1st year) https://fightingillini.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster/2001-02 2014-11-12 Schedule SourceUniversity of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 2001-02 https://web.archive.org/web/20130625105312/http://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-2001.html 2013-06-25 , FightingIllini.com yes yes |- !colspan=12 style="background:#DF4E38; color:white;"| Exhibition Nov 7, 2001 7:00 pm yes Illinois All-Stars Assembly Hall Champaign, IL 104-81 Nov 12, 2001 7:00 pm yes Lincoln U-Missouri Assembly Hall Champaign, IL 111-60 |- !colspan=12 style="background:#DF4E38; color:white;"| Non-Conference regular season 11/16/2001 3 yes Gonzaga Assembly Hall Champaign, IL 76–58 16,500 1–0 11/19/2001 2 yes 2001 Eastern Illinois Panthers Eastern Illinois Assembly Hall Champaign, Illinois Las Vegas Invitational (1st Round) 93–53 13,827 2–0 11/22/2001 2 yes Penn Valley High School Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas Invitational yes 78–71 1,700 3–0 11/23/2001 2 yes 2001 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets Georgia Tech Valley High School Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas Invitational yes 105–66 2,000 4–0 11/24/2001 2 yes Southern Illinois Valley High School Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas Invitational, (Championship) yes 75–72 2,500 5–0 11/27/2001 2 yes yes 5 Maryland Cole Field House College Park, Maryland Big Ten-ACC Challenge 63–76 14,500 5–1 12/1/2001 2 yes 2001 Texas A&M–Corpus Christi Islanders Texas A&M–Corpus Christi Assembly Hall Champaign, Illinois 80–56 16,500 6–1 12/6/2000 5 yes 7 Arizona US Airways Center Phoenix, Arizona yes 82–87 10,697 6–2 12/8/2001 5 yes Arkansas United Center Chicago, Illinois yes 94–91 18,671 7–2 12/16/2001 10 yes 2001 Western Illinois Leathernecks Western Illinois Assembly Hall Champaign, Illinois 98–62 14,653 8–2 12/18/2001 9 yes Illinois State Assembly Hall Champaign, Illinois 87–73 16,500 9–2 12/22/2001 9 yes 8 Missouri Scottrade Center St. Louis, Missouri Braggin' Rights yes 72–61 22,153 10–2 12/29/2001 7 yes 2001 Loyola Ramblers Loyola (Chicago) Assembly Hall Champaign, Illinois 87–72 16,500 11–2 |- !colspan=9 style="background:#DF4E38; color:#FFFFFF;"|Big Ten regular season 1/2/2002 7 2001 Minnesota Golden Gophers Minnesota Assembly Hall Champaign, Illinois 76–53 16,500 12–2 1–0 1/5/2002 7 yes Wisconsin Kohl Center Madison, Wisconsin 66–72 17,142 12–3 1–1 1/9/2002 9 yes 2001 Purdue Boilermakers Purdue Mackey Arena West Lafayette, Indiana 74–84 12,876 12–4 1–2 1/12/2002 9 Michigan Assembly Hall Champaign, Illinois 94–70 16,500 13–4 2–2 1/15/2002 11 17 Iowa Assembly Hall Champaign, Illinois Rivalry 77–66 16,500 14–4 3–2 1/23/2002 9 Wisconsin Assembly Hall Champaign, Illinois 80–48 16,500 15–4 4–2 1/26/2002 CBS 9 yes Indiana Assembly Hall Bloomington, Indiana Rivalry 57–88 17,456 15–5 4–3 1/29/2002 12 yes 25 Ohio State Value City Arena Columbus, Ohio 67–78 19,200 15–6 4–4 2/3/2002 CBS 12 Michigan State Assembly Hall Champaign, Illinois 61–67 16,500 15–7 4–5 2/7/2002 21 yes Michigan Crisler Arena Ann Arbor, Michigan 68–60 10,710 16–7 5–5 2/9/2002 21 Purdue Assembly Hall Champaign, Illinois 69–67 16,500 17–7 6–5 2/12/2002 18 yes Michigan State Breslin Student Events Center East Lansing, Michigan 63–61 14,759 18–7 7–5 2/16/2002 CBS 18 yes yes 2001 Seton Hall Pirates Seton Hall Continental Airlines Arena South Orange, New Jersey 75–65 10,070 19–7 2/20/2002 16 2001 Penn State Nittany Lions Penn State Assembly Hall Champaign, Illinois 83–56 16,500 20–7 8–5 2/23/2002 16 yes 2001 Northwestern Wildcats Northwestern Welsh-Ryan Arena Evanston, Illinois Rivalry 56–41 8,117 21–7 9–5 2/26/2002 15 25 Indiana Assembly Hall Champaign, Illinois Rivalry 70–62 16,500 22–7 10–5 3/3/2002 CBS 15 yes Minnesota Williams Arena Minneapolis, Minnesota 67–66 14,612 23–7 11–5 |- !colspan=9 style="text-align: center; background:#DF4E38"|Big Ten tournament 3/8/2002 10 6 3 Minnesota Conseco Fieldhouse Indianapolis, Indiana Quarterfinals 92–76 yes 18,996 24–7 3/9/2002 CBS 10 21 2 3 Ohio State Conseco Fieldhouse Indianapolis, Indiana yes Semifinals 88–94 18,996 24–8 |- !colspan=9 style="text-align: center; background:#DF4E38"|NCAA tournament 3/15/2002 CBS 13 4 MW 13 MW San Diego State United Center Chicago, Illinois First Round yes 93–64 20,850 25–8 3/17/2002 CBS 13 4 MW 12 MW Creighton United Center Chicago, Illinois Second Round yes 72–60 21,525 26–8 3/22/2002 CBS 13 yes 2 4 MW 1 MW Kansas Kohl Center Madison, Wisconsin Sweet Sixteen 69–73 16,310 26–9 |- Central Time Season Statistics 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 University of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 2001-02 https://web.archive.org/web/20130625105312/http://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-2001.html 2013-06-25 , FightingIllini.com 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 Midwest regional Illinois 93, San Diego State 64 Illinois 72, Creighton 60 Regional semifinal Kansas 73, Illinois 69 2002 NCAA Tournament Awards and honors Frank Williams Associated Press All-American honorable mention Team Most Valuable Player http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/ill/sports/m-baskbl/auto_pdf/05_mbb_guide_06.pdf List of MVPs 2013-01-15 2014-10-30 https://web.archive.org/web/20141030004049/http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/ill/sports/m-baskbl/auto_pdf/05_mbb_guide_06.pdf dead Fighting Illini All-Century team (2005) Brian Cook Fighting Illini All-Century team (2005) Team players drafted into the NBA PlayerNBA ClubRoundPickFrank WilliamsDenver Nuggets125Robert ArchibaldMemphis Grizzies2312002 NBA draft Rankings 2001–02 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings References Illinois Fighting Illini Illinois Category:Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball seasons Category:2001 in sports in Illinois Category:2002 in sports in Illinois