2002–03 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

American college basketball season March 2026 August 2023 Basketball 2002–03 Illinois Fighting Illini 2002–03 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team.jpg 300px Big Ten Conference Big Ten 13 11 25–7 11–5 Bill Self Tim Jankovich Wayne McClain Norm Roberts 3rd 1st 2nd 3rd Brian Cook Sean Harrington Jerrance Howard Brian Cook Assembly Hall Big Ten tournament champions NCAA tournament second round The 2002–03 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in the 2002-03 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. This was head coach Bill Self's third (and final) season at Illinois. Season The 2003 squad started three freshmen, a sophomore and one senior, and still finished with a 25–7 record and second-place finish in the Big Ten. Brian Cook earned Big Ten Player of the Year honors and the Illini won the Big Ten tournament championship for the first time. Roster 2002 Illinois Fighting Illini y yes Aaron Spears 1 F/C 6 9 250 FR Chicago, IL Dunbar High School n Luther Head 4 G 6 3 175 SO Chicago, IL Manley High School y Deron Williams 5 G 6 3 210 FR The Colony, TX The Colony High School y Dee Brown 11 G 6 0 175 FR Maywood, IL Proviso East High School y Dee Brown (basketball, born 1984) Blandon Ferguson 23 F 6 3 205 SR Oakland, CA St. Joseph Notre Dame High School n Sean Harrington 24 G 6 3 185 SR Bartlett, IL Elgin High School n C Jerrance Howard 25 G 6 1 200 JR y Peoria, IL Peoria High School y C Nick Huge 31 G 6 4 215 JR y Charlotte, NC Christian High School/Appalachian State University n Kyle Wilson 32 F 6 8 230 FR Plano, TX Dallas Jesuit High School n Brian Cook 34 F 6 10 240 SR Lincoln, IL Lincoln Community High School y C Brian Cook (basketball) James Augustine 40 F 6 10 220 FR Mokena, IL Lincoln-Way Central High School y Clayton Thomas 42 F 6 7 240 SR Elgin, IL Larkin High School n W Roger Powell 43 F 6 6 220 SO Joliet, IL Joliet Central High School y Roger Powell (basketball) Nick Smith 45 C 7 2 240 SO y Valrico, FL Bloomingdale High School n Jack Ingram 50 F/C 6 10 230 JR yes San Antonio, TX Marshall High School/University of Tulsa n Bill Self (Oklahoma State) Tim Jankovich (Kansas State) Wayne McClain (Illinois State) Jay Price (Kansas) Norm Roberts (Queens College) https://fightingillini.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster/2002-03 Schedule Source: https://fightingillini.com/sports/mens-basketball/schedule/2002-03 2002-03 Men's Basketball Schedule yes yes |- !colspan=12 style="background:#DF4E38; color:white;"| Exhibition Nov 12, 2002 7:00 pm yes Spotlight Jammers Assembly Hall Champaign, IL 91-41 Nov 15, 2002 7:00 pm yes EA Sports All-Stars Assembly Hall Champaign, IL 79-76 |- !colspan=12 style="background:#DF4E38; color:white;"| Non-Conference regular season 11/24/2002 yes 2002 Lehigh Mountain Hawks Lehigh Assembly Hall Champaign, IL 90–56 11,758 1–0 11/27/2002 yes 2002 Arkansas–Pine Bluff Golden Lions Arkansas–Pine Bluff Assembly Hall Champaign, IL 96–43 11,733 2–0 12/1/2002 yes 2002 Western Illinois Leathernecks Western Illinois Assembly Hall Champaign, IL 85–56 14,224 3–0 12/7/2002 25 yes 12 North Carolina Assembly Hall Champaign, IL Big Ten-ACC Challenge 92–65 16,500 4–0 12/7/2002 25 yes yes Arkansas Alltel Arena North Little Rock, AR 62–58 9,756 5–0 12/10/2002 15 yes 2002 Eastern Illinois Panthers Eastern Illinois Assembly Hall Champaign, IL 80–68 13,828 6–0 12/14/2002 15 yes yes Temple United Center Chicago, IL 70–54 13,361 7–0 12/21/2002 12 yes 11 yes Missouri Scottrade Center St. Louis, MO Braggin' Rights 85–70 22,153 8–0 12/28/2002 7 yes yes Memphis The Pyramid Memphis, TN 74–77 19,837 8–1 12/28/2002 11 yes 2002 Coppin State Eagles Coppin State Assembly Hall Champaign, IL 63–37 13,923 9–1 1/4/2002 5 yes 2002 Oakland Golden Grizzlies Oakland Assembly Hall Champaign, IL 88–53 14,837 10–1 |- !colspan=9 style="background:#DF4E38; color:#FFFFFF;"|Big Ten regular season 1/7/2003 10 yes 2002 Minnesota Golden Gophers Minnesota Williams Arena Minneapolis, MN 76–70 13,548 11–1 1–0 1/11/2003 10 Wisconsin Assembly Hall Champaign, IL 69–63 16,500 12–1 2–0 1/15/2003 8 yes Iowa Carver–Hawkeye Arena Iowa City, IA Rivalry 61–68 15,232 12–2 2–1 1/18/2003 CBS 8 18 yes Indiana Assembly Hall Bloomington, IN Rivalry 66–74 17,456 12–3 2–2 1/22/2003 18 Purdue Assembly Hall Champaign, IL 75–62 16,500 13–3 3–2 1/25/2003 18 yes 2002 Penn State Nittany Lions Penn State Bryce Jordan Center University Park, PA 75–63 9,601 14–3 4–2 1/29/2003 13 Michigan Assembly Hall Champaign, IL 67–60 16,500 15–3 5–2 2/2/2003 CBS 13 yes Michigan State Breslin Student Events Center East Lansing, MI 65–68 14,759 15–4 5–3 2/9/2003 CBS 16 Ohio State Assembly Hall Champaign, IL 76–57 16,500 16–4 6–3 2/15/2003 14 yes Purdue Mackey Arena West Lafayette, IN 61–70 14,123 16–5 6–4 2/18/2003 20 Michigan State Assembly Hall Champaign, IL 70–40 16,500 17–5 7–4 2/22/2003 CBS 20 yes 2002 Northwestern Wildcats Northwestern United Center Chicago, IL Rivalry 73–61 15,429 18–5 8–4 2/25/2003 18 Indiana Assembly Hall Champaign, IL Rivalry 80–54 16,500 19–5 9–4 3/1/2003 18 yes Michigan Crisler Arena Ann Arbor, MI 82–79 13,057 20–5 10–4 3/5/2003 14 24 yes Wisconsin Kohl Center Madison, WI 59–60 17,142 20–6 10–5 3/9/2003 CBS 14 Minnesota Assembly Hall Champaign, IL 84–60 16,500 21–6 11–5 |- !colspan=9 style="text-align: center; background:#DF4E38"|Big Ten tournament 3/14/2003 13 yes 2 10 Northwestern United Center Chicago, IL Quarterfinals / Rivalry 94–65 18,895 22–6 3/15/2003 CBS 13 yes 2 6 Indiana United Center Chicago, IL Semifinals 73–72 20,248 23–6 3/16/2003 CBS 13 yes 2 8 Ohio State United Center Chicago, IL Big Ten tournament Championship 72–59 17,007 24–6 |- !colspan=9 style="text-align: center; background:#DF4E38"|NCAA tournament 3/20/2003 12:10 pm CBS 11 yes 4 W 13 W Western Kentucky RCA Dome Indianapolis, IN First Round 65–60 21,250 25–6 3/22/2003 6:10 pm CBS 11 yes 22 4 W 5 W Notre Dame RCA Dome Indianapolis, IN Second Round 60–68 25,767 25–7 |- 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 2002-03 https://web.archive.org/web/20130227001033/http://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-2002.html 2013-02-27 , 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 Cook, Brian 30 30 940 31.3 599 20.0 202 422 .479 27 89 .303 168 205 .820 44 183 227 7.6 60 83 13 20 Brown, Dee 32 31 1090 34.1 384 12.0 142 327 .434 51 155 .329 49 72 .681 35 84 119 3.7 159 62 0 57 Powell, Roger 30 19 558 18.6 261 8.7 104 176 .591 20 49 .408 33 57 .579 40 61 101 3.4 12 24 12 9 Harrington, Sean 32 6 718 22.4 235 7.3 76 171 .444 64 144 .444 19 30 .633 2 71 73 2.3 65 25 0 29 Augustine, James 32 29 697 21.8 225 7.0 94 162 .580 5 14 .357 32 45 .711 64 122 186 5.8 25 45 27 20 Williams, Deron 32 30 868 27.1 202 6.3 75 176 .426 28 79 .354 24 45 .533 15 80 95 3.0 145 59 5 46 Head, Luther 25 8 509 20.4 198 7.9 68 131 .519 28 66 .424 34 46 .739 23 48 71 2.8 42 40 3 27 Smith, Nick 31 5 539 17.4 163 5.3 60 121 .496 5 11 .455 38 44 .864 23 69 92 3.0 26 42 38 11 Wilson, Kyle 18 0 118 6.6 46 2.6 14 37 .378 4 16 .250 14 18 .778 13 16 29 1.6 8 5 1 4 Ferguson, Blandon 24 1 218 9.1 40 1.7 11 33 .333 0 3 .000 18 26 .692 11 21 32 1.3 20 20 0 3 Spears, Aaron 6 0 55 9.2 19 3.2 8 12 .667 0 0 .000 3 7 .429 4 5 9 1.5 6 5 1 1 Howard, Jerrance 14 1 52 3.7 9 0.6 4 16 .250 1 6 .167 0 0 .000 0 3 3 0.2 7 2 0 0 Huge, Nick 8 0 17 2.1 4 0.5 0 3 .000 0 3 .000 4 4 1.000 0 1 1 0.1 0 1 0 0 Thomas, Clayton 9 0 21 2.3 3 0.3 1 6 .167 0 1 .000 1 4 .250 1 3 4 0.4 0 2 0 0 Team 42 49 91 3 Total 32 6400 2388 74.6 859 1793 .479 233 636 .366 437 603 .725 317 816 1133 35.4 575 418 100 227 Opponents 32 6400 1970 61.6 657 1741 .377 192 655 .293 464 655 .708 356 686 1042 32.6 353 469 84 182 NCAA basketball tournament West regional Illinois 65, Western Kentucky 60 Notre Dame 68, Illinois 60 2003 NCAA Tournament Awards and honors Brian Cook Big Ten tournament Most Outstanding Player Big Ten Player of the Year Chicago Tribune Silver Basketball award 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) Sporting News 2nd team All-American Associated Press 3rd team All-American National Association of Basketball Coaches 3rd team All-American Basketball Times 3rd team All-American Team players drafted into the NBA PlayerNBA ClubRoundPickBrian CookLos Angeles Lakers1242003 NBA draft Rankings 2002–03 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings References Illinois Fighting Illini Illinois Category:Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball seasons Category:2002 in sports in Illinois Category:2003 in sports in Illinois Category:Big Ten men's basketball tournament championship seasons