2001–02 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team American college basketball season
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
2001–02 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
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
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
Midwest regional
Illinois 93, San Diego State 64
Illinois 72, Creighton 60
Regional semifinal
[ 3]
Awards and honors
Team players drafted into the NBA
Player
NBA Club
Round
Pick
Frank Williams
Denver Nuggets
1
25
Robert Archibald
Memphis Grizzies
2
31
[ 5]
Rankings
References
Venues Rivalries Culture & lore People Seasons Helms and Premo-Porretta national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics