No. 25 Illini host Little Rock on Monday nights

Head coach Brad Underwood

Career balance: 256-116 (.688), 12th year

In Illinois: 147-89 (.623), 8th year

Big Ten: 80-58 (.580)

Series History vs. Little Rock

All-time record/series: Illinois leads 3-0 / Illinois wins 3

Record in Champaign: Same

Last meeting: #11 Illinois 75, Little Rock 49 (12/5/2005)

Underwood vs. Little Rock: First meeting

Tips for opening

• No. 25 Illinois (4-1) continues its four games in nine days in three different cities, hosting Little Rock at State Farm Center on Monday night (8 p.m. CT/BTN).

• After Saturday afternoon’s 87-40 win over UMES, this is Illinois’ only one-day preparation for the regular season.

• Illinois has won all four home games so far and has outscored its opponents by an average of 34 points. Overall, the Illini have a nine-game home non-conference winning streak.

• Brad Underwood is one win away from tying J. Craig Ruby (1923-36) for fifth place on the all-time Illinois coaching wins list. Monday’s game for the Big Ten Network will be anchored by Bruce Weber, who ranks third on this list with 210 wins during his nine seasons in Champaign (2004-12).

• Next up, Illinois travels to Kansas City to take on No. 20 Arkansas in the Thanksgiving Hoops Showcase. It will air nationally at 3 p.m. after the Chicago Bears-Detroit Lions NFL game on CBS.

• After appearing in the Elite Eight in 2024 and winning the Big Ten Tournament Championship, Illinois has a completely different roster this season. The program returns just one rotation player — last year’s ninth-leading scorer Dra Gibbs Lawhorn – and returns a total of just 2.9% of his minutes, 2.2% of his points and 2.0% of his rebounds.

• Freshmen on the Illini roster have accounted for 90.7% of the team’s points (401 of 442 total points), with UI freshmen accounting for 37.3% of those points (165).

• Illinois entered the AP poll at No. 25 on Nov. 18 and remained No. 20 in the coaches’ poll. Head coach Brad Underwood The Fighting Illini program is now ranked for the sixth consecutive year.

• Illinois leads the Big Ten and is among the top teams nationally in: 3 points per game (9th in NCAA, 11.6), 3 points per game (1st, 35.0), total rebounds per game (2nd, 49.0), offensive rebounds per game (18th, 15.0), defensive rebounds per game (3rd, 34.0) and rebound margin (7th, +14.8).

• KenPom.com ranks the Illini 28th in adjusted efficiency rating (+18.96), while the Orange and Blue rank 34th in offensive efficiency (114.6) and 29th in defensive efficiency (95.6).

• According to KenPom, the Illini rank eighth nationally, fourth among power conference programs and first in the Big Ten with a 3-point attempt percentage (3-point attempts/total field goal attempts) of 53.5%. The Illini have the second-best offensive efficiency rating (114.6) among the top 30 programs in 3-point attempt percentage.

• Illinois has been the Big Ten’s winningest team over the past five seasons, posting a record of 69-31 (.690) in league play. And if you include the conference tournament, the Illini have a league-best 75 wins during that span. The Illini won the 2024 Big Ten Tournament championship as a No. 2 seed, won the 2022 regular season championship and led the conference in wins while claiming a B1G tournament crown in 2021.

Illinois-Little Rock storylines

• Monday’s contest will be the fourth meeting in the series between Illinois and Little Rock.

• The Fighting Illini are 3-0 against Little Rock, with all three wins coming at the State Farm Center.

• The Flyin’ Illini, head coach Lou Henson’s No. 7 team, defeated Little Rock 107-88 in the first match of the series on December 10, 1988. Henson and the Illini defeated the Trojans again on December 15, 83-72. 1990. In the last meeting of the series, head coach Bruce Weber led the No. 11 Illini to a 75-49 victory on December 5, 2005.

• The Illinois men’s basketball program has an overall record of 35-1 against the current 11 teams in the Ohio Valley Conference, including wins this season against Eastern Illinois (112-67) and SIUE (90-58).

• Illinois head coach Brad Underwood has a 9-0 record against OVC programs in his career but has never played against Little Rock.

• Last season, the Illini opened their run to the Elite Eight with a win over OVC champion Morehead State (85-69) in Round 1 of the NCAA Tournament. Morehead State had earned the automatic bid after defeating Little Rock in the OVC tournament title game.

Complete Illinois Game Notes (PDF)