The 2014–15 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign in the

2014–15 NCAA Division I men's basketball season The 2014–15 NCAA Division I men's basketball season began in November with the 2K Sports Classic and ended with the Final Four in Indianapolis April 4–6. Practices officially began on October 3. Season headlines * May 14 – The NCAA a ...

. Led by third-year head coach John Groce, the Illini played their home games at

State Farm Center The State Farm Center is a large dome-shaped 15,544-seat indoor arena located in Champaign, Illinois, owned and operated by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The arena hosts games for the Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball, ...

in Champaign, Illinois as members of the Big Ten Conference. They finished the season 19–14, 9–9 in Big Ten play to finish in a tie for seventh place. They lost in the second round of the Big Ten tournament to Michigan. They received an invitation to the

National Invitation Tournament The National Invitational Tournament (NIT) is a men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Played at regional sites and traditionally at Madison Square Garden (Final Four) in New York City ...

where they lost in the first round to Alabama.

Previous season

The Illini finished the 2013–14 season 20–15, 7–11 in Big Ten play to finish in a tie for eighth place. They received a bid to the NIT where they advanced to the second round before losing to Clemson.

Offseason

Departures

2015 recruiting class

Leron Black Leron "Boogie" Black (born January 31, 1996) is an American professional basketball player for Soles de Mexicali of the LNBP. He played college basketball for the University of Illinois. He also played for Argentino de Junín from LNB before mo ...

joined the Fighting Illini as the first recruit from the Memphis, Tennessee area since the 1997–98 season when Cory Bradford suited up for the Fighting Illini. Black is the reigning

Tennessee Mr. Basketball Each year the Tennessee Mr. Basketball award is given to the person chosen as the best high school boys' basketball player in the U.S. state of Tennessee by the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association. A Mr. Basketball is named for each of ...

and is Illinois' highest rated recruit since Portland Trail Blazers Forward-center Meyers Leonard. Michael Finke joins

Rayvonte Rice Rayvonte Rice (born July 14, 1992) is an American professional basketball player for Taichung Suns of the T1 League. He is a guard from Champaign, Illinois who completed his college career at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He previou ...

as the second player on the Fighting Illini roster from Centennial High School in Champaign, Illinois. Finke also follows the footsteps of his father, Jeff Finke, who lettered in basketball as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for the

1986–87 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team The 1986–87 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois. Regular season The 1986–87 season saw the addition of an outstanding group of young players to the roster. Guards Steve Bardo, Kendall Gill ...

and then lettered in

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

as a tight end for the Fighting Illini from 1988–1990.

Walk-ons

2016 recruiting class

On March 5, 2015 Illinois signee Jalen Coleman-Lands was named one of 26 high school seniors who will participate in the Jordan Brand Classic on April 17, 2015, at the

Barclays Center Barclays Center is a multi-purpose list of indoor arenas, indoor arena in the New York City Boroughs of New York City, borough of Brooklyn. The arena is home to the Brooklyn Nets of the National Basketball Association and the New York Liberty o ...

in Brooklyn,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. Coleman-Lands is the second Illini to be selected to play in the Jordan Classic, joining Dee Brown who played for the Red team in 2002.

Roster

Depth chart

Regular season

Injuries

On September 11, it was announced that senior

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the five Basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position. Point guards are expected to run t ...

Tracy Abrams Tracy Maurice Abrams Jr (born February 6, 1992) is an American professional basketball player who last played for KK Sloboda Užice of the Basketball League of Serbia. Abrams is from Chicago, Illinois and played college basketball for the Illin ...

suffered a torn ACL to his right knee during preseason workouts which will cause him to miss the entire 2014–15 season. The injury forced Abrams to use a medical redshirt so he can return for the 2015–16 season. After an 0–2 start to Big Ten Conference play, it was announced on January 6 that redshirt senior guard

suffered a broken bone in his left hand during practice and would be sidelined indefinitely. At the time of his injury, Rice was Illinois' leader in scoring, rebounds, and steals. Illinois suffered another injury that was announced prior to their game against

Purdue Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...

at home on January 21. Redshirt junior guard Aaron Cosby suffered a

retinal tear Retinal detachment is a disorder of the eye in which the retina peels away from its underlying layer of support tissue. Initial detachment may be localized, but without rapid treatment the entire retina may detach, leading to vision loss and blin ...

after being poked in the eye in his left eye during a home loss to Indiana. Cosby underwent laser surgery to repair the tear, which will sideline him up to two weeks.

Student-manager turned walk-on

On January 23, 2014 head coach John Groce announced the addition of former student-manager Ryan Schmidt to the roster as a walk-on guard after a string of injuries at the position. Schmidt is a senior from

Bloomington, Illinois Bloomington is a city and the county seat of McLean County, Illinois, United States. It is adjacent to the town of Normal, and is the more populous of the two principal municipalities of the Bloomington–Normal metropolitan area. Bloomington ...

and played high school basketball at Bloomington Central Catholic.

Aaron Cosby

On February 20, 2015 coach Groce announced that he and redshirt junior guard Aaron Cosby have mutually decided to part ways. Cosby had not played in over a month since suffering an injury to his left eye against Indiana on January 18. While recovering from his injury, he and Rayvonte Rice were indefinitely suspended from play due to a violation of team rules on January 31. Rice returned from suspension in a home win against Michigan, however Cosby remained suspended. Despite no longer being on the roster, Cosby intends to remain enrolled at Illinois and then transfer to another school after graduating in May. Cosby previously played his first two years for Seton Hall and sat out during the 2013–14 season after transferring to Illinois.

2004-05 national runner-up anniversary

On December 5, 2014, Illinois announced they would be releasing commemorative bobbleheads to celebrate the ten-year anniversary of the 2004-05 Fighting Illini team. The 2004-05 team finished the season as the 2005 National Runner-up with a 37–2 record, which tied the NCAA record for most wins in a season. During weeknight Big Ten Conference play at home, Illinois will release a bobblehead of the starting lineup of Deron Williams, Dee Brown,

Luther Head Luther Dale Head (born November 26, 1982) is a former American professional basketball player. High school Head attended Chicago's Manley Academy where he averaged over 20 points, eight assists and seven rebounds per game as a junior. Those n ...

Roger Powell, Jr. Roger Powell Jr. (born January 15, 1983) is an American former professional basketball player and assistant coach for the Gonzaga Bulldogs men's basketball team. He played collegiately at the University of Illinois from 2001–2005, after havi ...

, and James Augustine.

Schedule and results

, - !colspan=12 style="background:#; color:#;", Exhibition , - !colspan=12 style="background:#; color:#;", Non-conference regular season , - !colspan=9 style="background:#", Big Ten regular season , - !colspan=9 style="background:#", Big Ten tournament , - !colspan=9 style="background:#", NIT

Honors and awards

On March 9, 2015, The Big Ten Conference announced most of its conference awards.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2014-15 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team Illinois Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball seasons Illinois Illinois Illinois