The 2017–18 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the

University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United States. Established in 1867, it is the f ...

in the

2017–18 NCAA Division I men's basketball season The 2017–18 NCAA Division I men's basketball season began on November 10, 2017. The first tournament was the 2K Sports Classic and the season ended with the Final Four at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas, on April 2, 2018. Practices offici ...

. Led by first-year head coach

Brad Underwood Bradley Cole Underwood (born December 14, 1963) is the current head coach for the Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team. Previously, he served as head coach at Oklahoma State Cowgirls basketball, Oklahoma State, Stephen F. Austin Lumber ...

, 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, ...

Champaign, Illinois Champaign ( ) is a city in Champaign County, Illinois, United States. The population was 88,302 at the 2020 census. It is the List of municipalities in Illinois, tenth-most populous municipality in Illinois and the fourth most populous city in ...

as members of the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...

. They finished the season 14–18, 4–14 in Big Ten play to finish in a three-way tie for 11th place. As the No. 13 seed in the

Big Ten tournament Big Ten Tournament can refer to any Big Ten Conference sport that has a tournament or championship game: * Big Ten Football Championship Game * Big Ten men's basketball tournament * Big Ten women's basketball tournament * Big Ten baseball tournamen ...

, they lost in the first round to

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

Previous season

The Illini finished the 2016–17 season 20–15, 8–10 in Big Ten play to finish in ninth place. They lost in the second round of the

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

. They received an invitation to the

National Invitation Tournament The National Invitation Tournament (NIT) is an annual men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Since 2023, all rounds of the tournament are played at various sites across the country whi ...

where they defeated Valparaiso and

Boise State Boise State University (BSU) is a public research university in Boise, Idaho, United States. Founded in 1932 by the Episcopal Church, it became an independent junior college in 1934 and has been awarding baccalaureate and master's degrees It ...

before losing in the quarterfinals to UCF. On March 11, 2017, Illinois fired head coach

John Groce John Gordon Groce (; born September 7, 1971) is an American college basketball coach, currently the head coach for the Akron Zips men's basketball team. Prior to coaching for Akron, he was the head coach at Illinois and Ohio. Coaching career ...

. On March 18, the school hired Brad Underwood as the new head coach.

Offseason

Coaching changes

Following Brad Underwood's hiring as head coach, Jamall Walker was retained as an assistant. Underwood hired controversial former

South Florida South Florida, sometimes colloquially shortened to SoFlo, is the Regions of the United States#Florida, southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the two others are ...

head coach

Orlando Antigua Orlando Radhames Antigua Fernández (born February 20, 1973), nicknamed "Hurricane", is a Dominican-American basketball coach and former player who is currently the associate head coach at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He was also an ...

who was fired as head coach from South Florida due to an NCAA investigation into academic violations. Underwood also hired Ron Coleman as an assistant and Stephen Gentry as assistant to the head coach.

Player departures

Decommits

On January 16, 2016, three-star shooting guard Javon Pickett of

Belleville, Illinois Belleville is a city in St. Clair County, Illinois, United States, and its county seat. It is a southeastern suburb of St. Louis. The population was 42,404 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the most populated city in the Me ...

verbally committed to attend Illinois in the fall of 2017. After the firing of John Groce, Pickett asked for and received a release of his letter of intent to Illinois. On November 17, 2016, four-star recruit

Jeremiah Tilmon Jeremiah Tilmon Jr. (born November 25, 1998) is an American professional basketball player for the Shenzhen Leopards of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA). He played college basketball for the Missouri Tigers. High school career Tilmon pla ...

announced that he had signed his letter of intent with Illinois the previous day, after a week of press uncertainty. However, after the coaching change at Illinois, Tilmon requested and received a release of his letter of intent with the school.

Incoming transfers

2017 recruiting class

During Illinois' final home game against Minnesota on February 28, 2016, Da'Monte Williams verbally committed to attend Illinois in the fall of 2017. Williams is the son of former Illinois

guard Guard or guards may refer to: Professional occupations * Bodyguard, who protects an individual from personal assault * Crossing guard, who stops traffic so pedestrians can cross the street * Lifeguard, who rescues people from drowning * Prison gu ...

Frank Williams who led the Fighting Illini to three straight

NCAA men's basketball tournament The NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, branded as March Madness, or The Big Dance, is a single-elimination tournament played in the United States to determine the men's college basketball national champion of the NCAA Division I, Di ...

appearances, including an

Elite Eight In the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, NCAA men's Division I basketball championship or the NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament, NCAA women's Division I basketball championship, the "Elite Eight" comprises the final eight t ...

appearance in

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

. On November 9, 2016 Trent Frazier signed a national letter of intent after considering Memphis, Georgia, Kansas State and Seton Hall, among others. On April 27, 2017, four-star point guard Mark Smith, Mr. Illinois Basketball for 2017, announced he would attend Illinois. On June 12, Slovenian bigman Matic Vesel committed to Illinois.

Roster

Schedule and results

Source: The 2018 Big Ten tournament was held at

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as the Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh and Eighth Avenue (Manhattan), Eig ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. Due to the

Big East The Big East Conference (stylized as BIG EAST) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference that competes in National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA NCAA Division I, Division I in 10 men's sports and 12 women's sports. H ...

's use of that venue for their conference tournament, the Big Ten tournament took place one week earlier than usual, ending the week before Selection Sunday. As a result, the Big Ten regular season began in mid-December. , - !colspan=9 style="", Exhibition , - !colspan=9 style="", Regular season , - !colspan=9 style="",

Awards and honors

In-season awards

Trent Frazier

* Big Ten Freshman of the Week, December 26, 2017 * Big Ten Freshman of the Week, February 12, 2018

Postseason awards

Trent Frazier

* All-Big Ten Honorable Mention (media) * All-Big Ten Freshmen Team

Leron Black

* All-Big Ten Honorable Mention (coaches and media)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team 2017–18 Big Ten Conference men's basketball season 2017-18 2018 in sports in Illinois 2017 in sports in Illinois