1997–98 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

The 1997–98 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

1997–98 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
Big Ten Conference co-champion
NCAA men's Division I tournament, second round
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Ranking
AP	No. 22
Record	23–10 (13–3 Big Ten)
Head coach	Lon Kruger
Assistant coaches	Robert McCullum Rob Judson Steve Henson
MVP	Jerry Hester
MVP	Kevin Turner
Captain	Jerry Hester Brian Johnson Matt Heldman
Home arena	Assembly Hall
Seasons ← 1996–97 1998–99 →

1997–98 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No.  16 Michigan State	13	–	3		.813			22	–	8		.733
No. 22 Illinois	13	–	3		.813			23	–	10		.697
No. 11 Purdue	12	–	4		.750			28	–	8		.778
Iowa	9	–	7		.563			20	–	11		.645
Indiana	9	–	7		.563			20	–	12		.625
Penn State	8	–	8		.500			19	–	13		.594
Northwestern	3	–	13		.188			10	–	17		.370
Wisconsin	3	–	13		.188			12	–	19		.387
Ohio State	1	–	15		.063			8	–	22		.267
No. 12 Michigan* †	0	–	5		.000			0	–	8		.000
Minnesota**	0	–	10		.000			0	–	15		.000
† 1998 Big Ten tournament winner Rankings from AP poll *Michigan: 24 reg. season games including Big Ten Tourn. Champ.; 2 NCAA Tourn. games vacated due to sanctions against the program **Minnesota: 15 games including 5 NIT games and championship vacated due to sanctions against the program Disputed records: Michigan 25–9, 11–5; Minnesota 20–15, 6–10

"1997-98 Fighting Illini men's basketball team"

Regular season

During the 1997-98 season, head coach Lon Kruger did the unthinkable as he took a team picked to finish seventh in the Big Ten and guided the Illini to a share of its first Big Ten title since 1984. On the way to the league crown, Illinois went 5-0 against Indiana, Iowa and Michigan, marking the first time in school history the Illini had gone undefeated against those teams during the course of a season. Illinois advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament after earning a No. 5 seed in the West Regional. The Illini defense was the Big Ten's best as Illinois finished the year first in scoring defense, fieldgoal defense and three-point defense in conference games. Additionally, this would be the inaugural season for the Big Ten tournament, thus reducing the number of regular season conference games by 2, from 18 to 16. Illinois received 2nd seed for the tournament.

Roster

1997–98 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Previous school Hometown F 00 Victor Chukwudebe 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 230 lb (104 kg) So Lanphier High School Springfield, Illinois G 4 Arias Davis 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 180 lb (82 kg) Jr Ware County High School Waycross, Georgia G 10 Jelani Boline 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) 170 lb (77 kg) Sr Whitney Young High School Chicago, Illinois G 12 Jeff Reichardt 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 185 lb (84 kg) So Schaumburg High School Schaumburg, Illinois G 13 Cory Bradford   6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 200 lb (91 kg) RS Fr Raleigh Egypt High School Memphis, Tennessee G 21 Matt Heldman (C) 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 165 lb (75 kg) Sr Libertyville High School Libertyville, Illinois F 23 Jerry Hester (C) 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 210 lb (95 kg) RS Sr Manual High School Peoria, Illinois G 30 Luke Williams 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 185 lb (84 kg) Fr Shiloh High School Brocton, Illinois G 31 David Freeman 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 220 lb (100 kg) Sr Champaign Central High School Champaign, Illinois F 32 Jarrod Gee 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 240 lb (109 kg) Sr St. Martin de Porres High School Chicago, Illinois G 33 Kevin Turner 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 170 lb (77 kg) Sr Simeon High School Chicago, Illinois F 34 Brian Johnson (C) 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 215 lb (98 kg) RS Sr Maine West High School Des Plaines, Illinois F 35 Carvell Ammons   6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 205 lb (93 kg) RS So Centennial High School Champaign, Illinois G/F 40 Sergio McClain 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 230 lb (104 kg) Fr Manual High School Peoria, Illinois G/F 42 Awvee Storey 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 215 lb (98 kg) Fr Proviso West High School Chicago, Illinois F 44 Rich Beyers 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 230 lb (104 kg) Fr Shelbyville High School Shelbyville, Illinois	Head coach Lon Kruger (Kansas State) (2nd year) Assistant coach(es) Rob Judson (University of Illinois) (2nd year) Robert McCullum (Seminole State) (2nd year) Steve Henson (Kansas State) (1st year) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on   Injured   Current redshirt All-Time Illini Rosters Roster

Source^[1]

Schedule

Source^[2]

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Non-Conference regular season
11/17/1997* no, no		Bradley	W 69-59	1-0	Assembly Hall (13,304) Champaign, Illinois
11/15/1997* no, no		Georgia Southern	W 82-53	2-0	Assembly Hall (10,789) Champaign, Illinois
11/24/1997* no, no		Illinois-Chicago	W 71-70	3-0	Assembly Hall (10,789) Champaign, Illinois
11/27/1997* no, no		vs. Wichita State Puerto Rico Shootout	W 70-57	4-0	Coliseo Rubén Rodríguez (1,500) Bayamón, PR
11/28/1997* no, no		vs. No. 19 Louisville Puerto Rico Shootout	L 57-58	4-1	Coliseo Rubén Rodríguez (1,500) Bayamón, PR
11/29/1997* no, no		vs. St. John's Puerto Rico Shootout	L 66-83	4-2	Coliseo Rubén Rodríguez (500) Bayamón, PR
12/2/1997* no, no		Texas-Pan American	W 88-60	5-2	Assembly Hall (10,456) Champaign, Illinois
12/6/1997* no, no		at St. Louis	L 51-57	5-3	TWA Dome (32,429) St. Louis, Missouri
12/8/1997* no, no		Maine	W 88-69	6-3	Assembly Hall (10,742) Champaign, Illinois
12/13/1997* no, no		No. 17 Clemson	W 71-61	7-3	United Center (9,282) Chicago
12/20/1997* no, no		Texas	W 105-80	8-3	Assembly Hall (14,746) Champaign, Illinois
12/23/1997* no, no		vs. Missouri Braggin' Rights	L 69-75	8-4	Scottrade Center (22,371) St. Louis, Missouri
12/30/1997* no, no		at No. 9 UCLA	L 69-74	8-5	Pauley Pavilion (12,055) Los Angeles
Big Ten regular season
1/3/1998 no, no		Indiana Rivalry	W 74-72	9-5 (1-0)	Assembly Hall (16,450) Champaign, Illinois
1/8/1998 no, no		at Iowa Rivalry	W 76-64	10-5 (2-0)	Carver–Hawkeye Arena (15,500) Iowa City, Iowa
1/10/1998 no, no		at Northwestern Rivalry	W 59-44	11-5 (3-0)	Welsh-Ryan Arena (8,117) Evanston, Illinois
1/13/1998 no, no		No. 9 Purdue	L 58-68	11-6 (3-1)	Assembly Hall (14,874) Champaign, Illinois
1/17/1998 no, no		at Michigan State	L 64-68	11-7 (3-2)	Breslin Student Events Center (14,874) East Lansing, Michigan
1/21/1998 no, no		Wisconsin	W 62-48	12-7 (4-2)	Assembly Hall (11,281) Champaign, Illinois
1/25/1998 no, no		No. 16 Michigan	W 64-53	13-7 (5-2)	Assembly Hall (16,450) Champaign, Illinois
1/28/1998 no, no		at Ohio State	W 66-62	14-7 (6-2)	St. John Arena (9,250) Columbus, Ohio
1/31/1998 no, no		at Penn State	W 77-71	15-7 (7-2)	Bryce Jordan Center (12,977) University Park, Pennsylvania
2/4/1998 no, no		Minnesota	W 68-56	16-7 (8-2)	Assembly Hall (12,204) Champaign, Illinois
2/7/1998 no, no		at Wisconsin	W 53-47 ^ot	17-7 (9-2)	Kohl Center (16,414) Madison, Wisconsin
2/12/1998 no, no		No. 13 Michigan State	W 84-63	18-7 (10-2)	Assembly Hall (16,450) Champaign, Illinois
2/14/1998 no, no		at No. 8 Purdue	L 72-75	18-8 (10-3)	Mackey Arena (14,123) West Lafayette, Indiana
2/18/1998 no, no	No. 23	Northwestern Rivalry	W 69-57	19-8 (11-3)	Assembly Hall (16,450) Champaign, Illinois
2/22/1998 no, no	No. 23	Iowa Rivalry	W 79-72	20-8 (12-3)	Assembly Hall (16,450) Champaign, Illinois
2/24/1998 no, no	No. 22	at Indiana Rivalry	W 82-72	21-8 (13-3)	Assembly Hall (17,103) Bloomington, Indiana
Big Ten tournament
3/6/1998* no, no	(2) No. 18	vs. (10) Wisconsin Quarterfinals	W 66-61	22-8	United Center (21,711) Chicago, Illinois
3/7/1998* no, no	(2) No. 18	vs. (3) No. 9 Purdue Semifinals	L 47-68	22-9	United Center (21,711) Chicago, Illinois
NCAA tournament^[3]
3/12/1998* no, no	(5 W) No. 22	vs. (12 W) South Alabama first round	W 64-51	23-9	ARCO Arena (14,920) Sacramento, California
3/14/1998* no, no	(5 W) No. 22	vs. (4 W) Maryland Second Round	L 61-67	23-10	Arco Arena (16,402) Sacramento, California
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time.

Player stats

Player	Games Played	2 pt. Field Goals	3 pt. Field Goals	Free Throws	Rebounds	Assists	Blocks	Steals	Points
Kevin Turner^[4]	33	137	78	76	105	91	2	44	584
Jerry Hester^[5]	33	146	40	74	175	49	8	28	486
Matt Heldman^[6]	33	30	67	98	97	131	0	42	359
Jerry Gee^[7]	33	115	0	49	175	23	29	32	279
Brian Johnson^[8]	33	83	0	66	147	78	17	29	232
Sergio McClain^[9]	33	38	4	28	103	54	9	40	116
Arias Davis^[10]	28	7	24	3	22	10	0	6	89
Victor Chukwudebe^[11]	33	25	0	10	110	1	19	13	66
Awvee Storey	17	24	0	6	32	6	5	5	54
Rich Beyers	21	4	0	6	18	3	0	1	14
Jelani Boline	28	0	0	8	10	16	3	0	8
David Freeman	19	3	0	1	5	0	0	1	7
Jeff Reichardt	1	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	6
Luke Williams	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Awards and honors

• Jerry Hester
  • Team Co-Most Valuable Player ^[12]
• Kevin Turner
  • Team Co-Most Valuable Player

Team players drafted into the NBA

Player	NBA Club	Round	Pick

^[13]

Rankings

Main article: 1997–98 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings

References

1. FightingIllini.com
2. University of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1997-98 2014-02-22 at the Wayback Machine, FightingIllini.com
3. 1998 NCAA Tournament
4. (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 18, 2011.
5. (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 18, 2011.
6. (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 18, 2011.
7. (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 18, 2011.
8. (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 18, 2011.
9. (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 18, 2011.
10. (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 18, 2011.
11. (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 18, 2011.
12. (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on October 30, 2014. Retrieved January 15, 2013.
13. 1998 NBA draft 2013-01-05 at the Wayback Machine