1990–91 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

1990–91 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 5 Ohio State	15	–	3	.833	27	–	4	.871
No. 3 Indiana	15	–	3	.833	29	–	5	.853
Illinois	11	–	7	.611	21	–	10	.677
Michigan State	11	–	7	.611	19	–	11	.633
Iowa	9	–	9	.500	21	–	11	.656
Purdue	9	–	9	.500	17	–	12	.586
Wisconsin	8	–	10	.444	15	–	15	.500
Michigan	7	–	11	.389	14	–	15	.483
Minnesota	5	–	13	.278	12	–	16	.429
Northwestern	0	–	18	.000	5	–	23	.179

Rankings from AP Poll

The 1990–91 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

Regular season

Entering the 1990-91 season, Illinois, faced with the loss of Kendall Gill, Steve Bardo and Marcus Liberty, who declared himself eligible for the NBA draft after his junior season, was picked to finish as low as ninth in the Big Ten by some publications. But, junior forward Andy Kaufmann burst onto the scene scoring 660 points, the second largest single-season total in Illinois history. He and the Illini proved the preseason expectations wrong by going 21-10 and finishing third in the Big Ten.

Team

No.	Player	Hometown	High School	Class	Position
3	Tim Geers	Chicago, Illinois	De La Salle High School	So.	Forward
4	Brooks Taylor	Chicago, Illinois	De La Salle High School	So.	Guard
11	Rennie Clemons	Springfield, Illinois	Calvary Academy	Fr.	Guard
23	Larry Smith (co-captain)	Alton, Illinois	Alton High School	Sr.	Guard
24	Scott Pierce	Euless, Texas	Trinity High School	Fr.	Forward
25	Deon Thomas	Chicago, Illinois	Simeon High School	Fr.	Forward/Center
32	Tom Michael	Hoffman, Illinois	Carlyle High School	Fr.	Forward
34	Andy Kaufmann	Jacksonville, Illinois	Jacksonville High School	Jr.	Forward
44	T.J. Wheeler	Christopher, Illinois	Christopher High School	Fr.	Guard
50	Andy Kpedi (co-captain)	St. Anne, Illinois	St. Anne Community High School	Sr.	Center

Head Coach Lou Henson (16th year at Illinois) ^[1]

Schedule

Source^[2]

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Regular Season
11/23/1990* no, no	No. NR	@ American-Puerto Rico San Juan Shootout	W 103-84	1-0	Mario Morales Coliseum (400) Guaynabo, Puerto Rico
11/24/1990* no, no	No. NR	vs. Nebraska San Juan Shootout	L 73-100	1-1	Mario Morales Coliseum (400) Guaynabo, Puerto Rico
11/25/1990* no, no	No. NR	vs. Old Dominion San Juan Shootout	W 80-62	2-1	Mario Morales Coliseum (400) Guaynabo, Puerto Rico
11/29/1990* no, no	No. NR	vs. Illinois-Chicago	L 60-71	2-2	Assembly Hall (11,117) Champaign, IL
12/1/1990* no, no	No. NR	vs. Eastern Illinois	W 106-87	3-2	Assembly Hall (12,643) Champaign, IL
12/3/1990* no, no	No. NR	vs. Wisconsin-Milwaukee	W 120-116 ^2ot	4-2	Assembly Hall (11,835) Champaign, IL
12/5/1990* no, no	No. NR	@ Penn State	L 68-78	4-3	Rec Hall (7,347) University Park, PA
12/7/1990* no, no	No. NR	vs. Oregon State Illini Classic	W 112-78	5-3	Assembly Hall (12,631) Champaign, IL
12/8/1990* no, no	No. NR	vs. Georgia Southern Illini Classic	W 85-67	6-3	Assembly Hall (12,098) Champaign, IL
12/15/1990* no, no	No. NR	vs. Arkansas-Little Rock Illini Classic	W 83-72	7-3	Assembly Hall (12,213) Champaign, IL
12/19/1990* no, no	No. NR	vs. Missouri Braggin' Rights	W 84-81	8-3	St. Louis Arena (17,253) St. Louis, MO
12/22/1990* no, no	No. NR	vs. #10 Louisiana State	W 102-96	9-3	Assembly Hall (14,824) Champaign, IL
12/29/1990* no, no	No. NR	@ Memphis State	W 84-75	10-3	Pyramid Arena (11,200) Memphis, TN
1/2/1991 no, no	No. NR	@ #5 Indiana	L 74-109	10-4 (0-1)	Assembly Hall (17,283) Bloomington, IN
1/5/1991 no, no	No. NR	vs. Purdue	W 63-61	11-4 (1-1)	Assembly Hall (15,721) Champaign, IL
1/10/1991 no, no	No. NR	vs. Minnesota	W 67-66	12-4 (2-1)	Assembly Hall (12,435) Champaign, IL
1/17/1991 no, no	No. NR	vs. Michigan State	L 68-71	12-5 (2-2)	Assembly Hall (13,487) Champaign, IL
1/19/1991 no, no	No. NR	@ #4 Ohio State	L 55-89	12-6 (2-3)	St. John Arena (13,276) Columbus, OH
1/26/1991 no, no	No. NR	@ Michigan	W 72-67	13-6 (3-3)	Crisler Arena (11,707) Ann Arbor, MI
1/28/1991 no, no	No. NR	vs. Iowa	W 53-50	14-6 (4-3)	Assembly Hall (14,846) Champaign, IL
2/2/1991 no, no	No. NR	vs. Wisconsin	W 70-62	15-6 (5-3)	Assembly Hall (16,295) Champaign, IL
2/4/1991 no, no	No. NR	vs. Northwestern	W 73-59	16-6 (6-3)	Assembly Hall (12,068) Champaign, IL
2/6/1991 no, no	No. NR	@ Purdue	W 59-56	17-6 (7-3)	Mackey Arena (14,123) West Lafayette, IN
2/10/1991 no, no	No. NR	@ Minnesota	W 94-74	18-6 (8-3)	Williams Arena (16,305) Minneapolis, MN
2/16/1991 no, no	No. NR	@ Michigan State	L 58-62	18-7 (8-4)	Breslin Student Events Center (15,138) East Lansing, MI
2/20/1991 no, no	No. NR	vs. #2 Ohio State	L 64-73	18-8 (8-5)	Assembly Hall (13,885) Champaign, IL
2/23/1991 no, no	No. NR	@ Iowa	W 79-74	19-8 (9-5)	Carver–Hawkeye Arena (15,500) Iowa City, IA
2/28/1991 no, no	No. NR	vs. Michigan	W 68-65	20-8 (10-5)	Assembly Hall (14,584) Champaign, IL
3/2/1991 no, no	No. NR	@ Northwestern	W 91-81	21-8 (11-5)	Welsh-Ryan Arena (8,117) Evanston, IL
3/6/1991 no, no	No. NR	@ Wisconsin	L 77-85	21-9 (11-6)	Wisconsin Field House (11,189) Madison, WI
3/10/1991 no, no	No. NR	vs. #3 Indiana	L 58-70	21-10 (11-7)	Assembly Hall (16,321) Champaign, IL
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time.

Player stats

Player	Games Played	Field Goals	Three Pointers	Free Throws	Rebounds	Assists	Blocks	Steals	Points
Andy Kaufmann^[3]	31	225	41	169	154	67	0	18	660
Deon Thomas ^[4]	30	172	0	108	203	18	54	10	452
Larry Smith^[5]	29	140	24	90	168	144	8	42	394
Rennie Clemons^[6]	31	90	8	76	99	96	7	43	264
Andy Kpedi^[7]	31	83	0	35	197	15	27	13	201
Scott Pierce^[8]	31	50	0	25	96	18	7	11	135
Tom Michael^[9]	31	49	18	15	84	31	10	17	131

Awards and honors

Deon Thomas
- Fighting Illini All-Century team (2005)
Andy Kpedi
- Team Most Valuable Player ^[10]

NCAA basketball tournament

Ineligible due to NCAA violations

Team players drafted into the NBA

Round	Pick	Player	NBA Club

^[11]

Rankings

References

[1] All-Time Illini Rosters

[2] University of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1990-91, FightingIllini.com

[3] Season Stats pg. 115

[4] Season Stats pg. 115

[5] Season Stats pg. 122

[6] Season Stats pg. 115

[7] Season Stats pg. 122

[8] Season Stats pg. 122

[9] Season Stats pg. 122

[10] List of MVPs

[11] 1991 NBA Draft

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

v t e Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
Venues	Kenney Gym (1906–1925) Huff Hall (1926–1963) State Farm Center (1963–present) Prairie Capital Convention Center (2015)
Rivalries	Indiana Iowa Missouri Northwestern
Culture & lore	Whiz Kids Flyin' Illini Orange Krush Fighting Illini Sports Network Oskee Wow-Wow Illinois Loyalty Chief Illiniwek 1960s slush fund scandal
People	Head coaches NBA draftees Statistical leaders
Seasons	1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
Helms and Premo-Porretta national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics