1997–98 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

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Ranking
Coaches	No. 23
AP	No. 22

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

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

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.

Team

No.	Player	Hometown	High School	Class	Position
00	Victor Chukwudebe	Springfield, Illinois	Lanphier High School	So.	Forward
4	Arias Davis	Waycross, Georgia	Ware County High School	Jr.	Guard
10	Jelani Boline	Chicago, Illinois	Whitney Young High School	Sr.	Guard
12	Jeff Reichardt	Schaumburg, Illinois	Schaumburg High School	So.	Guard
13	Cory Bradford	Memphis, Tennessee	Raleigh Egypt High School	Fr.	Guard
21	Matt Heldman (co-captain)	Libertyville, Illinois	Libertyville High School	Sr.	Guard
23	Jerry Hester (co-captain)	Peoria, Illinois	Manual High School	Sr.	Forward
30	Luke Williams	Brocton, Illinois	Shiloh High School	Fr.	Guard
31	David Freeman	Champaign, Illinois	Champaign Central High School	Sr.	Guard
32	Jerry Gee	Chicago, Illinois	St. Martin de Porres High School	Sr.	Forward
33	Kevin Turner	Chicago, Illinois	Simeon High School	Sr.	Guard
34	Brian Johnson (captain)	Des Plaines, Illinois	Maine West High School	Sr.	Forward
35	Carvell Ammons	Champaign, Illinois	Centennial High School	So.	Forward
40	Sergio McClain	Peoria, Illinois	Manual High School	Fr.	Guard/Forward
42	Awvee Storey	Chicago, Illinois	Proviso West High School	Fr.	Guard/Forward
44	Rich Beyers	Shelbyville, Illinois	Shelbyville High School	So.	Forward

Head Coach Lon Kruger (2nd year at Illinois) ^[1]

Schedule

Source^[2]

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Regular Season
11/17/1997* no, no	No. NR	vs. Bradley	W 69-59	1-0	Assembly Hall (13,304) Champaign, IL
11/15/1997* no, no	No. NR	vs. Georgia Southern	W 82-53	2-0	Assembly Hall (10,789) Champaign, IL
11/24/1997* no, no	No. NR	vs. Illinois-Chicago	W 71-70	3-0	Assembly Hall (10,789) Champaign, IL
11/27/1997* no, no	No. NR	vs. Wichita State Puerto Rico Shootout	W 70-57	4-0	Coliseo Rubén Rodríguez (1,500) Bayamón, PR
11/28/1997* no, no	No. NR	vs. #19 Louisville Puerto Rico Shootout	L 57-58	4-1	Coliseo Rubén Rodríguez (1,500) Bayamón, PR
11/29/1997* no, no	No. NR	vs. St. John's Puerto Rico Shootout	L 66-83	4-2	Coliseo Rubén Rodríguez (500) Bayamón, PR
12/2/1997* no, no	No. NR	vs. Texas-Pan American	W 88-60	5-2	Assembly Hall (10,456) Champaign, IL
12/6/1997* no, no	No. NR	@ St. Louis	L 51-57	5-3	TWA Dome (32,429) St. Louis, MO
12/8/1997* no, no	No. NR	vs. Maine	W 88-69	6-3	Assembly Hall (10,742) Champaign, IL
12/13/1997* no, no	No. NR	vs. #17 Clemson	W 71-61	7-3	United Center (9,282) Chicago, IL
12/20/1997* no, no	No. NR	vs. Texas	W 105-80	8-3	Assembly Hall (14,746) Champaign, IL
12/23/1997* no, no	No. NR	vs. Missouri Braggin' Rights	L 69-75	8-4	Scottrade Center (22,371) St. Louis, MO
12/30/1997* no, no	No. NR	@ #9 UCLA	L 69-74	8-5	Pauley Pavilion (12,055) Los Angeles, CA
1/3/1998 no, no	No. NR	vs. Indiana	W 74-72	9-5 (1-0)	Assembly Hall (16,450) Champaign, IL
1/8/1998 no, no	No. NR	@ Iowa	W 76-64	10-5 (2-0)	Carver–Hawkeye Arena (15,500) Iowa City, IA
1/10/1998 no, no	No. NR	@ Northwestern	W 59-44	11-5 (3-0)	Welsh-Ryan Arena (8,117) Evanston, IL
1/13/1998 no, no	No. NR	vs. #9 Purdue	L 58-68	11-6 (3-1)	Assembly Hall (14,874) Champaign, IL
1/17/1998 no, no	No. NR	@ Michigan State	L 64-68	11-7 (3-2)	Breslin Student Events Center (14,874) East Lansing, MI
1/21/1998 no, no	No. NR	vs. Wisconsin	W 62-48	12-7 (4-2)	Assembly Hall (11,281) Champaign, IL
1/25/1998 no, no	No. NR	vs. #16 Michigan	W 64-53	13-7 (5-2)	Assembly Hall (16,450) Champaign, IL
1/28/1998 no, no	No. 24	@ Ohio State	W 66-62	14-7 (6-2)	St. John Arena (9,250) Columbus, OH
1/31/1998 no, no	No. NR	@ Penn State	W 77-71	15-7 (7-2)	Bryce Jordan Center (12,977) University Park, PA
2/4/1998 no, no	No. NR	vs. Minnesota	W 68-56	16-7 (8-2)	Assembly Hall (12,204) Champaign, IL
2/7/1998 no, no	No. NR	@ Wisconsin	W 53-47 ^ot	17-7 (9-2)	Kohl Center (16,414) Madison, WI
2/12/1998 no, no	No. NR	vs. #13 Michigan State	W 84-63	18-7 (10-2)	Assembly Hall (16,450) Champaign, IL
2/14/1998 no, no	No. NR	@ #8 Purdue	L 72-75	18-8 (10-3)	Mackey Arena (14,123) West Lafayette, IN
2/18/1998 no, no	No. 23	vs. Northwestern	W 69-57	19-8 (11-3)	Assembly Hall (16,450) Champaign, IL
2/22/1998 no, no	No. 23	vs. Iowa	W 79-72	20-8 (12-3)	Assembly Hall (16,450) Champaign, IL
2/24/1998 no, no	No. 22	@ Indiana	W 82-72	21-8 (13-3)	Assembly Hall (17,103) Bloomington, IN
Big Ten Tournament
3/6/1998* no, no	No. 22	vs. Wisconsin Big Ten Tournament	W 66-61	22-8	United Center (21,711) Chicago, IL
3/7/1998* no, no	No. 22	vs. #9 Purdue Big Ten Tournament	L 47-68	22-9	United Center (21,711) Chicago, IL
NCAA Tournament
3/12/1998* no, no	No. 22	vs. South Alabama NCAA Tournament	W 64-51	23-9	Arco Arena (14,920) Sacramento, CA
3/14/1998* no, no	No. 22	vs. Maryland NCAA Tournament	L 61-67	23-10	Arco Arena (16,402) Sacramento, CA
*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
Kevin Turner^[3]	33	215	78	76	105	91	2	44	584
Jerry Hester^[4]	33	186	40	74	175	49	8	28	486
Matt Heldman^[5]	33	97	67	98	97	131	0	42	359
Jerry Gee^[6]	33	115	0	49	175	23	29	32	279
Brian Johnson^[7]	33	83	0	66	147	78	17	29	232
Sergio McClain^[8]	33	42	4	28	103	54	9	40	116
Arias Davis^[9]	28	31	24	3	22	10	0	6	89
Victor Chukwudebe^[10]	33	25	0	10	110	1	19	13	66

NCAA basketball tournament

West regional
- Illinois 64, South Alabama 51
- Maryland 67, Illinois 61

^[11]

Awards and honors

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

Team players drafted into the NBA

Round	Pick	Player	NBA Club

^[13]

Rankings

References

[1] All-Time Illini Rosters

[2] University of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1997-98, FightingIllini.com

[3] Season Stats pg. 124

[4] Season Stats pg. 124

[5] Season Stats pg. 124

[6] Season Stats pg. 124

[7] Season Stats pg. 124

[8] Season Stats pg. 124

[9] Season Stats pg. 124

[10] Season Stats pg. 124

[11] 1998 NCAA Tournament

[12] List of MVPs

[13] 1998 NBA Draft

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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