March Showdown: #14 Illinois vs. #13 Tennessee in Nashville

Head Coach Brad Underwood

Career Record: 280-130 (.683), 13th year
At Illinois: 171-103 (.624), 9th year
Big Ten: 92-66 (.580)

Series History vs. Tennessee

All-Time Record / Streak: Tennessee leads 4-1 / Tennessee W-2
Last Meeting: #1 Tennessee 66, Illinois 64 (Dec. 14, 2024 at Champaign)
Record at Neutral Sites: First meeting
Underwood vs. Tennessee: 0-2

OPENING TIPS

• No. 14 Illinois (6-2) returns to the court for the first time in eight days to face No. 13 Tennessee (7-2) in the Music City Madness showdown Saturday night at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville (7 p.m. CT / ESPN). 
• The No. 13 Volunteers are the last of four top-15 ranked nonconference opponents in a seven-game stretch on the Illini’s schedule. Illinois defeated No. 11 Texas Tech, 81-77, at home on Nov. 11, and lost to No. 11 Alabama, 90-86, on Nov. 19 at the United Center in Chicago, followed by a 74-61 setback vs. No. 5 UConn at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 28. Illinois is also slated to face 8-1 Mizzou on Dec. 22 in St. Louis. 
• Head coach Brad Underwood has led Illinois to 28 wins over top-25 opponents since 2019-20. This is tied for ninth-most in the NCAA during that span and includes 19 wins in ranked-vs.-ranked matchups. 
• Saturday’s contest is Illinois’ third game away from home this season. Illinois is 6-0 at State Farm Center, having won each home game with an average scoring margin of +30.0, but is seeking it its first win outside of Champaign after neutral-site losses to No. 11 Alabama and No. 5 UConn. 
• Illinois enters Saturday’s matchup looking to snap a five-game skid against ranked opponents at neutral sites. The Illini’s last ranked win on a neutral floor came last season on Thanksgiving Day with a 90-77 victory over No. 19 Arkansas in Kansas City. 
• Illinois’ last win at a neutral site in a ranked-vs.-ranked matchup came on March 28, 2024, when No. 10 Illinois defeated No. 4 Iowa State, 72-69, to advance to the NCAA Tournament Elite Eight. 
• Illinois is currently ranked No. 14 in the AP poll and No. 15 in the coaches poll, and reached as high as No. 8 on Nov. 17. The Illini have been ranked in the AP Top 25 in each of the last seven seasons under Brad Underwood. 
• Illinois is No. 27 in the NCAA NET rankings through games played Dec. 3. 
• After leading the Big Ten in scoring last season (83.6 ppg), Illinois is currently averaging 90.4 points. At this early pace, the Illini would become the third team in program history to average 90+ points per game behind the 1964-65 (92.2 ppg) and 1955-56 (90.7) teams. 
• The Illini opened this season with seven straight games of 80+ points. It marked the most such games to open a campaign since the 1988-89 Flyin’ Illini scored 80+ in each of their first 12 contests. 
• Illinois leads the Big Ten and ranks third in the nation in rebound margin (+14.0 rpg). Illinois is also second in the Big Ten in total rebounds per game (44.5 rpg) and defensive rebounds per game (30.6 rpg), ranking eighth and ninth, respectively, in the NCAA. The Illini rank among the top 10 in the nation, and second in the conference, committing just 13.5 fouls per game.  
• Illinois is No. 17 in the kenpom rankings with a net rating of +24.91. The Illini feature the No. 14-rated offense (122.1) and the No. 21 defensive rating (97.2) in the country. The Illini have had an overall kenpom rating of 35th or better each of the last six years under Brad Underwood with a high of No. 4 (2020-21). Illinois posted consecutive top-20 rankings in 2023-24 (10th) and 2024-25 (17th).
• The Fighting Illini offense features five players averaging double figures in scoring – Kylan Boswell (17.3 ppg), Andrej Stojakovic (16.3), David Mirkovic (14.3), Keaton Wagler (13.5), and Tomislav Ivisic (10.8) – ranking second in the Big Ten and tied for the fifth-most in the nation. 
• Junior G Andrej Stojakovic transferred to Illinois with a reputation as a prolific scorer, and he has started off strong, averaging 16.3 points on 55.4% shooting. Stojakovic has four 20-point performances in the last six games, highlighted by a season-high 26 points vs. #11 Alabama. Stojakovic also posted 23 points the win over #11 Texas Tech, and scored 20 and 24, respectively, in Illinois’ most recent wins over LIU and UTRGV. 
• Freshman F David Mirkovic is one of only two freshman in the nation, along with North Carolina’s Caleb Wilson, averaging at least 14 points and 10 rebounds per contest (through Dec. 3).
• Mirkovic leads the Big Ten and is among the national top 25 in several categories, ranking first in the conference with four double-doubles (14th in NCAA), 80 total rebounds (11th), and 7.25 defensive rebounds per game (11th). His 10.0 rebounds per game rank second in the Big Ten and 22nd nationally.
• Senior G Kylan Boswell is the only player in the Big Ten averaging better than 17.0 points, 4.0 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game (through Dec. 3). In the Illini’s last outing vs. #5 UConn, Boswell poured in a game-high 25 points, his fourth 20+-point game this season. He is the Illini’s active leader with 1,076 career points (568 at Illinois), with seven 20+-point games and 31 career double-digit scoring games in Orange and Blue. 
• Illinois is 1-2 this season vs. Top 25 teams, with a home win over No. 11 Texas Tech (81-77) on Nov. 11, and losses to #11 Alabama (90-86) on Nov. 19 at Chicago’s United Center and #5 UConn (74-61) at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 28. With a nonconference contest remaining vs. #13 Tennessee, plus five ranked Big Ten opponents, the Illini are currently projected to play as many as nine ranked games during the regular season.
• Illinois is the winningest team in Big Ten Conference play since 2019-20, with 81 league wins over the previous six seasons, tied with Purdue. During that stretch, the Illini lead the conference with 34 road wins in league play. When including the conference tournament, Illinois is also tied with Purdue for the most total wins against Big Ten opponents over this span with 88.

ILLINOIS VS. TENNESSEE

• This the sixth all-time meeting between Illinois and Tennessee, and the third in as many seasons.
• Following Saturday’s matchup in Nashville, the current UI-UT series will conclude during the 2027-28 season with a game at the United Center in Chicago.
• Illinois is 1-4 in its previous five meetings vs. Tennessee, but the two most recent matchups have been close battles in which the Volunteers edged out the Illini by a combined nine points. 
• Last season, the No. 1 Volunteers escaped a sold-out State Farm Center with a 66-64 victory on a driving layup as time expired. Kasparas Jakucionis knotted the game with a free-throw with just five seconds to play before UT’s Jordan Gainey hit the winning bucket.  
• During the 2023-24 campaign, Illinois traveled to Knoxville where the No. 17-ranked Volunteers defeated the 20th-ranked Illini, 86-79, in front of a capacity crowd of 21,678 at UT’s Food City Center.
• The Illini fell 66-42 in Knoxville in the initial matchup, Dec. 15, 1967, as part of the Volunteer Classic.
• The 10th-ranked Illini also dropped a 54-51 decision at Tennessee on Dec. 10, 1985.
• Two seasons later, the No. 20-ranked Illini defeated the Vols in Champaign, 103-79, on Jan. 17, 1988, in Tennessee’s first visit to State Farm Center. 

UNDERWOOD-BARNES HISTORY

• Saturday’s matchup between #13 Tennessee and #14 Illinois marks just the fourth time that Fighting Illini head coach Brad Underwood has squared off against Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes, with three of those meetings coming in the last three seasons. 
• Underwood, in his first season at the helm of the Stephen F. Austin program in 2013-14, lost to Barnes’ Texas squad, 72-62, in just his third game as a Division I head coach, Nov. 15, 2013 in Austin, Texas. Saturday’s contest is the 411th of Underwood’s career.
• The loss in 2013-14 was one of just three on the season for the Lumberjacks, who finished 32-3 and advanced to the NCAA Round of 32 after a victory over No. 5 seed VCU in the opening round; Underwood earned the Joe B. Hall award, given to the nation’s top first-year coach.
• The 2023-24 matchup, an 86-79 loss for the No. 20 Illini at No. 17 Tennessee, was Illinois’ only setback in a 10-game stretch in the middle of a campaign that culminated with the third-winningest season in program history (29-9), the 2024 Big Ten Tournament championship, the program’s first Elite Eight appearance since 2005, and a final ranking of No. 6 in the AP Top 25, one spot behind the Volunteers.
• Last season’s buzzer-beating loss to the No. 1-ranked Vols, 66-64, at State Farm Center led to a five-game win streak for the Illini that included an 80-77 Braggin’ Rights win over Mizzou, and a 109-77 road win at No. 9 Oregon that marked the largest road win over an AP top-10 opponent in college basketball history. The Illini went on to win 22 games and advance to the NCAA Tournament Round of 32. 

ILLINI IN THE NET

• Illinois is No. 27 in the NCAA NET ranking though games played Dec. 3. 
• The Fighting Illini’s No. 27 rating is the sixth-best mark in the Big Ten Conference. 
• Through eight games, the Illini are: 0-2 vs. Quad 1, 1-0 vs. Quad 2, 1-0 vs. Quad 3, and 4-0 vs. Quad 4.
• The Illini’s remaining 23-game regular-season schedule would feature 16 games vs. Quad 1 or Quad 2 opponents, with three Quad 3 and four Quad 4 matchups remaining.  
  » Quad 1s (11): vs. Tennessee (22) in Nashville, at Ohio State (63), at Iowa (34), at Northwestern (60), at Purdue (3), at Nebraska (32), at Michigan State (10), vs. Indiana (23), at USC (25), at UCLA (25), and vs. Michigan (1).  
  » Quad 2s (5): vs. Nebraska (32), vs. Missouri (65) in St. Louis, vs. Penn State (81) in Philadelphia, vs. Northwestern (60), and vs. Wisconsin (53).
  » Quad 3s (3): vs. Minnesota (123), vs. Washington (88), and at Maryland (178)
  » Quad 4s (4): vs. Southern (260), vs. Rutgers (189), vs. Maryland (178), and vs. Oregon (176)

ILLINI IN TOP-25 MATCHUPS

• Saturday vs. No. 13 Tennessee at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville is Illinois’ fourth ranked-vs.-ranked matchup through the team’s first nine contests of the season. 
• Illinois is 112-110 all-time when both teams are ranked, including a 42-38 mark in neutral site games. 
• Illinois’ last victory in a ranked-vs.-ranked matchup came when the No. 14 Illini defeated No. 11 Texas Tech, 81-77, at State Farm Center on Nov. 11. 
• Illinois’ last neutral-site victory in a ranked-vs.-ranked matchup came on March 28, 2024 at TD Garden in Boston when the No. 10 Illinois defeated No. 4 Iowa State, 72-69, to advance to the NCAA Tournament Elite Eight. Since that win over the Cyclones, Illinois has lost its last five ranked-vs.-ranked games at neutral sites. 
• Under head coach Brad Underwood, Illinois is 19-23 in ranked-vs.-ranked contests, with a 6-9 mark at neutral sites.