# 1997–98 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

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.

### Roster
## Schedule

Source
| 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 ||||||
| 3/12/1998* 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 | 33 | 137 | 78 | 76 | 105 | 91 | 2 | 44 | 584 |
| Jerry Hester | 33 | 146 | 40 | 74 | 175 | 49 | 8 | 28 | 486 |
| Matt Heldman | 33 | 30 | 67 | 98 | 97 | 131 | 0 | 42 | 359 |
| Jerry Gee | 33 | 115 | 0 | 49 | 175 | 23 | 29 | 32 | 279 |
| Brian Johnson | 33 | 83 | 0 | 66 | 147 | 78 | 17 | 29 | 232 |
| Sergio McClain | 33 | 38 | 4 | 28 | 103 | 54 | 9 | 40 | 116 |
| Arias Davis | 28 | 7 | 24 | 3 | 22 | 10 | 0 | 6 | 89 |
| Victor Chukwudebe | 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
* Kevin Turner
** Team Co-Most Valuable Player

## Team players drafted into the NBA

| Player | NBA Club | Round | Pick |