# 2005–06 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

The 2005–06 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign in the 2005–06 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. This was head coach Bruce Weber's third season at Illinois. The team finished with 11–5 conference and 26–7 overall records. The Illini lost in its first game of the Big Ten tournament and were eliminated in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

## Season
### Overview

With the departure of junior Deron Williams and senior Luther Head to the NBA draft, returning seniors Dee Brown and James Augustine led Illinois back to the NCAA tournament. Brown took over the helm of the offense at point guard, a role he had played in high school. As in the previous year, Illinois relied heavily upon three-point shooting, but with more of an emphasis upon the post play of James Augustine.

### Depth chart

| Pos. | Starting 5 |
| C | Shaun Pruitt |
| PF | James Augustine |
| SF | Brian Randle |
| SG | Rich McBride |
| PG | Dee Brown |

## Schedule

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Exhibition ||||||
| Thu, Nov 3* 7:00 pm | No. 17 | Illinois Wesleyan | W 82–60 | | Assembly Hall (16,618) Champaign, IL |
| Wed, Nov 9* 7:00 pm | No. 17 | Quincy | W 78–52 | | Assembly Hall (16,618) Champaign, IL |
| Non-Conference regular season ||||||
| Fri, Nov 18* 7:00 pm, ESPN Plus | No. 17 | South Dakota State | W 90–65 | 1–0 | Assembly Hall (16,618) Champaign, IL |
| Sun, Nov 20* 4:00 pm | No. 17 | Texas-Pan American | W 71–59 | 2–0 | Assembly Hall (16,618) Champaign, IL |
| Tue, Nov 22* 7:00 pm, ESPN Plus | No. 15 | Texas Southern | W 93–59 | 3–0 | Assembly Hall (16,618) Champaign, IL |
| Fri, Nov 25* 7:30 pm, CSTV | No. 15 | vs. Wichita State South Padre Island Invitational | W 55–54 | 4–0 | South Padre Island Convention Centre (1,500) South Padre Island, TX |
| Sat, Nov 26* 7:30 pm, CSTV | No. 15 | vs. Rutgers South Padre Island Invitational | W 77–57 | 5–0 | South Padre Island Convention Centre (1,700) South Padre Island, TX |
| Tue, Nov 29* 8:00 pm, ESPN | No. 12 | at North Carolina | W 68–64 | 6–0 | Dean Smith Center (21,273) Chapel Hill, NC |
| Sat, Dec 3* 1:00 pm, ESPN Plus | No. 12 | vs. Xavier | W 65–62 | 7–0 | United Center (19,833) Chicago, IL |
| Mon, Dec 5* 7:00 pm, ESPN Plus | No. 11 | Little Rock | W 75–49 | 8–0 | Assembly Hall (16,618) Champaign, IL |
| Thu, Dec 8* 8:00 pm, ESPN | No. 11 | Georgetown | W 58–48 | 9–0 | Assembly Hall (16,618) Champaign, IL |
| Sat, Dec 10* 7:00 pm, FSN | No. 11 | at Oregon | W 89–59 | 10–0 | Rose Garden (15,109) Portland, OR |
| Sun, Dec 18* 4:00 pm | No. 9 | Coppin State | W 61–42 | 11–0 | Assembly Hall (16,618) Champaign, IL |
| Wed, Dec 21* 6:00 pm, ESPN2 | No. 6 | vs. Missouri Braggin' Rights | W 82–50 | 12–0 | Savvis Center (22,153) St. Louis, MO |
| Wed, Dec 28* 7:00 pm, ESPN Plus | No. 6 | Southeast Missouri State | W 89–64 | 13–0 | Assembly Hall (16,618) Champaign, IL |
| Fri, Dec 30* 7:00 pm, ESPN Plus | No. 6 | UT-Martin | W 84–46 | 14–0 | Assembly Hall (16,618) Champaign, IL |
| Big Ten regular season ||||||
| Thu, Jan 5 8:00 pm, ESPN2 | No. 6 | No. 7 Michigan State | W 60–50 | 15–0 (1–0) | Assembly Hall (16,618) Champaign, IL |
| Sat, Jan 7 1:00 pm, ESPN | No. 6 | at Iowa Rivalry | L 48–63 | 15–1 (1–1) | Carver-Hawkeye Arena (15,500) Iowa City, IA |
| Sat, Jan 14 3:30 pm, ESPN Plus | No. 7 | Michigan | W 79–74 | 16–1 (2–1) | Assembly Hall (16,618) Champaign, IL |
| Tue, Jan 17 6:00 pm, ESPN | No. 7 | at No. 13 Indiana Rivalry | L 60–62 | 16–2 (2–2) | Assembly Hall (17,328) Bloomington, IN |
| Sat, Jan 21 3:30 pm, ESPN Plus | No. 7 | at Northwestern Rivalry | W 58–47 | 17–2 (3–2) | Welsh-Ryan Arena (8,117) Evanston, IL |
| Wed, Jan 25 8:00 pm, ESPN Plus | No. 8 | Minnesota | W 77–53 | 18–2 (4–2) | Assembly Hall (16,618) Champaign, IL |
| Sat, Jan 28 3:30 pm, ESPN Plus | No. 8 | Purdue | W 76–58 | 19–2 (5–2) | Assembly Hall (16,618) Champaign, IL |
| Tue, Jan 31 6:00 pm, ESPN | No. 6 | at Wisconsin | W 66–51 | 20–2 (6–2) | Kohl Center (17,142) Madison, WI |
| Sat, Feb 4 8:00 pm, ESPN Plus | No. 6 | Penn State | L 65–66 | 20–3 (6–3) | Assembly Hall (16,618) Champaign, IL |
| Sun, Feb 12 12:00 pm, CBS | No. 10 | at No. 19 Ohio State | L 53–69 | 20–4 (6–4) | Value City Arena (18,500) Columbus, OH |
| Wed, Feb 15 7:00 pm, ESPN Plus | No. 14 | Northwestern Rivalry | W 63–47 | 21–4 (7–4) | Assembly Hall (16,618) Champaign, IL |
| Sun, Feb 19 2:30 pm, CBS | No. 14 | Indiana Rivalry | W 70–58 | 22–4 (8–4) | Assembly Hall (16,618) Champaign, IL |
| Tue, Feb 21 6:00 pm, ESPN | No. 8 | at Michigan | L 64–72 | 22–5 (8–5) | Crisler Arena (13,164) Ann Arbor, MI |
| Sat, Feb 25 5:00 pm, ESPN | No. 8 | No. 20 Iowa Rivalry | W 71–59 | 23–5 (9–5) | Assembly Hall (16,618) Champaign, IL |
| Tue, Feb 28 8:00 pm, ESPN | No. 10 | at Minnesota | W 71–65 | 24–5 (10–5) | Williams Arena (13,022) Minneapolis, MN |
| Sat, Mar 4 11:00 am, CBS | No. 10 | at No. 25 Michigan State | W 75–68 | 25–5 (11–5) | Breslin Student Events Center (14,759) East Lansing, MI |
| Big Ten tournament ||||||
| Fri, Mar 10 8:10 pm, ESPN Plus | (3) No. 9 | vs. (6) Michigan State Quarterfinals | L 56–61 | 25–6 | Conseco Fieldhouse (18,730) Indianapolis, IN |
| NCAA tournament ||||||
| Thu, Mar 16 7:35 pm, CBS | (4 W) No. 13 | vs. (13 W) Air Force First round | W 78–69 | 26–6 | Cox Arena at Aztec Bowl (9,891) San Diego, CA |
| Sat, Mar 18 4:30 pm, CBS | (4 W) No. 13 | vs. (5 W) No. 17 Washington Second round | L 64–67 | 26–7 | Cox Arena at Aztec Bowl (10,687) San Diego, CA |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. ||||||

## Season statistics

Individual Player Statistics :
| | | | Minutes | Minutes | Scoring | Scoring | Total FGs | Total FGs | Total FGs | 3-point FGs | 3-point FGs | 3-point FGs | Free-Throws | Free-Throws | Free-Throws | Rebounds | Rebounds | Rebounds | Rebounds | | | | |
| Player | GP | GS | Tot | Avg | Pts | Avg | FG | FGA | Pct | 3FG | 3FA | Pct | FT | FTA | Pct | Off | Def | Tot | Avg | A | TO | Blk | Stl |
| Brown, Dee | 33 | 33 | 1183 | 35.8 | 470 | 14.2 | 157 | 437 | .359 | 78 | 243 | .321 | 78 | 103 | .757 | 15 | 87 | 102 | 3.1 | 191 | 94 | 1 | 53 |
| Augustine, James | 33 | 33 | 1079 | 32.7 | 448 | 13.6 | 174 | 279 | .624 | 1 | 2 | .500 | 99 | 152 | .651 | 100 | 200 | 300 | 9.1 | 59 | 67 | 24 | 47 |
| McBride, Rich | 33 | 33 | 989 | 30.0 | 329 | 10.0 | 112 | 277 | .404 | 83 | 206 | .403 | 22 | 25 | .880 | 5 | 55 | 60 | 1.8 | 70 | 47 | 0 | 24 |
| Randle, Brian | 32 | 32 | 855 | 26.7 | 272 | 8.5 | 109 | 210 | .519 | 6 | 34 | .176 | 48 | 81 | .593 | 77 | 96 | 173 | 5.4 | 47 | 43 | 17 | 26 |
| Smith, Jamar | 32 | 0 | 613 | 19.2 | 255 | 8.0 | 85 | 181 | .470 | 66 | 137 | .482 | 19 | 27 | .704 | 17 | 36 | 53 | 1.7 | 43 | 34 | 1 | 16 |
| Pruitt, Shaun | 33 | 33 | 641 | 19.4 | 203 | 6.2 | 86 | 164 | .524 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 31 | 64 | .484 | 70 | 99 | 169 | 5.1 | 15 | 39 | 15 | 13 |
| Carter, Warren | 32 | 1 | 395 | 12.3 | 154 | 4.8 | 58 | 126 | .460 | 1 | 6 | .167 | 37 | 55 | .673 | 35 | 53 | 88 | 2.8 | 15 | 16 | 9 | 6 |
| Arnold, Marcus | 32 | 0 | 354 | 11.1 | 113 | 3.5 | 47 | 102 | .461 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 19 | 34 | .559 | 32 | 44 | 76 | 2.4 | 2 | 21 | 9 | 7 |
| Brock, Calvin | 17 | 0 | 109 | 6.4 | 23 | 1.4 | 8 | 24 | .333 | 1 | 6 | .167 | 6 | 15 | .400 | 5 | 22 | 27 | 1.6 | 7 | 8 | 1 | 4 |
| Frazier, Chester | 27 | 0 | 363 | 13.4 | 34 | 1.3 | 10 | 48 | .208 | 5 | 32 | .156 | 9 | 18 | .500 | 8 | 37 | 45 | 1.7 | 50 | 21 | 2 | 7 |
| Hicks, Chris | 11 | 0 | 19 | 1.7 | 10 | 0.9 | 2 | 5 | .400 | 0 | 2 | .000 | 6 | 8 | .750 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0.1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Team | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 159 | 388 | 547 | | | 0 | | |
| Total | 33 | | 6600 | | 2311 | 70.0 | 848 | 1853 | .458 | 241 | 668 | .361 | 374 | 582 | .643 | 403 | 776 | 1179 | 35.7 | 500 | 406 | 79 | 203 |
| Opponents | 33 | | 6600 | | 1937 | 58.7 | 670 | 1656 | .405 | 170 | 536 | .317 | 427 | 615 | .694 | 306 | 678 | 984 | 29.8 | 338 | 464 | 78 | 179 |

## Team players drafted into the NBA

| Year | Player | NBA club | Round | Pick |
| 2006 | James Augustine | Orlando Magic | 2 | 41 |
| 2006 | Dee Brown | Utah Jazz | 2 | 46 |

## Awards and honors

Dee Brown was named to the Consensus All-American 2nd Team, the Associated Press 2nd team, the United States Basketball Writers Association 2nd team and the National Association of Basketball Coaches 2nd team for the 2005–06 season.