# 2023–24 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

The 2023–24 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois during the 2023–24 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Illini were led by seventh-year head coach Brad Underwood. The Illini played their home games at the State Farm Center in Champaign, Illinois as members of the Big Ten Conference. They defeated Wisconsin to win the Big Ten Tournament. The team was then awarded the #3 seed in the East region of the NCAA Tournament, in which they advanced their first Elite Eight since 2005. There they lost to the eventual champion, UConn.
The Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team drew an average home attendance of 14,990 in 18 games in 2023-24.

## Previous season

The Illini finished the 2022–23 season 20–13, 11–9 in Big Ten play to finish in a four-way tie for fifth place. As the No. 7 seed in the Big Ten tournament, they lost to Penn State in the second round. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament as the No. 9 seed in the West Region where they lost to Arkansas in the First Round.

## Offseason

Niccolo Moretti joined the Illini for the second semester of the 2022-2023 academic year and took part in practice and officially joined the team this season.
After declaring for the 2023 NBA draft, both Terrence Shannon Jr. and Coleman Hawkins withdrew and returned to the Illini. Jeremiah Williams committed to transfer to Illinois on June 1, 2023, but later withdrew that commitment and rejoined the transfer portal later that month on June 23.
In August, the Illini took a ten-day trip to Spain where they played and won three games against Spanish teams. None of the games were televised but the Illini provided a link to stream the second game for free on Vimeo.

### Departures

| Name | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Reason for Departure |
| Jayden Epps | G | 6'2" | 190 | Freshman | Suffolk, Virginia | Transferred to Georgetown |
| Brandon Lieb | C | 7'0" | 210 | Junior | Deerfield, Illinois | Transferred to Illinois State |
| RJ Melendez | G/F | 6'7" | 205 | Sophomore | Arecibo, Puerto Rico | Transferred to Georgia |
| Matthew Mayer | F | 6'9" | 225 | Graduate Student | Austin, Texas | Graduated; Undrafted in 2023 NBA draft, signed with Houston Rockets |
| Skyy Clark | G | 6'3" | 200 | Freshman | Los Angeles, California | Left team after 13 games. Transferred to Louisville |
| Zacharie Perrin | F | 6'10" | 220 | Redshirt Freshman | Grandfontaine, France | Left team after one game. Returned to France |
| Connor Serven | F | 6'9" | 235 | Junior | Prairie City, Illinois | Transferred to Eastern Michigan |
| Paxton Warden | G | 6'4" | 180 | Freshman | Glen Ellyn, Illinois | Transferred to Lewis University |

### Incoming transfers

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Previous School |
| Marcus Domask | 3 | G/F | 6'6" | 215 | Graduate Student | Waupun, Wisconsin | Southern Illinois |
| Quincy Guerrier | 13 | G/F | 6'8" | 230 | Graduate Student | Quebec City | Oregon |
| Justin Harmon | 4 | CG | 6'4" | 200 | Graduate Student | Chicago, Illinois | Utah Valley |
| Keaton Kutcher | 22 | G | 6'2" | 200 | Junior | Mount Vernon, Iowa | South Dakota |
| Max Williams | 25 | G | 6'2" | 200 | Senior | Chicago, Illinois | DePaul |
Source:

### 2023 recruiting class

College recruiting information :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Amani Hansberry PF | Silver Spring, Maryland | Mount Saint Joseph | 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) | 225 lb (102 kg) | Nov 9, 2022 |
| Star ratings: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: ESPN grade: 84 ||||||
| Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn CG | Lafayette, Indiana | Word of God | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | 165 lb (75 kg) | Nov 9, 2022 |
| Star ratings: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: ESPN grade: 82 ||||||
| Overall recruiting rankings: Rivals: 25 247Sports: 37 ||||||
| Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "2023 Illinois Commits". Rivals.com. "ESPN- Illinois Fighting Illini Men's Basketball Recruiting". ESPN.com. "2023 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. "2023–24 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team". 247sports.com. ||||||

## Roster

Note: While listed above as a graduate student for NCAA eligibility purposes, Shannon is a fifth-year senior working towards his bachelor's degree.

### Roster movement

* Shannon was suspended prior to the December 29 game against FDU and became eligible to play again January 19.
* Moretti suffered a foot injury during the November 19 game against Southern and suited up for the January 14 game against Maryland, but did not play until the following game against Michigan.
* Hansberry began sitting out games with back spasms starting with the game against Purdue on January 5 and returned to action against Ohio State on January 30.

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | High points | High rebounds | High assists | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Spain trip |||||||||
| August 6, 2023* 12:00 p.m., – | | at Madrid All-Stars | W 84–73 | | 16 – Dainja | 15 – Dainja | 4 – Shannon Jr. | WiZink Center (122) Madrid, Spain |
| August 9, 2023* 12:00 p.m., Vimeo | | at Valencia International Basketball Academy | W 105–60 | | 25 – Shannon Jr. | 9 – Tied | 5 – Hawkins | L’Alqueria Del Basket (242) Valencia, Spain |
| August 13, 2023* 5:00 a.m., – | | at Catalonia All-Stars | W 103–69 | | 19 – Hansberry | 11 – Tied | 4 – Moretti | Palau d'Esports Josep Mora (152) Barcelona, Spain |
| Exhibition |||||||||
| October 20, 2023* 8:00 p.m., B1G+ | No. 25 | Ottawa (KS) | W 116–65 | | 18 – Shannon Jr. | 12 – Hansberry | 6 – Domask | State Farm Center (15,154) Champaign, IL |
| October 29, 2023* 5:00 p.m., BTN | No. 25 | No. 1 Kansas Maui Strong Fund game | W 82–75 | | 28 – Shannon Jr. | 9 – Guerrier | 3 – Rodgers | State Farm Center (12,592) Champaign, IL |
| Regular season |||||||||
| November 6, 2023* 7:00 p.m., B1G+ | No. 25 | Eastern Illinois | W 80–52 | 1–0 | 18 – Gibbs-Lawhorn | 8 – Hansberry | 3 – Tied | State Farm Center (15,014) Champaign, IL |
| November 10, 2023* 7:00 p.m., B1G+ | No. 25 | Oakland | W 64–53 | 2–0 | 15 – Shannon Jr. | 10 – Guerrier | 5 – Tied | State Farm Center (15,544) Champaign, IL |
| November 14, 2023* 7:00 p.m., FS1 | No. 23 | No. 4 Marquette Gavitt Tipoff Games | L 64–71 | 2–1 | 21 – Shannon Jr. | 10 – Guerrier | 3 – Hawkins | State Farm Center (15,544) Champaign, IL |
| November 17, 2023* 7:00 p.m., B1G+ | No. 23 | Valparaiso | W 87–64 | 3–1 | 22 – Shannon Jr. | 9 – Harmon | 4 – Shannon Jr. | State Farm Center (14,894) Champaign, IL |
| November 19, 2023* 7:00 p.m., BTN | No. 23 | Southern | W 88–60 | 4–1 | 24 – Shannon Jr. | 9 – Domask | 4 – Shannon Jr. | State Farm Center (12,012) Champaign, IL |
| November 24, 2023* 8:00 p.m., BTN | | Western Illinois | W 84–52 | 5–1 | 19 – Shannon Jr. | 15 – Guerrier | 4 – Rodgers | State Farm Center (13,051) Champaign, IL |
| December 2, 2023 3:00 p.m., BTN | No. 24 | at Rutgers | W 76–58 | 6–1 (1–0) | 23 – Shannon Jr. | 10 – Shannon Jr. | 3 – Tied | Jersey Mike's Arena (8,000) Piscataway, NJ |
| December 5, 2023* 5:30 p.m., ESPN | No. 20 | vs. No. 11 Florida Atlantic Jimmy V Classic | W 98–89 | 7–1 | 33 – Tied | 6 – Domask | 3 – Tied | Madison Square Garden (17,873) New York, NY |
| December 9, 2023* 11:00 a.m., CBS | No. 20 | at No. 17 Tennessee | L 79–86 | 7–2 | 22 – Tied | 7 – Goode | 4 – Hawkins | Thompson–Boling Arena (21,678) Knoxville, TN |
| December 17, 2023* 12:00 p.m., BTN | No. 16 | Colgate | W 74–57 | 8–2 | 16 – Hawkins | 8 – Tied | 5 – Rodgers | State Farm Center (14,026) Champaign, IL |
| December 22, 2023* 8:00 p.m., FS1 | No. 13 | vs. Missouri Braggin' Rights | W 97–73 | 9–2 | 30 – Shannon Jr. | 11 – Shannon Jr. | 7 – Domask | Enterprise Center (18,485) St. Louis, MO |
| December 29, 2023* 8:00 p.m., BTN | No. 11 | Fairleigh Dickinson | W 104–71 | 10–2 | 19 – Dainja | 15 – Rodgers | 11 – Domask | State Farm Center (15,544) Champaign, IL |
| January 2, 2024 8:00 p.m., BTN | No. 9 | Northwestern Rivalry | W 96–66 | 11–2 (2–0) | 32 – Domask | 10 – Guerrier | 6 – Domask | State Farm Center (15,118) Champaign, IL |
| January 5, 2024 7:30 p.m., FS1 | No. 9 | at No. 1 Purdue | L 78–83 | 11–3 (2–1) | 26 – Domask | 10 – Guerrier | 6 – Hawkins | Mackey Arena (14,876) West Lafayette, IN |
| January 11, 2024 8:00 p.m., FS1 | No. 10 | Michigan State | W 71–68 | 12–3 (3–1) | 15 – Tied | 7 – Hawkins | 5 – Domask | State Farm Center (14,727) Champaign, IL |
| January 14, 2024 1:00 p.m., BTN | No. 10 | Maryland | L 67–76 | 12–4 (3–2) | 26 – Domask | 7 – Hawkins | 5 – Rodgers | State Farm Center (15,544) Champaign, IL |
| January 18, 2024 7:30 p.m., FS1 | No. 14 | at Michigan | W 88–73 | 13–4 (4–2) | 21 – Hawkins | 14 – Guerrier | 4 – Hawkins | Crisler Center (10,919) Ann Arbor, MI |
| January 21, 2024 12:00 p.m., BTN | No. 14 | Rutgers | W 86–63 | 14–4 (5–2) | 18 – Harmon | 11 – Guerrier | 5 – Domask | State Farm Center (15,544) Champaign, IL |
| January 24, 2024 8:00 p.m., BTN | No. 10 | at Northwestern Rivalry | L 91–96 $^{OT}$ | 14–5 (5–3) | 22 – Tied | 13 – Hawkins | 6 – Domask | Welsh–Ryan Arena (7,039) Evanston, IL |
| January 27, 2024 2:00 p.m., FOX | No. 10 | Indiana Rivalry | W 70–62 | 15–5 (6–3) | 16 – Domask | 10 – Domask | 4 – Domask | State Farm Center (15,554) Champaign, IL |
| January 30, 2024 6:00 p.m., Peacock | No. 14 | at Ohio State | W 87–75 | 16–5 (7–3) | 23 – Tied | 10 – Rodgers | 3 – Shannon Jr. | Value City Arena (10,285) Columbus, OH |
| February 4, 2024 5:30 p.m., BTN | No. 14 | Nebraska | W 87–84 $^{OT}$ | 17–5 (8–3) | 20 – Hawkins | 14 – Rodgers | 5 – Tied | State Farm Center (15,544) Champaign, IL |
| February 10, 2024 1:00 p.m., CBS | No. 10 | at Michigan State | L 80–88 | 17–6 (8–4) | 28 – Shannon Jr. | 7 – Tied | 7 – Hawkins | Breslin Center (14,797) East Lansing, MI |
| February 13, 2024 6:00 p.m., Peacock | No. 14 | Michigan | W 97–68 | 18–6 (9–4) | 31 – Shannon Jr. | 7 – Guerrier | 5 – Hawkins | State Farm Center (15,544) Champaign, IL |
| February 17, 2024 4:30 p.m., FOX | No. 14 | at Maryland | W 85–80 | 19–6 (10–4) | 27 – Shannon Jr. | 12 – Domask | 3 – Domask | Xfinity Center (17,950) College Park, MD |
| February 21, 2024 5:30 p.m., BTN | No. 12 | at Penn State Return to Rec | L 89–90 | 19–7 (10–5) | 35 – Shannon Jr. | 11 – Shannon Jr. | 6 – Domask | Rec Hall (6,150) University Park, PA |
| February 24, 2024 1:15 p.m., BTN | No. 12 | Iowa Rivalry | W 95–85 | 20–7 (11–5) | 30 – Hawkins | 8 – Dainja | 5 – Hawkins | State Farm Center (15,544) Champaign, IL |
| February 28, 2024 8:00 p.m., BTN | No. 13 | Minnesota | W 105–97 | 21–7 (12–5) | 29 – Shannon Jr. | 7 – Domask | 5 – Domask | State Farm Center (15,544) Champaign, IL |
| March 2, 2024 12:00 p.m., BTN | No. 13 | at Wisconsin | W 91–83 | 22–7 (13–5) | 31 – Domask | 8 – Domask | 3 – Domask | Kohl Center (17,071) Madison, WI |
| March 5, 2024 6:00 p.m., Peacock | No. 12 | No. 3 Purdue | L 71–77 | 22–8 (13–6) | 20 – Domask | 9 – Hawkins | 4 – Domask | State Farm Center (15,544) Champaign, IL |
| March 10, 2024 6:00 p.m., FS1 | No. 12 | at Iowa Rivalry | W 73–61 | 23–8 (14–6) | 25 – Shannon Jr. | 13 – Guerrier | 3 – Tied | Carver–Hawkeye Arena (14,998) Iowa City, IA |
| Big Ten Tournament |||||||||
| March 15, 2024 5:30 p.m., BTN | (2) No. 13 | vs. (10) Ohio State Quarterfinals | W 77–74 | 24–8 | 28 – Shannon Jr. | 10 – Rodgers | 4 – Domask | Target Center (12,675) Minneapolis, MN |
| March 16, 2024 2:30 p.m., CBS | (2) No. 13 | vs. (3) Nebraska Semifinals | W 98–87 | 25–8 | 40 – Shannon Jr. | 13 – Rodgers | 8 – Domask | Target Center (14,138) Minneapolis, MN |
| March 17, 2024 2:30 p.m., CBS | (2) No. 13 | vs. (5) Wisconsin Championship | W 93–87 | 26–8 | 34 – Shannon Jr. | 7 – Tied | 8 – Domask | Target Center (13,991) Minneapolis, MN |
| NCAA Tournament |||||||||
| March 21, 2024 2:10 p.m., TruTV | (3 E) No. 10 | vs. (14 E) Morehead State First Round | W 85–69 | 27–8 | 26 – Shannon Jr. | 11 – Domask | 10 – Domask | CHI Health Center (17,239) Omaha, NE |
| March 23, 2024 7:40 p.m., TNT | (3 E) No. 10 | vs. (11 E) Duquesne Second Round | W 89–63 | 28–8 | 30 – Shannon Jr. | 7 – Hawkins | 7 – Domask | CHI Health Center (17,387) Omaha, NE |
| March 28, 2024 9:14 p.m., TBS/TruTV | (3 E) No. 10 | vs. (2 E) No. 4 Iowa State Sweet Sixteen | W 72–69 | 29–8 | 29 – Shannon Jr. | 6 – Tied | 5 – Domask | TD Garden (19,144) Boston, MA |
| March 30, 2024 5:09 p.m., TBS/TruTV | (3 E) No. 10 | vs. (1 E) No. 1 UConn Elite Eight | L 52–77 | 29–9 | 17 – Domask | 6 – Goode | 3 – Shannon Jr. | TD Garden (19,181) Boston, MA |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. E=East. All times are in Central Time. |||||||||
Source:

## Rankings

Ranking movements Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking RV = Received votes :
| | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week |
| Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | Final |
| AP | 25 | 23 | RV | 24 | 20 | 16 | 13 | 11 | 9 | 10 | 14 | 10 | 14 | 10 | 14 | 12 | 13 | 12 | 13 | 10 | 6 |
| Coaches | RV | 23 | 22 | 24 | 18 | 16 | 11 | 9 | 8 | 10 | 14 | 11 | 14 | 12 | 14 | 12 | 16 | 12 | 14 | 10 | 7 |