# 2002–03 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

The 2002–03 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in the 2002-03 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. This was head coach Bill Self's third (and final) season at Illinois.

## Season

The 2003 squad started three freshmen, a sophomore and one senior, and still finished with a 25-7 record and second-place finish in the Big Ten. Brian Cook earned Big Ten Player of the Year honors and the Illini won the Big Ten tournament championship for the first time.

## Schedule

Source
| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Non-Conference regular season ||||||
| 11/24/2002* no, no | | Lehigh | W 90–56 | 1–0 | Assembly Hall (11,758) Champaign, IL |
| 11/27/2002* no, no | | Arkansas–Pine Bluff | W 96–43 | 2–0 | Assembly Hall (11,733) Champaign, IL |
| 12/1/2002* no, no | | Western Illinois | W 85–56 | 3–0 | Assembly Hall (14,224) Champaign, IL |
| 12/7/2002* no, no | No. 25 | No. 12 North Carolina Big Ten-ACC Challenge | W 92–65 | 4–0 | Assembly Hall (16,500) Champaign, IL |
| 12/7/2002* no, no | No. 25 | vs. Arkansas | W 62–58 | 5–0 | Alltel Arena (9,756) North Little Rock, AR |
| 12/10/2002* no, no | No. 15 | Eastern Illinois | W 80–68 | 6–0 | Assembly Hall (13,828) Champaign, IL |
| 12/14/2002* no, no | No. 15 | vs. Temple | W 70–54 | 7–0 | United Center (13,361) Chicago, IL |
| 12/21/2002* no, no | No. 12 | vs. No. 11 Missouri Braggin' Rights | W 85–70 | 8–0 | Scottrade Center (22,153) St. Louis, MO |
| 12/28/2002* no, no | No. 7 | at Memphis | L 74–77 | 8–1 | The Pyramid (19,837) Memphis, TN |
| 12/28/2002* no, no | No. 11 | Coppin State | W 63–37 | 9–1 | Assembly Hall (13,923) Champaign, IL |
| 1/4/2002* no, no | No. 5 | Oakland | W 88–53 | 10–1 | Assembly Hall (14,837) Champaign, IL |
| Big Ten regular season ||||||
| 1/7/2003 no, no | No. 10 | at Minnesota | W 76–70 | 11–1 (1–0) | Williams Arena (13,548) Minneapolis, MN |
| 1/11/2003 no, no | No. 10 | Wisconsin | W 69–63 | 12–1 (2–0) | Assembly Hall (16,500) Champaign, IL |
| 1/15/2003 no, no | No. 8 | at Iowa Rivalry | L 61–68 | 12–2 (2–1) | Carver–Hawkeye Arena (15,232) Iowa City, IA |
| 1/18/2003 no, CBS | No. 8 | at No. 18 Indiana Rivalry | L 66–74 | 12–3 (2–2) | Assembly Hall (17,456) Bloomington, IN |
| 1/22/2003 no, no | No. 18 | Purdue | W 75–62 | 13–3 (3–2) | Assembly Hall (16,500) Champaign, IL |
| 1/25/2003 no, no | No. 18 | at Penn State | W 75–63 | 14–3 (4–2) | Bryce Jordan Center (9,601) University Park, PA |
| 1/29/2003 no, no | No. 13 | Michigan | W 67–60 | 15–3 (5–2) | Assembly Hall (16,500) Champaign, IL |
| 2/2/2003 no, CBS | No. 13 | at Michigan State | L 65–68 | 15–4 (5–3) | Breslin Student Events Center (14,759) East Lansing, MI |
| 2/9/2003 no, CBS | No. 16 | Ohio State | W 76–57 | 16–4 (6–3) | Assembly Hall (16,500) Champaign, IL |
| 2/15/2003 no, no | No. 14 | at Purdue | L 61–70 | 16–5 (6–4) | Mackey Arena (14,123) West Lafayette, IN |
| 2/18/2003 no, no | No. 20 | Michigan State | W 70–40 | 17–5 (7–4) | Assembly Hall (16,500) Champaign, IL |
| 2/22/2003 no, CBS | No. 20 | vs. Northwestern Rivalry | W 73–61 | 18–5 (8–4) | United Center (15,429) Chicago, IL |
| 2/25/2003 no, no | No. 18 | Indiana Rivalry | W 80–54 | 19–5 (9–4) | Assembly Hall (16,500) Champaign, IL |
| 3/1/2003 no, no | No. 18 | at Michigan | W 82–79 | 20–5 (10–4) | Crisler Arena (13,057) Ann Arbor, MI |
| 3/5/2003 no, no | No. 14 | at No. 24 Wisconsin | L 59–60 | 20–6 (10–5) | Kohl Center (17,142) Madison, WI |
| 3/9/2003 no, CBS | No. 14 | Minnesota | W 84–60 | 21–6 (11–5) | Assembly Hall (16,500) Champaign, IL |
| Big Ten tournament ||||||
| 3/14/2003 no, no | (2) No. 13 | vs. (10) Northwestern Quarterfinals / Rivalry | W 94–65 | 22–6 | United Center (18,895) Chicago, IL |
| 3/15/2003 no, CBS | (2) No. 13 | vs. (6) Indiana Semifinals | W 73–72 | 23–6 | United Center (20,248) Chicago, IL |
| 3/16/2003 no, CBS | (2) No. 13 | vs. (8) Ohio State Big Ten tournament Championship | W 72–59 | 24–6 | United Center (17,007) Chicago, IL |
| NCAA tournament ||||||
| 3/20/2003 12:10 pm, CBS | (4 W) No. 11 | vs. (13 W) Western Kentucky First Round | W 65–60 | 25–6 | RCA Dome (21,250) Indianapolis, IN |
| 3/22/2003 6:10 pm, CBS | (4 W) No. 11 | vs. (5 W) No. 22 Notre Dame Second Round | L 60–68 | 25–7 | RCA Dome (25,767) Indianapolis, IN |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time. ||||||

## Season Statistics

Final Individual 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 |
| Cook, Brian | 30 | 30 | 940 | 31.3 | 599 | 20.0 | 202 | 422 | .479 | 27 | 89 | .303 | 168 | 205 | .820 | 44 | 183 | 227 | 7.6 | 60 | 83 | 13 | 20 |
| Brown, Dee | 32 | 31 | 1090 | 34.1 | 384 | 12.0 | 142 | 327 | .434 | 51 | 155 | .329 | 49 | 72 | .681 | 35 | 84 | 119 | 3.7 | 159 | 62 | 0 | 57 |
| Powell, Roger | 30 | 19 | 558 | 18.6 | 261 | 8.7 | 104 | 176 | .591 | 20 | 49 | .408 | 33 | 57 | .579 | 40 | 61 | 101 | 3.4 | 12 | 24 | 12 | 9 |
| Harrington, Sean | 32 | 6 | 718 | 22.4 | 235 | 7.3 | 76 | 171 | .444 | 64 | 144 | .444 | 19 | 30 | .633 | 2 | 71 | 73 | 2.3 | 65 | 25 | 0 | 29 |
| Augustine, James | 32 | 29 | 697 | 21.8 | 225 | 7.0 | 94 | 162 | .580 | 5 | 14 | .357 | 32 | 45 | .711 | 64 | 122 | 186 | 5.8 | 25 | 45 | 27 | 20 |
| Williams, Deron | 32 | 30 | 868 | 27.1 | 202 | 6.3 | 75 | 176 | .426 | 28 | 79 | .354 | 24 | 45 | .533 | 15 | 80 | 95 | 3.0 | 145 | 59 | 5 | 46 |
| Head, Luther | 25 | 8 | 509 | 20.4 | 198 | 7.9 | 68 | 131 | .519 | 28 | 66 | .424 | 34 | 46 | .739 | 23 | 48 | 71 | 2.8 | 42 | 40 | 3 | 27 |
| Smith, Nick | 31 | 5 | 539 | 17.4 | 163 | 5.3 | 60 | 121 | .496 | 5 | 11 | .455 | 38 | 44 | .864 | 23 | 69 | 92 | 3.0 | 26 | 42 | 38 | 11 |
| Wilson, Kyle | 18 | 0 | 118 | 6.6 | 46 | 2.6 | 14 | 37 | .378 | 4 | 16 | .250 | 14 | 18 | .778 | 13 | 16 | 29 | 1.6 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 4 |
| Ferguson, Blandon | 24 | 1 | 218 | 9.1 | 40 | 1.7 | 11 | 33 | .333 | 0 | 3 | .000 | 18 | 26 | .692 | 11 | 21 | 32 | 1.3 | 20 | 20 | 0 | 3 |
| Spears, Aaron | 6 | 0 | 55 | 9.2 | 19 | 3.2 | 8 | 12 | .667 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 3 | 7 | .429 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 1.5 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 1 |
| Howard, Jerrance | 14 | 1 | 52 | 3.7 | 9 | 0.6 | 4 | 16 | .250 | 1 | 6 | .167 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0.2 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Huge, Nick | 8 | 0 | 17 | 2.1 | 4 | 0.5 | 0 | 3 | .000 | 0 | 3 | .000 | 4 | 4 | 1.000 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0.1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Thomas, Clayton | 9 | 0 | 21 | 2.3 | 3 | 0.3 | 1 | 6 | .167 | 0 | 1 | .000 | 1 | 4 | .250 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 0.4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Team | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 42 | 49 | 91 | | | 3 | | |
| Total | 32 | | 6400 | | 2388 | 74.6 | 859 | 1793 | .479 | 233 | 636 | .366 | 437 | 603 | .725 | 317 | 816 | 1133 | 35.4 | 575 | 418 | 100 | 227 |
| Opponents | 32 | | 6400 | | 1970 | 61.6 | 657 | 1741 | .377 | 192 | 655 | .293 | 464 | 655 | .708 | 356 | 686 | 1042 | 32.6 | 353 | 469 | 84 | 182 |

## NCAA basketball tournament

* West regional
** Illinois 65, Western Kentucky 60
** Notre Dame 68, Illinois 60

## Awards and honors

* Brian Cook
** Big Ten tournament Most Outstanding Player
** Big Ten Player of the Year
** Chicago Tribune Silver Basketball award
** Team Most Valuable Player
** Fighting Illini All-Century team (2005)
** Sporting News 2nd team All-American
** Associated Press 3rd team All-American
** National Association of Basketball Coaches 3rd team All-American
** Basketball Times 3rd team All-American

## Team players drafted into the NBA

| Player | NBA Club | Round | Pick |
| Brian Cook | Los Angeles Lakers | 1 | 24 |