# 2003–04 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

The 2003–04 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented 98th season University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in the 2003-04 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. This was head coach Bruce Weber's first season at Illinois.

## Season

Bill Self left the Fighting Illini in March, 2003 to take over as coach at Kansas, paving the way for Bruce Weber to be named the 16th Illinois head coach on April 30, 2003. Weber arrived in Champaign after directing the Southern Illinois Salukis for five seasons. Weber’s inaugural season directing the Orange and Blue was a success, as he became just the third coach in Big Ten history to win an outright conference championship in his first season. The Illini had to win its final 10 games of the regular season to clinch sole possession of the title, with six of those wins coming away from the Assembly Hall. Weber also guided Illinois to its first NCAA Tournament victory over a higher seeded team, when the No. 5 Illini defeated No. 4 Cincinnati in the second round of the tournament. The Illini finished the year with a record of 26-7 and advanced to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen.

## Schedule

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Exhibition ||||||
| Sun, Nov 9* 4:00 pm | No. 12 | Illinois All-Stars | W 91–66 | | Assembly Hall (14,325) Champaign, IL |
| Mon, Nov 17* 7:00 pm | No. 12 | Spot-Lite Jammers | W 83–63 | | Assembly Hall (14,151) Champaign, IL |
| Non-Conference regular season ||||||
| Sat, Nov 22* 7:00 pm | No. 12 | Western Illinois | W 94–66 | 1–0 | Assembly Hall (15,591) Champaign, IL |
| Wed, Nov 26* 7:00 pm | No. 12 | Mercer | W 93–61 | 2–0 | Assembly Hall (13,742) Champaign, IL |
| Sat, Nov 29* 4:00 pm, ESPN2 | No. 12 | at Temple | W 75–60 | 3–0 | The Palestra (6,194) Philadelphia, PA |
| Tue, Dec 2* 9:00 pm, ESPN | No. 11 | vs. No. 10 North Carolina | L 81–88 | 3–1 | Greensboro Coliseum (16,211) Greensboro, NC |
| Sat, Dec 6* 11:00 am, ESPN Plus | No. 11 | vs. Arkansas | W 84–61 | 4–1 | United Center (15,398) Chicago, IL |
| Tue, Dec 9* 6:00 pm, ESPN | No. 14 | vs. Providence Jimmy V Classic | L 51–70 | 4–2 | Madison Square Garden (7,665) New York, NY |
| Thu, Dec 11* 7:00 pm | No. 14 | Maryland-Eastern Shore | W 85–43 | 5–2 | Assembly Hall (14,751) Champaign, IL |
| Sat, Dec 13* 8:00 pm, ESPN2 | No. 14 | Memphis | W 74–64 | 6–2 | Assembly Hall (16,618) Champaign, IL |
| Tue, Dec 23* 8:00 pm, ESPN2 | No. 21 | vs. No. 11 Missouri Braggin' Rights | W 71–70 | 7–2 | Savvis Center (22,153) St. Louis, MO |
| Tue, Dec 30* 7:00 pm, WBBM | No. 20 | vs. Illinois-Chicago | W 75–60 | 8–2 | United Center (15,415) Chicago, IL |
| Sat, Jan 3* 1:00 pm, ESPN Plus | No. 20 | Illinois State | W 80–73 | 9–2 | Assembly Hall (16,618) Champaign, IL |
| Big Ten regular season ||||||
| Wed, Jan 7 8:00 pm, ESPN Plus | No. 19 | Ohio State | W 85–63 | 10–2 (1–0) | Assembly Hall (15,659) Champaign, IL |
| Sat, Jan 10 3:30 pm, ESPN Plus | No. 19 | No. 24 Purdue | L 54–58 | 10–3 (1–1) | Assembly Hall (16,618) Champaign, IL |
| Wed, Jan 14 7:00 pm, ESPN Plus | No. 25 | at Northwestern Rivalry | L 60–70 | 10–4 (1–2) | Welsh-Ryan Arena (8,117) Evanston, IL |
| Sat, Jan 17 11:00 am, ESPN | No. 25 | Iowa Rivalry | W 88–82 | 11–4 (2–2) | Assembly Hall (16,618) Champaign, IL |
| Wed, Jan 21 8:00 pm, ESPN Plus | | Penn State | W 80–37 | 12–4 (3–2) | Assembly Hall (16,248) Champaign, IL |
| Sat, Jan 24 1:35 pm, ESPN Plus | | at No. 21 Wisconsin | L 56–76 | 12–5 (3–3) | Kohl Center (17,142) Madison, WI |
| Sat, Jan 31 12:39 pm, CBS | | Michigan | W 67–52 | 13–5 (4–3) | Assembly Hall (16,618) Champaign, IL |
| Tue, Feb 3 7:00 pm, ESPN | | at Indiana Rivalry | W 51–49 | 14–5 (5–3) | Assembly Hall (17,306) Bloomington, IN |
| Sun, Feb 8 12:00 pm, CBS | | at Minnesota | W 79–69 | 15–5 (6–3) | Williams Arena (13,404) Minneapolis, MN |
| Tue, Feb 10 8:00 pm, ESPN | | Michigan State | W 75–51 | 16–5 (7–3) | Assembly Hall (16,618) Champaign, IL |
| Wed, Feb 18 7:00 pm, ESPN Plus | | No. 12 Wisconsin | W 65–57 | 17–5 (8–3) | Assembly Hall (16,618) Champaign, IL |
| Sat, Feb 21 4:00 pm, ESPN | | at Penn State | W 66–58 | 18–5 (9–3) | Bryce Jordan Center (10,008) University Park, PA |
| Wed, Feb 25 6:05 pm, ESPN Plus | No. 23 | at Iowa Rivalry | W 78–59 | 19–5 (10–3) | Carver–Hawkeye Arena (14,493) Iowa City, IA |
| Sat, Feb 28 1:30 pm, ESPN Plus | No. 23 | Northwestern Rivalry | W 66–56 | 20–5 (11–3) | Assembly Hall (16,618) Champaign, IL |
| Wed, Mar 3 7:00 pm, ESPN Plus | No. 18 | at Purdue | W 81–79 $^{OT}$ | 21–5 (12–3) | Mackey Arena (13,740) West Lafayette, IN |
| Sun, Mar 7 4:05 pm, CBS | No. 18 | at Ohio State | W 64–63 | 22–5 (13–3) | Value City Arena (16,445) Columbus, OH |
| Big Ten tournament ||||||
| Fri, Mar 12 12:00 pm, ESPN | (1) No. 12 | vs. (8) Indiana Quarterfinals | W 71–59 | 23–5 | Conseco Fieldhouse (N/A) Indianapolis, IN |
| Sat, Mar 13 12:40 pm, CBS | (1) No. 12 | vs. (5) Michigan Semifinals | W 74–60 | 24–5 | Conseco Fieldhouse (N/A) Indianapolis, IN |
| Sun, Mar 14 2:40 pm, CBS | (1) No. 12 | vs. (2) No. 10 Wisconsin Championship | L 53–70 | 24–6 | Conseco Fieldhouse (14,617) Indianapolis, IN |
| NCAA tournament ||||||
| Fri, Mar 19* 11:25 am, CBS | (5 A) No. 13 | vs. (12 A) Murray State First round | W 72–53 | 25–6 | Nationwide Arena (19,588) Columbus, OH |
| Sun, Mar 21* 1:30 pm, CBS | (5 A) No. 13 | vs. (4 A) No. 11 Cincinnati Second round | W 92–68 | 26–6 | Nationwide Arena (19,588) Columbus, OH |
| Fri, Mar 26* 10:16 pm, CBS | (5 A) No. 13 | vs. (1 A) No. 6 Duke Sweet Sixteen | L 62–72 | 26–7 | Georgia Dome (24,533) Atlanta, GA |
| *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 | 1153 | 34.9 | 440 | 13.3 | 160 | 389 | .411 | 71 | 205 | .346 | 49 | 73 | .671 | 34 | 89 | 123 | 3.7 | 147 | 65 | 3 | 51 |
| Williams, Deron | 30 | 29 | 1017 | 33.9 | 420 | 14.0 | 147 | 360 | .408 | 67 | 170 | .394 | 59 | 75 | .787 | 14 | 83 | 97 | 3.2 | 185 | 75 | 9 | 31 |
| Powell, Roger | 32 | 31 | 856 | 26.8 | 371 | 11.6 | 150 | 252 | .595 | 4 | 12 | .333 | 67 | 105 | .638 | 75 | 85 | 160 | 5.0 | 22 | 40 | 14 | 21 |
| Head, Luther | 29 | 24 | 863 | 29.8 | 319 | 11.0 | 107 | 239 | .448 | 49 | 143 | .343 | 56 | 72 | .778 | 25 | 85 | 110 | 3.8 | 75 | 45 | 6 | 30 |
| Augustine, James | 33 | 33 | 904 | 27.4 | 318 | 9.6 | 125 | 197 | .635 | 0 | 2 | .000 | 68 | 106 | .642 | 93 | 149 | 242 | 7.3 | 21 | 41 | 42 | 38 |
| Smith, Nick | 33 | 6 | 552 | 16.7 | 223 | 6.8 | 81 | 178 | .455 | 8 | 26 | .308 | 53 | 66 | .803 | 38 | 69 | 107 | 3.2 | 38 | 49 | 24 | 8 |
| McBride, Rich | 29 | 0 | 411 | 14.2 | 92 | 3.2 | 30 | 99 | .303 | 24 | 74 | .324 | 8 | 10 | .800 | 16 | 20 | 36 | 1.2 | 31 | 13 | 0 | 14 |
| Randle, Brian | 32 | 9 | 354 | 11.1 | 86 | 2.7 | 35 | 62 | .565 | 3 | 12 | .250 | 13 | 28 | .464 | 24 | 49 | 73 | 2.3 | 16 | 26 | 11 | 15 |
| Ingram, Jack | 33 | 0 | 293 | 8.9 | 73 | 2.2 | 32 | 75 | .427 | 1 | 7 | .143 | 8 | 12 | .667 | 31 | 42 | 73 | 2.2 | 14 | 11 | 9 | 7 |
| Spears, Aaron | 20 | 0 | 97 | 4.9 | 21 | 1.1 | 9 | 19 | .474 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 3 | 8 | .375 | 2 | 9 | 11 | 0.6 | 2 | 10 | 2 | 3 |
| Carter, Warren | 17 | 0 | 63 | 3.7 | 20 | 1.2 | 6 | 15 | .400 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 8 | 10 | .800 | 1 | 9 | 10 | 0.6 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 1 |
| Howard, Jerrance | 18 | 0 | 78 | 4.3 | 19 | 1.1 | 5 | 14 | .357 | 4 | 11 | .364 | 5 | 6 | .833 | 1 | 7 | 8 | 0.4 | 9 | 9 | 1 | 5 |
| Nkemdi, Fred | 6 | 0 | 9 | 1.5 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Team | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 39 | 58 | 97 | | | 13 | | |
| Total | 33 | | 6650 | | 2402 | 72.8 | 887 | 1899 | .467 | 231 | 662 | .349 | 397 | 571 | .695 | 393 | 757 | 1150 | 34.8 | 565 | 401 | 122 | 224 |
| Opponents | 33 | | 6650 | | 2077 | 62.9 | 733 | 1750 | .419 | 183 | 540 | .339 | 428 | 627 | .683 | 372 | 692 | 1064 | 32.2 | 405 | 474 | 112 | 197 |

## Awards and honors

* Dee Brown
** Associated Press Honorable Mention All-American
* Deron Williams
** Team Most Valuable Player

## Team players drafted into the NBA

| Player | NBA Club | Round | Pick |