# 2000–01 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

The 2000–01 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign in the 2000–01 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. Led by first year head coach Bill Self, the Illini played their home games at Assembly Hall in Champaign, Illinois and were members of the Big Ten Conference. They finished the season with a record of 27–8, 13–3 in Big Ten play to win a share of the Big Ten regular season title with Michigan State. They lost in the semifinals of the Big Ten tournament to Indiana. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament as the No. 1 seed in the Midwest Region. They advanced to the Elite Eight before losing to Arizona.

## Regular season

In May 2000, Lon Kruger left Illinois to become head coach of the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks. Bill Self was named Illinois’ 15th head men’s basketball coach on June 9, 2000. Self came to Illinois from Tulsa where he had led the Golden Hurricane to consecutive NCAA tournament appearances, including a 32–5 record and Tournament run to the Elite Eight in 2000. Self ’s first season at Illinois, was memorable. The Illini were ranked in the Top 10 the entire season and tied for the Big Ten Championship with Michigan State. The Illini defeated Purdue in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten tournament, but fell to Indiana in the semifinals.
The Illini received an at-large as a No. 1 seed in the Midwest Region of the NCAA Tournament. Easy wins over Northwestern State and Charlotte led to a trip to the Sweet Sixteen. The Illini defeated Kansas in the Sweet Sixteen to advance to the Elite Eight. However, the Illini run ended in the Elite Eight to eventual national runner-up Arizona, the third meeting between the two schools on the season. Sophomore Frank Williams became the first Illini player to earn Big Ten Player of the Year honors since 1967 and was named to several postseason All-America squads. Junior Cory Bradford set an NCAA record by making a three-point field goal in 88 consecutive games.

### Roster
## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Non-conference regular season ||||||
| 11/17/2000* | No. 8 | Maine | W 86–57 | 1–0 | Assembly Hall (13,044) Champaign, IL |
| 11/20/2000* | No. 8 | vs. UNLV Maui Invitational Tournament | W 74–69 | 2–0 | Lahaina Civic Center (2,500) Lahaina, HI |
| 11/21/2000* | No. 8 | vs. No. 6 Maryland Maui Invitational Tournament | W 90–80 | 3–0 | Lahaina Civic Center (2,500) Lahaina, HI |
| 11/22/2000* | No. 8 | vs. No. 1 Arizona Maui Invitational Tournament Championship | L 76–79 | 3–1 | Lahaina Civic Center (2,500) Lahaina, HI |
| 11/26/2000* | No. 8 | Texas Southern | W 86–67 | 4–1 | Assembly Hall (12,970) Champaign, IL |
| 11/28/2000* | No. 9 | vs. No. 1 Duke Big Ten-ACC Challenge | L 77–78 | 4–2 | Greensboro Coliseum (17,966) Greensboro, NC |
| 12/2/2000* | No. 9 | at Kansas State | W 76–56 | 5–2 | Bramlage Coliseum (6,415) Manhattan, KS |
| 12/6/2000* | No. 9 | Wisconsin-Milwaukee | W 85–44 | 6–2 | Assembly Hall (12,312) Champaign, IL |
| 12/9/2000* 2:00, CBS | No. 9 | No. 7 Seton Hall | W 87–79 | 7–2 | Assembly Hall (16,683) Champaign, IL |
| 12/16/2000* | No. 5 | vs. No. 7 Arizona | W 81–73 | 8–2 | United Center (21,885) Chicago, IL |
| 12/21/2000* | No. 5 | vs. Missouri Braggin' Rights | W 86–81 $^{OT}$ | 9–2 | Scottrade Center (22,089) St. Louis, MO |
| 12/23/2000* | No. 5 | at Texas | L 64–72 | 9–3 | Frank Erwin Center (11,916) Austin, TX |
| 12/29/2000* | No. 9 | vs. Illinois-Chicago | W 77–64 | 10–3 | Rosemont Horizon (9,152) Rosemont, IL |
| Big Ten regular season ||||||
| 1/3/2001 | No. 9 | Minnesota | W 80–64 | 11–3 (1–0) | Assembly Hall (13,840) Champaign, IL |
| 1/6/2001 | No. 9 | Ohio State | W 83–68 | 12–3 (2–0) | Assembly Hall (16,683) Champaign, IL |
| 1/11/2001 | No. 7 | at Iowa Rivalry | L 62–78 | 12–4 (2–1) | Carver–Hawkeye Arena (15,500) Iowa City, IA |
| 1/13/2001 | No. 7 | Michigan | W 80–51 | 13–4 (3–1) | Assembly Hall (16,683) Champaign, IL |
| 1/17/2001 | No. 11 | at Northwestern Rivalry | W 63–49 | 14–4 (4–1) | Welsh-Ryan Arena (8,117) Evanston, IL |
| 1/20/2001 | No. 11 | Penn State | W 92–60 | 15–4 (5–1) | Assembly Hall (16,683) Champaign, IL |
| 1/25/2001 | No. 7 | at Michigan | W 55–51 | 16–4 (6–1) | Crisler Arena (11,092) Ann Arbor, MI |
| 1/31/2001 | No. 6 | at Penn State | L 95–98 $^{OT}$ | 16–5 (6–2) | Bryce Jordan Center (8,953) University Park, PA |
| 2/3/2001 | No. 6 | Northwestern Rivalry | W 84–59 | 17–5 (7–2) | Assembly Hall (16,683) Champaign, IL |
| 2/6/2001 | No. 7 | No. 4 Michigan State | W 77–66 | 18–5 (8–2) | Assembly Hall (16,683) Champaign, IL |
| 2/10/2001 | No. 7 | at Purdue | W 82–61 | 19–5 (9–2) | Mackey Arena (14,123) West Lafayette, IN |
| 2/13/2001 | No. 4 | No. 19 Wisconsin | W 68–67 | 20–5 (10–2) | Assembly Hall (16,683) Champaign, IL |
| 2/17/2001 | No. 4 | at Indiana Rivalry | W 67–61 | 21–5 (11–2) | Assembly Hall (17,460) Bloomington, IN |
| 2/22/2001 | No. 3 | at Ohio State | L 61–63 | 21–6 (11–3) | Value City Arena (19,200) Columbus, OH |
| 2/24/2001 | No. 3 | Iowa Rivalry | W 89–63 | 22–6 (12–3) | Assembly Hall (16,683) Champaign, IL |
| 3/4/2001 4:00, CBS | No. 5 | at Minnesota | W 67–59 | 23–6 (13–3) | Williams Arena (14,329) Minneapolis, MN |
| Big Ten tournament ||||||
| 3/9/2001 | (1) No. 4 | vs. (8) Purdue quarterfinals | W 83–66 | 24–6 | United Center (22,679) Chicago, IL |
| 3/10/2001 | (1) No. 4 | vs. (4) Indiana semifinals | L 56–58 | 24–7 | United Center (23,418) Chicago, IL |
| NCAA tournament ||||||
| 3/16/2001* CBS | (1 MW) No. 4 | vs. (16 MW) Northwestern State First Round | W 96–54 | 25–7 | University of Dayton Arena (13,007) Dayton, OH |
| 3/18/2001* CBS | (1 MW) No. 4 | vs. (9 MW) Charlotte Second Round | W 79–61 | 26–7 | University of Dayton Arena (13,159) Dayton, OH |
| 3/23/2001* CBS | (1 MW) No. 4 | vs. (4 MW) No. 12 Kansas Sweet Sixteen | W 80–64 | 27–7 | Alamodome (28,962) San Antonio, TX |
| 3/25/2001* CBS | (1 MW) No. 4 | vs. (2 MW) No. 5 Arizona Elite Eight | L 81–87 | 27–8 | Alamodome (30,212) San Antonio, TX |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time. ||||||
Source

## Player stats

| Player | Games Played | 2 pt. Field Goals | 3 pt. Field Goals | Free Throws | Rebounds | Assists | Blocks | Steals | Points |
| Frank Williams | 34 | 129 | 39 | 133 | 126 | 148 | 9 | 67 | 508 |
| Brian Cook | 35 | 119 | 28 | 69 | 212 | 43 | 45 | 21 | 391 |
| Marcus Griffin | 34 | 154 | 0 | 77 | 203 | 34 | 44 | 29 | 385 |
| Cory Bradford | 35 | 41 | 72 | 47 | 89 | 63 | 3 | 23 | 345 |
| Sergio McClain | 35 | 69 | 18 | 69 | 194 | 102 | 7 | 46 | 261 |
| Robert Archibald | 34 | 77 | 0 | 90 | 154 | 22 | 26 | 12 | 244 |
| Sean Harrington | 35 | 10 | 51 | 27 | 49 | 41 | 1 | 27 | 200 |
| Lucas Johnson | 35 | 30 | 18 | 62 | 116 | 59 | 5 | 20 | 176 |
| Damir Krupalija | 27 | 36 | 7 | 36 | 105 | 18 | 4 | 16 | 129 |
| Brett Melton | 28 | 7 | 8 | 5 | 23 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 43 |
| Joe Cross | 17 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 12 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 18 |
| Nate Mast | 20 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 12 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 15 |
| Jerrance Howard | 25 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 10 |

## Awards and honors

* Frank Williams
** Big Ten Player of the Year
** Chicago Tribune Silver Basketball award
** Wooden 1st team All-American
** National Association of Basketball Coaches 2nd team All-American
** Associated Press 3rd team All-American
** Team Most Valuable Player
** Fighting Illini All-Century team (2005)
* Brian Cook
** Fighting Illini All-Century team (2005)
* Cory Bradford
** Associated Press Honorable Mention All-American

## Rankings

Ranking movement Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking. (RV) Received votes but unranked. (NR) Not ranked. :
| Poll | Pre | Wk 2 | Wk 3 | Wk 4 | Wk 5 | Wk 6 | Wk 7 | Wk 8 | Wk 9 | Wk 10 | Wk 11 | Wk 12 | Wk 13 | Wk 14 | Wk 15 | Wk 16 | Wk 17 | Final |
| AP | 8 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 5 | 9 | 9 | 7 | 11 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 4 |