November 22, 2001

Illinois takes down Northwestern 34-28 to finish with their best regular-season record (10-1, 7-1 Big Ten) since the 1983 Rose Bowl team.

For the first time in school history, the Fighting Illini will play in the NCAA Men’s National Championship Game after defeating Louisville 72-57 in a close game that Illinois took control of down the stretch.

Deron Williams finds Luther Head for three and Illinois has their biggest lead of the game over Louisville 59-49 with seven minutes left to see who will play in the 2005 national championship game.

Roger Powell Jr has scored 12 of the last 14 Fighting Illini points to give Illinois a 45-42 lead over Louisville with 13-minutes to play in the 2005 Final Four.

Roger Powell Jr put back dunk on his own missed three pointer vs Louisville in the 2005 Final Four matchup.

Clark Kellogg breaks down the first half of Louisville vs Illinois in the 2005 Final Four.

CBS broadcast graphic titled “The Big Three” from the 2005 NCAA Final Four in St. Louis. Features headshots of three Illinois Fighting Illini players — Luther Head, Deron Williams, and Dee Brown — with the stat line that the trio accounted for 54.0% of team scoring, 82.5% of three-point field goals, and 80.8% of assists.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​I

Fighting Illini Dee Brown, Deron Williams, and Luther Head.

Fighting Illini Deron Williams and Roger Powell Jr

Pregame coverage of Louisville vs Illinois in the 2005 final four.

TV broadcast graphic titled “Road to Final Four” featuring the Illinois Fighting Illini logo. Dee Brown in an Illinois #11 white uniform raises both arms in celebration. The graphic lists Illinois’s tournament wins: ∙ (16) Fairleigh Dickinson — 67-55 ∙ (9) Nevada — 71-59 ∙ (12) UW-Milwaukee — 77-63 ∙ (3) Arizona — 90-89 (OT) The Final Four logo is visible in the bottom-left corner.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Time to make more memories this weekend.

Former Illini Kendall Gill on Bruce Pearl:

“Extreme dislike”

“Some guys are just slimeballs in life, that’s just what they are”

“He caused a lot of damage”

“I’d prefer if he would just go away”

Ayo Dosunmu on the Illinois - Iowa rivalry following the #23 Fighting Illini's 78-76 win over #18 Iowa on March 8, 2020.

lowa Hawkeyes guard Connor McCaffery (30) and Illinois Fighting Illini guard Da'Monte Williams (20) confront each other, afterwards receiving each a technical foul, during the first half at State Farm Center. Patrick Gorski, Patrick Gorski-USA TODAY Sports

Underwood: “But in the moment he calls it, maybe it’s personal. I don’t know. But for that play to be called like that when the kid has a full head of steam going 100 miles an hour, and we all talk about safety and well-being of student-athletes? C’mon. And to kill momentum like that? Horrible.”

In Illinois’ last March madness meeting with Houston, freshman RJ Melendez raced the floor for a breakaway dunk, cutting the deficit to four with 8:40 left resulting in one of the most egregious technical foul calls in NCAA tournament history.

Ayo Dosunmu with his Big Ten Tournament trophy. College Basketball. Illini. Wolves. NBA

Five Years ago today.

Illinois wins the Big Ten Tournament with Ayo Dosunmu winning most outstanding player.

Devon Witherspoon plays football today

Devon Witherspoon plays football today.

Devon Witherspoon plays football today

“They’ve Done It Tess!”

Thirteen years ago today, Tyler Griffey’s buzzer-beating layup lifted Illinois past #1 Indiana, 74-72. A moment forever etched in Fighting Illini basketball history.

Illini Career Rushing Stats:
www.sports-reference.com/cfb/schools/...

Illinois Career Rushing Records:
fightingillini.com/sports/2016/...

Chase Brown finished his Illini career with

— 605 rushes
— 3,206 yards
— 5.3 yards per rush
— 18 touchdowns

Only running back in the history of the program with ten straight games of 100+ rushing yards

Only Robert Holcombe had more rushing yards as an Illini than Chase Brown (since 1956)

The last Memorial Stadium snow game was a 23-20 Fighting Illini win over Minnesota on November 6th, 1993.

Below is the game winning touchdown by Ty Douthard.

Malcolm Hill passes Brian Cook on the Illinois all time scoring list

2022: Bret Bielema returns to Madison, Wisconsin and pummels the badgers to the point they fire head coach Paul Chryst and the team hasn’t been right since.

The opening of the recap article from Wisconsin that day via uwbadgers.com/news/2022/10...

Nathan Scheelhaase to AJ Jenkins x2

PICKED OFF BY STEVE HULL!