University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Head to Champaign to Face Fighting Illini
2/25/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Gophers Head to Champaign to Face Illinois
The Gophers have traveled to Champaign, Illinois 23 times since the 1977-78 season (not counting vacated years) and have only come away with a victory once, a 75-69 win during the aforementioned 1977-78 season.
Minnesota defeated Illinois 59-36 on Jan. 29 to end a 20-game winless streak.
The matchup is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. CT and can be seen on the Big Ten Network with Wayne Larrivee and former Michigan great Tim McCormick on the call.
About the Golden Gophers:
- The Gophers are led by junior guard Lawrence Westbrook, who is averaging a career-high 12.5 ppg. Westbrook has scored in double-figures in 20 of the 26 games he has played this season, including a career-high 29 points in the overtime victory at Wisconsin on Jan. 15. Minnesota is 16-4 this season when Westbrook reaches double-figures and 9-1 when he leads the team in scoring.
- Gopher sophomore Al Nolen leads the team with 128 assists and is currently 24 dimes short of 10th on Minnesota’s career all-time assists list. He comes into the Illinois game with 244 career assists (4.1 apg).
- Nolen has 28 career games with one turnover or less, and Minnesota is 23-5 in those games. Nolen is fourth in the Big Ten Conference with 4.7 apg and leads the conference, and is 18th in the nation, with a 2.51 assist/turnover ratio.
- Junior Damian Johnson leads the team in blocks (51, 2.1 bpg), is third on the team in rebounding average (4.1 rpg) and is second in steals (44, 1.8 spg) and minutes played (26.2 mpg).
- Freshman Devoe Joseph scored a career-high 23 points against Penn State on Feb. 14. He went 7-of-8 (.875) from behind the arc, tying the school record for trey’s in a game and breaking the school record for three-point percentage in a game. Joseph also led the Gophers in scoring at Michigan (2/19) with 14 points.
About the Illini:
- Illinois is coached by Bruce Weber (11th Season, Sixth at Illinois).
- The Fighting Illini are 22-6 this season overall and 10-5 in conference play.
- Illinois is coming off of a 70-68 victory over Ohio State in Columbus.
- Illinois is led by sophomores Demetri McCamey (11.9 ppg, 4.9 apg, 2.7 rpg), Mike Davis (11.0 ppg, 7.8 rpg) and Mike Tisdale (10.9 ppg, 4.0 rpg).
- Senior guard Chester Frazier leads the Big Ten Conference with 5.4 assists per game average.
Series History:
- Illinois leads the all-time series 58-104.
- Minnesota ended a 20-game Illinois win streak by winning 59-36 on Jan. 29 at Williams Arena.
- Minnesota’s last victory over Illinois in Champaign came during the 1977-78 season, 75-69 at Assembly Hall.
***The Gophers defeated the Illini 67-66 during the 1995-96 season in Champaign but the game has since been vacated.
- The Fighting Illini defeated Minnesota three times last season, including a 54-50 win in the semi-finals of the Big ten Tournament.
- Tubby Smith is 2-3 all-time against Illinois.
- Tubby Smith is 33-26 all-time against teams that belong to the Big Ten Conference.
- The Gophers have a 675-724 all-time record against teams that belong or have belonged to the Big Ten Conference.
Twenty for Tubby
With the win over Northwestern on Feb. 22, Tubby Smith secured his 16th straight 20-win season, the longest active streak in the nation and the third-longest streak in NCAA history. Smith’s streak began in 1994 and has stretched across four institutions (Tulsa, Georgia, Kentucky, Minnesota). Smith has never had a losing season and his teams have reached the postseason every year since 1994.
Smith has led the Gophers to back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time in school history, not counting vacated seasons (Clem Haskins won 20 or more games for six straight seasons from 1992-1998).
Abu-Shamala Wins Academic Award
Senior co-captain Jamal Abu-Shamala was named the Outstanding Student-Athlete at the 20th Annual Scholar-Athlete Awards ceremony on Feb. 16. The award is presented to one male and one female student-athlete who are accomplished in the four major areas emphasized by the NCAA Life Skills Program: Academics, Athletics, Leadership, and Volunteerism.
Trent Tucker Receives Honor
The jersey of former Minnesota men’s basketball standout Trent Tucker joined four other former Gophers in the rafters of Williams Arena during a ceremony of retirement at halftime of the Minnesota-Indiana game on Feb. 10.
The Flint, Mich. native played four seasons at the U’ for head coach Jim Dutcher (1978-82). During his time in Gold Country, Tucker totaled 1,445 career points at Minnesota (8th all-time), posted 164 career steals (3rd all-time), 631 field goals made (6th all-time) and a .772 (183-237) free-throw percentage (7th all-time).
The University of Minnesota Athletics Department jersey retirement policy changed in 2004 so that only the jersey now is retired and not the number of the former student-athlete. This change was made to preserve a broad range of numbers that could be worn by current student-athletes on a team. It is now common practice at many institutions to retire the jersey and not the number. For those players whose respective number and jersey were retired prior to the policy change above, the Athletics Department will continue to honor them in both ways.
Whitey Skoog Receives Honor
The jersey of former Minnesota men’s basketball standout Whitey Skoog joined five other former Gophers in the rafters of Williams Arena during a ceremony of retirement at halftime of the Minnesota-Northwestern game on Feb. 22.
Skoog played guard for head coach O.B. “Ozzie” Cowles during the 1948-51 seasons. Known best as one of the foremost pioneers of the jump shot, Skoog was a two-time All-American and three-time All-Big Ten selection for the Gophers. Following his Golden Gopher career, he was the 10th pick of the 1951 NBA Draft and played six seasons for his hometown Minneapolis Lakers, where he was a part of three world championship teams.
