The 2024–25 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois during the 2024–25 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Illini were led by eighth-year head coach Brad Underwood. The Illini played their home games at the State Farm Center in Champaign, Illinois as members of the Big Ten Conference.
The Illini opened their season just outside of the preseason rankings and defeated the Eastern Illinois Panthers 112–67, led by a 31 point scoring performance from freshman Will Riley.
The Illinois Fighting Illini drew an average home attendance of 15,091, the 11th-highest of all college basketball teams.https://stats.ncaa.org/rankings/change_sport_year_div
Previous season The Fighting Illini finished the 2023–24 season 29–9, 14–6 in Big Ten play to finish in second place. They defeated Ohio State, Nebraska, and Wisconsin to win the Big Ten tournament championship. As a result, they received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament as the No. 3 seed in the East region. They beat Morehead State and Duquesne to advance to the Sweet Sixteen for the first time since 2005. There they defeated Iowa State to advance to the Elite Eight before being blown out by eventual tournament champion UConn.
Offseason After the previous season ended, Marcus Domask sought a medical hardship waiver from the NCAA to play in the 2024-25 season. After his waiver application was denied, he declared for the NBA draft.
After three years at Illinois, assistant coach Chester Frazier joined West Virginia's coaching staff. This resulted in Sencire Harris, who had previously pledged to stay with the team, to enter the transfer portal, with Amani Hansberry soon following, as both were primarily recruited by Frazier. Both players ultimately followed Frazier to West Virginia. Replacing Frazier on the coaching staff was Orlando Antigua, who had previously served as assistant coach at Illinois prior to a stint at Kentucky.
Following Will Riley's committing and reclassifying to 2024, Jeremiah Fears decommitted from the Illini, due to his desire to reclassify to 2024 as well.
On September 20, the Illini announced that assistant coach Tim Anderson was taking an indefinite leave of absence, with Kwa Jones temporarily promoted to fill his position.
Departures Name Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown Reason for departureQuincy GuerrierF6'8"220Montreal, QuebecGraduated; Undrafted, signed with the Toronto RaptorsTerrence Shannon Jr.G6'6"215Chicago, IllinoisGraduated; Drafted 27th overall in 2024 NBA Draft by the Minnesota TimberwolvesMarcus DomaskG/F6'6"215Waupun, WisconsinGraduated; Undrafted, signed with the Chicago BullsJustin HarmonG6'4"180Chicago, IllinoisGraduatedDain DainjaF/C6'9"255Brooklyn Park, MinnesotaTransferred to MemphisSencire HarrisG6'4"160North Canton, OhioTransferred to West VirginiaAmani HansberryF/C6'8"225Silver Spring, MarylandTransferred to West VirginiaLuke GoodeG/F6'7"210Fort Wayne, IndianaGraduated; Transferred to IndianaColeman HawkinsF/C6'10"225Sacramento, CaliforniaGraduated; Transferred to Kansas StateNiccolo MorettiG6'1"160Bologna, ItalyTransferred to Florida AtlanticMax WilliamsG6'2"192Chicago, IllinoisGraduated
Incoming transfers Name Number Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown Previous School Jake Davis 15 G/F 6'6"210SophomoreMcCordsville, IndianaMercer Tre White 22 G/F 6'7"205JuniorDallas, TexasLouisville Kylan Boswell 4 G 6'2"200JuniorUrbana, IllinoisArizonaCarey Booth0F6'10"203SophomoreEnglewood, ColoradoNotre DameBen Humrichous3F6'9"220Fifth YearTipton, IndianaEvansville Source:
2024 recruiting class
Roster
Note: Tomislav Ivišić lost one year of eligibility due to playing professionally in Europe, thus he is a sophomore for NCAA purposes.
Roster movement Kasparas Jakučionis missed two games due to a wrist injury. Tomislav Ivisic missed three games due to illness. Morez Johnson Jr. broke his wrist in the February 15 game against Michigan State. Johnson missed the rest of the regular season and returned in the Big Ten Tournament. Tre White missed two games due to illness.
Schedule and results
!colspan=12 style=""| Exhibition
!colspan=12 style=""| Regular season
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Source:
Rankings
References