Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
| Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||||
| University | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign | ||||||||||
| First season | 1905–06; 121 years ago | ||||||||||
| Athletic director | Josh Whitman | ||||||||||
| Head coach | Brad Underwood 9th season, 189–108 (.636) | ||||||||||
| Location | Champaign, Illinois | ||||||||||
| Arena | State Farm Center (capacity: 15,544) | ||||||||||
| NCAA division | Division I | ||||||||||
| Conference | Big Ten | ||||||||||
| Nickname | Fighting Illini | ||||||||||
| Colors | Orange and blue | ||||||||||
| Student section | Orange Krush | ||||||||||
| All-time record | 1,951–1,083 (.643) | ||||||||||
| NCAA tournament record | 46–36 (.561) | ||||||||||
| NCAA Division I tournament runner-up | |||||||||||
| 2005 | |||||||||||
| |||||||||||
| Pre-tournament Helms national champions | |||||||||||
| 1914–15 | |||||||||||
| Conference tournament champions | |||||||||||
| Big Ten: 2003, 2005, 2021, 2024 | |||||||||||
| Conference regular-season champions | |||||||||||
| Big Ten: 1915, 1917, 1924, 1935, 1937, 1942, 1943, 1949, 1951, 1952, 1963, 1984, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2022 | |||||||||||
| Uniforms | |||||||||||
| |||||||||||
The Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team is an NCAA Division I college basketball team competing in the Big Ten Conference, representing the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The Illini play their home games at the State Farm Center, located on the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign's campus in Champaign. The team is currently coached by Brad Underwood, who was hired on March 18, 2017.
Through the end of the 2024–25 season, Illinois ranks 10th all-time in AP poll appearances, 14th all-time in winning percentage, and 15th all-time in wins among all NCAA Division I men's college basketball programs. Illinois has appeared in the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament 35 times, and has competed in 5 Final Fours and 10 Elite Eights. In conference play, Illinois has won 18 Big Ten regular season championships and 4 Big Ten Tournament championships. Illinois has one retroactive national championship designation for the 1915 season by the Helms Athletic Foundation. Additionally, the 1943 team was retroactively listed as the top team of the season by the Premo-Porretta Power Poll. Illinois has finished ranked No. 1 in the final AP Poll once, in 2005.
Seventy-nine former Illini have been drafted into the National Basketball Association (NBA); two of these draft selections have been enshrined in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, and a total of six former Illini have been enshrined for various contributions to basketball. Notable contributions to the sport by former Illini include the creation and success of the Harlem Globetrotters; key contributions to the formation of the WNBA; significant executive impact in the NBA; and multiple Olympic gold medal victories. Illinois has had 11 different consensus first-team All-Americans, selected for a total of 15 times.