Breaking down No. 4 Illinois vs. No. 13 Chattanooga
Share this post:
No. 4 Illinois vs. No. 13 Chattanooga
6:50 p.m. Friday, PPG Paints Arena
TV: TNT
Winner plays: Winner of No. 5 Houston/No. 12 UAB in the second round Sunday
Series history: Chattanooga leads 2-0
Illinois Fighting Illini (22-9, 15-5 Big Ten)
Coach: Brad Underwood
How they got here: Illinois earned an at-large bid after losing to Indiana in the Big Ten quarterfinals.
Last NCAA appearance: 2021, lost to Loyola in the second round
Leading scorer: Kofi Cockburn (21.1 ppg, 10.6 rpg)
Probable starting lineup
No., Player, Ht., Pos., Cl., PPG
1, Trent Frazier, 6-2, G, Sr., 12.1
11, Alfonso Plummer, 6-1, G., Gr., 14.8
20, Da’Monte Williams, 6-3, G, Sr., 4.1
21, Kofi Cockburn, 7-0, C, Jr., 21.1
33, Coleman Hawkins, 6-10, F, So., 5.8
Notable: Illinois was the top team in the Big Ten during the regular season but was upset by Indiana in the quarterfinals of the conference tournament. … Illinois 7-footer Kofi Cockburn is a Wooden Award finalist and first-team All-American who averages 21.1 points and 10.6 rebounds. He averaged 19.5 points in last year’s NCAA Tournament. … Trent Frazier is averaging 12.1 points and 4.1 assists. … Da’Monte Williams has played the most games in program history (157). … Illinois is one of nine Big Ten schools in the tournament, most of any conference. … The Illini have made 32 NCAA appearances (41-32), including five trips to the Final Four. … They haven’t reached the Sweet 16 since 2005 when they reached the national championship game. … Brad Underwood is making his sixth trip to the tournament, also qualifying with Stephen F. Austin and Oklahoma State.
Quotable: “Obviously we approach it differently, having the experience with last year. But I think our mindset is the same; we’re trying to get to where we want to get to as far as New Orleans. … We’re more hungry. We’re more focused, more locked in. We have the mindset of just trying to kill anything in front of us and making sure nothing stops us. We’ve just got to have good energy and just be focused.”
— Illinois’ Trent Frazier
Chattanooga Mocs (27-7, 14-4 Southern)
Coach: Lamont Paris
How they got here: Chattanooga earned an automatic bid after winning the Southern Conference Tournament title.
Last NCAA appearance: 2016
Leading scorer: Malachi Smith (20.1 ppg, 6.7 rpg, 3.1 apg)
Probable starting lineup
No., Player, Ht., Pos., Cl., PPG
1, KC Hankton, 6-7, G, Jr., 4.5
3, David Jean-Baptiste, 6-1, G, Gr., 14.6
5, Darius Banks, 6-6, F, Sr., 8.4
13, Malachi Smith, 6-4, G, So., 20.1
22, Silvio De Sousa, 6-9, F, Gr., 11.1
Notable: Southern Conference Player of the Year Malachi Smith is averaging 20.1 points, 6.7 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.7 steals for the Mocs. … David Jean-Baptiste is averaging 10.2 points over the last 10 games for Chattanooga. He shoots 85.7% from the free-throw line. … Silvio De Sousa (6-9, 250) adds 11 ppg and 7 rpg. He scored 17 points and had 14 rebounds in the Southern title game. … Lamont Paris was named the Southern Conference Coach of the Year. … The Mocs haven’t won an NCAA Tournament game since 1997. … Chattanooga won the most recent meeting between the teams, 81-77, in 2015. … The Mocs, who won a school record 12 road games this year, claimed their 12th Southern Conference title. … The official school name is the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
Quotable: “It’s a lot of different emotions. Just being here, March Madness again, and from what I know, my freshman year in college was the most fun I’ve had, and now I’m having the same opportunity to do the same thing. It’s just a great feeling and super excited to get this thing started.”
— Chattanooga’s Silvio De Sousa on playing in the NCAA Tournament