Single digits!! Nine days until Illinois heads to Cincinnati for the first exhibition.
We’ve got a school record from last season, a little Luther Head, and a run of Lou Henson seasons worth remembering. There’s even a nine from this fall that has nothing to do with a box score. But we probably ought to start with what Keaton Wagler did at Mackey.
Keaton Wagler and nine threes at Mackey
On January 24, Wagler scored 46 points in Illinois’ 88–82 win at No. 4 Purdue. He made nine of his eleven three-point attempts, breaking the Illinois single-game record.
He missed twice from three all afternoon. That still looks ridiculous written out.
He scored the Illini’s first fourteen points and had twenty-four by halftime. Illinois still trailed 43–39 at the break, which tells you how much work was left even with its freshman having that kind of afternoon.
His ninth three came with 9:18 remaining and put Illinois ahead 63–61. He already had forty points. There was still nearly a quarter of the game left.
Purdue kept answering. The Illini eventually needed threes from Tomislav Ivisic, Jake Davis, and David Mirkovic down the stretch to pull ahead for good. Wagler had four assists to go with all that scoring.
That’s part of what makes this one so good to revisit. Forty-six could have become a ridiculous individual line in a frustrating loss. Instead, Illinois finished the job against the fourth-ranked team in the country.
Luther Head was handing out nine
On November 27, 2004, Head finished with 20 points and nine assists as No. 5 Illinois beat No. 24 Gonzaga 89–72 in Indianapolis.
Nine assists against one turnover. He also made four threes and came up with four steals, all in twenty-eight minutes.
Illinois led 58–27 at halftime. Fifty-eight to twenty-seven against a ranked team with Adam Morrison and Ronny Turiaf. That first half deserves another look whenever you have a little time to kill.
The Illini made ten threes before the break. Head finished the half with a layup at the buzzer, putting the last two points on a thirty-one-point lead.
We remember how well that backcourt could shoot, but Head’s passing belongs in the conversation, too. He had also handed out nine assists against Oakland three days earlier. Both games matched his career high at the time.
That gave Illinois another guard who could create a good shot for somebody else while being a serious problem to leave open himself. Pretty useful combination.
Lou Henson and nine straight twenty win seasons
Henson gives us a nine that took a little longer to put together.
From 1982–83 through 1990–91, Illinois won at least twenty games every season. Nine straight years.
The run included the 1984 Big Ten co-championship and the 1989 Final Four team. Illinois also finished in the top half of the Big Ten in each of those nine seasons.
Think about how many different players came through during that stretch. Freshmen arrived, seniors graduated, and Lou kept putting winning teams on the floor.
The Flyin’ Illini are an easy place to start when we talk about Henson. That whole run is worth appreciating, too. Nine seasons is long enough for a kid to grow up expecting Illinois to be good.
That’s a pretty damn nice thing for a coach to give a fan base.
[Daddy Underwood is entering this season with 7 straight 20-win seasons, and god-willing…and respectfully, he’s on pace to pass Lou’s nin seasons]
The students only needed nine minutes
Our last nine brings us back to this season.
Illinois announced on September 22 that all 3,000 student season tickets had been claimed within the first minute of sales. Processing those purchases took nine minutes, cutting last year’s eighteen-minute sellout record in half.
So the nine-minute headline actually undersells how quickly the students were ready.
That’s six consecutive seasons with a student-ticket sellout. The Orange Krush has already done its part to make sure the building will have some energy.
Now we just need the basketball to get here.
The first exhibition is Saturday, October 17, at Cincinnati. Tipoff is scheduled for 4 p.m. Central.
Nine days. Let’s go, Illini!!
What did I miss?