Ten days until Illinois heads to Cincinnati. Tomorrow we get to single digits, but there’s a No. 10 worth spending some time with first.
Andres Feliz gives us the jersey and the rebounds. Coleman Hawkins supplies another pair of tens, and Brad Underwood is about to start his tenth season in Champaign. That makes today a good excuse to revisit a couple of the guys who helped get us here.
Andres Feliz and ten rebounds when Illinois needed them
Feliz wore No. 10, and his first Illinois double-double came in a win-or-go-home game in the Big Ten Tournament.
On March 13, 2019, he finished with 11 points, 10 rebounds, and six assists in a 74–69 overtime win over Northwestern in the Big Ten Tournament. He did it in 26 minutes off the bench.
Giorgi Bezhanishvili scored 26 that night, but he fouled out with 17 seconds left in regulation. Illinois had to find a way through overtime without the guy who had made twelve of his fifteen shots.
Trent Frazier and Ayo Dosunmu hit consecutive threes during an eight-point Illinois run in overtime. The Illini made all four of their field-goal attempts in the extra period and got to play another day.
Feliz led Illinois in rebounds and assists. On a night when Giorgi and Trent combined for 47 points, the guard coming off the bench was making sure there was more to the win than those two scoring lines.
Ten boards and six assists from No. 10. That’s a pretty damn useful way to spend twenty-six minutes.
Coleman Hawkins had ten of each
We already spent some time with an Ayo triple-double in the twelve-day post. Coleman gets his turn today, and the passing is a good place to start.
On November 29, 2022, Hawkins had 15 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists as No. 16 Illinois beat Syracuse 73–44 at State Farm Center. It was the fifth triple-double in program history, and he became the fourth Illini to record one.
Illinois put Coleman in the middle of the Syracuse zone and let him make decisions. He finished with ten assists against two turnovers. The team had 21 assists on 24 made baskets.
The fun part of that box score is how much room Illinois still had to shoot better. The Illini made 35.8 percent of their shots and went 11-for-39 from three. They won by twenty-nine anyway.
Hawkins went 7-for-11 himself. While some of those outside shots weren’t falling, he kept finding teammates and putting together one of the most complete nights of his Illinois career.
The win was also Underwood’s 100th at Illinois, which gets us to our next ten.
Brad Underwood and year ten
Underwood’s first Illinois season was 2017–18. The 2026–27 season will be his tenth.
Going back to that Northwestern game makes the distance easier to appreciate. Illinois finished that season with twelve wins. Now we’re counting down to the first exhibition after a Final Four trip.
Along the way came Big Ten Tournament titles in 2021 and 2024, a share of the 2022 regular-season championship, and six consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances. Illinois reached the Elite Eight in 2024 and the Final Four in 2026.
There’s another ten here, too. Underwood has ten NCAA Tournament wins at Illinois. Only Lou Henson, with twelve, has more.
That’s a helluva change from where this started.
David Mirkovic and Andrej Stojakovic were named preseason All-Big Ten on Monday. Both are back from the Final Four team. We’ll get our first exhibition look at this group in ten days.
And we have a time to put with that date now. Illinois’ schedule lists the Cincinnati exhibition for Saturday, October 17, at 4 p.m. Central.
Ten days until Cincinnati. Let’s go, Illini!!
What did I miss?