NORFOLK, Va. – The Old Dominion men's basketball team (3-7, 0-0 C-USA) will travel to Champaign, Ill. for a game against Illinois (7-3, 1-1 Big Ten) at the State Farm Center on Saturday, Dec. 14 at 6:00 p.m. ET. Saturday night's contest will be televised on the Big Ten Network and will also air on the ODU Sports Radio Network, with Ted Alexander and Dave Twardzik's live pregame show beginning at 5:30 p.m. ET.
All-Time Series/Flashback:
Old Dominion and Illinois have met just one time prior to Saturday's showdown. These two schools met on 11/25/1990 as part of the San Juan Shootout in Puerto Rico, where Illinois defeated the Monarchs by an 80-62 score. In that game, ODU was led by Keith Jackson (17 points), Ricardo Leonard (15 points and 8 rebounds) and Chris Gatling (13 points and 8 rebounds).
Oliver II is Officially Eligible:
-A.J. Oliver II, whose father Anthony Oliver was the captain of the 1992 Virginia NIT Championship team and posted 858 points and 113 steals in his career under head coach Jeff Jones, is now officially eligible to compete for the Monarchs after being a mid-year transfer from Clemson.
Season Leaders:
-Xavier Green has led ODU in scoring in 8/10 games.
-Aaron Carver has led ODU in rebounds in 9/10 games.
-Malik Curry has led ODU in assists in 8/10 games.
-Jason Wade has led ODU in steals in 7/10 games.
-Dajour Dickens has led ODU in blocks in 7/10 games.
-For the season, Wade already has 32 steals, which is the third most in the nation. The school record for steals in a season is 91 by Brandon Johnson in 2007-08.
-Aaron Carver's 95 total rebounds this season rank 32nd in the NCAA. For his career, he has hauled down 465 rebounds, just 35 shy of reaching the 500 mark.
-ODU has out-rebounded its opponent in 7 of 10 games so far this season.
-Old Dominion ranks 36th in the country for total steals so far this season with 86.
Meet Illinois:
The Fighting Illini entered Saturday's contest with a 7-3 overall mark and a 1-1 record in Big Ten play. Illinois is coming off a victory over No. 5 Michigan, 71-62, in Champaign on Wednesday night. Last Saturday, the Fighting Illini nearly knocked off No. 3 Maryland in College Park, Md., falling by a 59-58 score.
Brad Underwood is in his third season at Illinois as the head coach. Underwood has won more than 67 percent of his games through his first six years as a Division I head coach, recording four 20-win seasons while making four NCAA Tournament appearances. Underwood came to Illinois from Oklahoma State, where he led OSU to a 20-win season and NCAA Tournament appearance. Underwood arrived in Stillwater following a dominant run at Stephen F. Austin where he led the Lumberjacks to Southland Conference regular season and tournament titles in each of his three seasons.
Freshman Kofi Cockburn paces five Illinois players averaging double-figures so far this season, as the 7-footer is averaging a double-double (15.8 points and 10.6 rebounds per game). Ayo Dosunmu (14.9 ppg), Andres Feliz (14.2 ppg), Trent Frazier (10.3 ppg) and Giorgi Bezhanishvili (10.0 ppg) also are averaging double-figures for the Fighting Illini.
ODU Travels to Champaign for Saturday Night Game Against Illinois on the Big Ten Network
