2022–23 Illinois Fighting Illini women's basketball team


The 2022–23 Illinois Fighting Illini women's basketball team represented the University of Illinois during the 2022–23 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Fighting Illini were led by first-year head coach Shauna Green, and they played their home games at State Farm Center. This season marked the program's 41st season as a member of the Big Ten Conference.

2022–23 Illinois Fighting Illini women's basketball
NCAA Tournament, First Four
ConferenceBig Ten Conference
Record22–10 (11–7 Big Ten)
Head coach
Assistant coaches
Home arenaState Farm Center
Seasons
2022–23 Big Ten women's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
No. 2 Indiana 16 2   .889 28 4   .875
No. 3 Iowa 15 3   .833 31 7   .816
No. 7 Maryland 15 3   .833 28 7   .800
No. 12 Ohio State 12 6   .667 28 8   .778
No. 18 Michigan 11 7   .611 23 10   .697
Illinois 11 7   .611 22 10   .688
Purdue 9 8   .529 19 11   .633
Nebraska 8 10   .444 18 15   .545
Michigan State 7 10   .412 16 14   .533
Wisconsin 6 12   .333 11 20   .355
Rutgers 5 13   .278 12 20   .375
Minnesota 4 14   .222 11 19   .367
Penn State 4 14   .222 14 17   .452
Northwestern 2 16   .111 9 21   .300
2023 Big Ten tournament winner
As of April 2, 2023
Rankings from AP poll

Previous season

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The Illini finished the 2021–22 season 7–20 overall, with a 1–13 record in Big Ten play to finish in last place. As the fourteenth seed in the Big Ten women's tournament, they defeated eleventh seed Wisconsin in the first round before losing to sixth seed Nebraska in the second round. They were not invited to participate in any post-season tournaments.

Offseason

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After five seasons as Illinois head coach, Nancy Fahey announced her retirement on March 4, 2022.[1]

On March 21, 2022, Green was named as the program's tenth head coach, having had six successful seasons as the head coach at Dayton.[2][3] All three of Green's assistant coaching hires at Illinois (Calamity McEntire, DeAntoine Beasley and Ryan Gensler) had previously worked for her at Dayton.[4] The roster included five players from Fahey's final Illinois team, four freshmen, and four transfers, including two from Dayton (Makira Cook and Brynn Shoup-Hill). Genesis Bryant transferred from North Carolina State,[5] but she had been recruited by Green for Dayton before committing to the Wolfpack.[6]

Roster

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2022–23 Illinois Fighting Illini women's basketball team
Players Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Year Previous school Hometown
G 0 Camille Jackson 5 ft 11 in (1.8 m) Fr Butler College Prep Chicago, IL
G 1 Genesis Bryant 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m) Jr North Carolina State Jonesboro, GA
G 3 Makira Cook 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m) Jr Dayton Cincinnati, OH
G 4 Kam'Ren Rhodes 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m) Fr Arizona Compass Prep Chandler, AZ
G 11 Jada Peebles 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) Sr Wakefield Raleigh, NC
G 12 Jayla Oden 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) So McDonogh Baltimore, MD
C 13 Liisa Taponen 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) Fr Mäkelänrinteen Upper Secondary School Tampere, Finland
F/C 14 Geovana Lopes 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) GS Odessa College Bataguassu, Brazil
C 21 Aicha Ndour 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) Jr Northwest Florida State College Somone, Senegal
F 23 Brynn Shoup-Hill 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) So Dayton Goshen, IN
G 24 Adalia McKenzie 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) So Park Center Brooklyn Park, MN
F 33 Samantha Dewey 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) Fr Brooks School North Andover, MA
F 44 Kendall Bostic 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) Jr Michigan State Kokomo, IN
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)

Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (S) Suspended
  • (I) Ineligible
  • (W) Walk-on

Roster

Schedule and results

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Date
time, TV
Rank# Opponent# Result Record Site (attendance)
city, state
Exhibition
November 4, 2022*
7:00 p.m., BTN+
Quincy W 78–43 
State Farm Center (1,813)
Champaign, IL
Regular season
November 9, 2022*
7:00 p.m., BTN+
LIU W 75–40  1–0
State Farm Center (1,583)
Champaign, IL
November 13, 2022*
2:00 p.m., BTN+
Alcorn State W 90–59  2–0
State Farm Center (1,776)
Champaign, IL
November 16, 2022*
11:00 a.m., BTN+
McNeese State W 100–38  3–0
State Farm Center (8,141)
Champaign, IL
November 19, 2022*
2:00 p.m., BTN+
Evansville W 93–54  4–0
State Farm Center (1,409)
Champaign, IL
November 21, 2022*
7:00 p.m., BTN+
Oakland W 84–55  5–0
State Farm Center (1,334)
Champaign, IL
November 25, 2022*
4:45 p.m., FloHoops
vs. Charlotte
Daytona Beach Invitational
W 70–43  6–0
Ocean Center (250)
Daytona, FL
November 26, 2022*
2:30 p.m., FloHoops
vs. Delaware
Daytona Beach Invitational
L 80–83  6–1
Ocean Center (325)
Daytona, FL
November 30, 2022*
4:00 p.m., ACCN
at Pittsburgh
ACC–Big Ten Challenge
W 92–71  7–1
Petersen Events Center (274)
Pittsburgh, PA
December 4, 2022
1:00 p.m., BTN+
at No. 5 Indiana L 61–65  7–2
(0–1)
Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall (5,381)
Bloomington, IN
December 7, 2022
7:00 p.m., BTN+
Rutgers W 80–62  8–2
(1–1)
State Farm Center (1,771)
Champaign, IL
December 11, 2022*
1:00 p.m., FloHoops
at Butler W 65–63  9–2
(1–1)
Hinkle Fieldhouse (851)
Indianapolis, IN
December 18, 2022*
4:00 p.m., SECN
at Missouri
Braggin' Rights
W 76–66  10–2
(1–1)
Mizzou Arena (2,963)
Columbia, MO
December 21, 2022*
12:00 p.m., BTN+
Florida Atlantic W 81–46  11–2
(1–1)
State Farm Center (1,932)
Champaign, IL
December 29, 2022
6:30 p.m., BTN+
at Wisconsin W 79–63  12–2
(2–1)
Kohl Center (3,274)
Madison, WI
January 1, 2023
2:00 p.m., BTN
No. 12 Iowa W 90–86  13–2
(3–1)
State Farm Center (4,803)
Champaign, IL
January 5, 2023
8:00 p.m., BTN
Northwestern W 85–79  14–2
(4–1)
State Farm Center (1,904)
Champaign, IL
January 8, 2023
12:00 p.m., BTN+
at No. 3 Ohio State L 81-87  14–3
(4–2)
Value City Arena (6,273)
Columbus, OH
January 15, 2023
2:00 p.m., BTN+
No. 24 at Minnesota W 70–57  15–3
(5–2)
Williams Arena (4,454)
Minneapolis, MN
January 18, 2023
7:00 p.m., BTN+
No. 21 No. 6 Indiana L 72–83  15–4
(5–3)
State Farm Center (5,583)
Champaign, IL
January 22, 2023
2:00 p.m., BTN+
No. 21 at Northwestern W 67–64  16–4
(6–3)
Welsh–Ryan Arena (2,276)
Evanston, IL
January 26, 2023
7:00 p.m., BTN+
No. 22 Purdue L 52–62  16–5
(6–4)
State Farm Center (2,584)
Champaign, IL
January 29, 2023
5:00 p.m., BTN
No. 22 Michigan State W 86–76  17–5
(7–4)
State Farm Center (5,096)
Champaign, IL
February 2, 2023
5:30 p.m., BTN
at No. 18 Michigan L 57–74  17–6
(7–5)
Crisler Center (2,676)
Ann Arbor, MI
February 5, 2023
2:00 p.m., BTN+
Minnesota W 69–62  18–6
(8–5)
State Farm Center (4,533)
Champaign, IL
February 9, 2023
7:00 p.m., BTN+
at Nebraska W 72–64  19–6
(9–5)
Pinnacle Bank Arena (4,369)
Lincoln, NE
February 12, 2023
12:00 p.m., BTN+
at No. 8 Maryland L 71–82  19–7
(9–6)
Xfinity Center (7,301)
College Park, MD
February 19, 2023
2:00 p.m., BTN+
Penn State W 85–62  20–7
(10–6)
State Farm Center (6,299)
Champaign, IL
February 22, 2023
7:00 p.m., BTN+
No. 25т Nebraska L 57–90  20–8
(10–7)
State Farm Center (3,547)
Champaign, IL
February 26, 2023
1:00 p.m., BTN+
No. 25т at Rutgers W 75–53  21–8
(11–7)
Jersey Mike's Arena (2,049)
Piscataway, NJ
Big Ten Women's Tournament
March 2, 2023
8 p.m., BTN
(6) vs. (11) Rutgers
Second round
W 81–55  22–8
Target Center (5,124)
Minneapolis, MN
March 3, 2023
8 p.m., BTN
(6) vs. (3) No. 5 Maryland
Quarterfinals
L 58–73  22–9
Target Center (8,577)
Minneapolis, MN
NCAA Tournament
March 15, 2023*
6:00 p.m., ESPNU
(11 G1) vs. (11 G1) Mississippi State
First Four
L 56–70  22–10
Edmund P. Joyce Center (466)
South Bend, IN
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.
G1=Greenville 1.
All times are in Central Time.
Source:[7]

Rankings

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Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
— = Not ranked RV = Received votes т = Tied with team above or below
Week
PollPre12345678910111213141516171819Final
APRV242122RVRVRV25тRV
CoachesRVRV24232224RVRVRV

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Nancy Fahey Announces Retirement After 36 Years on the Sidelines". fightingillini.com. University of Illinois Division of Intercollegiate Athletics. March 4, 2022. Archived from the original on August 5, 2024. Retrieved August 5, 2024.
  2. ^ "Shauna Green Named Fighting Illini Women's Basketball Coach". fightingillini.com. University of Illinois Division of Intercollegiate Athletics. March 21, 2022. Retrieved January 3, 2023.
  3. ^ "Illini tap Dayton coach to head women's basketball program". The News-Gazette. Champaign, Illinois. March 21, 2022. Retrieved January 3, 2023.
  4. ^ Vozzelli Jr., Joe (September 11, 2022). "Summitt's impact formative during McEntire's coaching journey". The News-Gazette. Champaign, Illinois. Retrieved January 4, 2023.
  5. ^ Vozzelli Jr., Joe (June 29, 2022). "Green settling in after 100 days on job at Illinois". The News-Gazette. Champaign, Illinois. Retrieved January 4, 2023.
  6. ^ Vozzelli Jr., Joe (November 9, 2022). "Game 1 preview: Long Island University at Illinois women's basketball". The News-Gazette. Champaign, Illinois. Retrieved January 4, 2023.
  7. ^ "2022-23 Women's Basketball Schedule". fightingillini.com. University of Illinois Division of Intercollegiate Athletics. Retrieved January 3, 2023.
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