Winthrop (2-1) at Illinois (4-0)
Game Time: 8 p.m. EST / Site: Champaign, IL (State Farm Center)
Live Video:  ESPN3 / Television: ESPN3 (Zach Zaidman/Rich Zvosac) / Audio: 104.1 The Bridge, pregame 7:30 p.m.-Dave Friedman-PxP)
Live Stats / Live Video  / Live Audio

ROCK HILL, SC—The strenuous schedule continues for the Winthrop men's basketball team wraps-up its three-game road trip Monday evening when it travels to Champaign, IL for an 8 p.m. tip at Illinois.

The road trip began with a Tuesday morning contest at Manhattan College two days after opening the season. The Eagles are coming off a 100-86 loss at Florida State Friday night as the team bussed home after and heading to Illinois on Sunday. The loss on Friday was the first for the Eagles this season as they are 2-1 and will take on an Illinois squad that is off to a 4-0 start. The game will air on ESPN3 or fans can listen in to Dave Friedman call the play-by-play on 104.1 The Bridge.

The Eagles are looking to move to 3-1 for the first time since the 2013-14 season. Through the first three games Winthrop is averaging 82 points per game and their 86 points at Florida State were tied for the most ever by an Eagle team against a Power 5 opponent.

Winthrop was shorthanded at Florida State on Friday night as senior Keon Johnson missed the game due to a foot injury and is day-to-day and questionable for the game at Illinois. Johnson, the Big South Conference Preseason Player of the Year, led the team in scoring in 2015-16 and is averaging 13.5 points per game through the first two games this year.

Junior Xavier Cooks scored 23 points in the loss at FSU, which is his second 20-point game of the season as he leads the Eagles with a 16.7 scoring average. Cooks is shooting 58 percent from the floor and is second on the team with 5.3 rebounds per game. He is one of four players averaging double-figures as senior Joshua Davenport is scoring 12.3 per game and senior Roderick Perkins has come off the bench in all three games to average 10.3 ppg.

In the first four seasons under head coach Pat Kelsey the Eagles have been a good three-point shooting team as three of his squads rank in the Top 5 for most threes in a single-season in program history, including last year's record-setting performance of 285 made threes. This year the offense is eclipsing 80 points per game despite some struggles behind the arc (27 percent), but the team is shooting 79 percent from the foul line and averaging 23.7 made free throws a game. The best a Kelsey led team has averaged per game in a season was last year at 17.8 per game.

This will be the first meeting ever between the two schools and the sixth time the Eagles have taken on a Big 10 opponent. Winthrop is 0-5 all-time against the Big 10 with three of the games decided by 10 points or less. Illinois is 2-0 against the Big South with a one-point win over Gardner-Web in 2012 and a 46-point win over Presbyterian College in 2009.
Illinois has played all four of its contests in the confines of the State Farm Center and winning at a scoring margin of +25.3. The Illini are averaging 10.5 threes per game and haven't allowed over 69 points, which came in its last game that was an 89-69 win over Detroit-Mercy.

There are four players scoring in double-figures led by Malcolm Hill's 22.3 per game. He is shooting 50 percent from the floor and is tied for team-lead with 12 made threes. The 6-6 senior guard is also second on the team in rebounding at 7.5 behind Michael Finke (8.0). Maverick Morgan is averaging 12 points, Tracy Abrams is scoring 11.8 per game and Finke is averaging 11.0.

Defensively the Illini are holding opponents to 38 percent shooting from the floor and 30 percent behind the arc and have shot 26 more free throws than opponents.