North Carolina A&T (3-10) vs. Illinois (8-4)
Date: December 29, 2019
Time: 2 p.m.
Facility: State Farm Center
Series: First meeting

AGGIE GAME NOTES
 
PROBABLE STARTERS:  G Andre Jackson (6-4, 175, Sr., 5.8 ppg, 3.9 rpg); G Kameron Langley (6-2, 205, Jr., 6.8 ppg, 5.1 rpg); G Tyrone Lyons (6-6, 180, So., 6.6 ppg, 3.2 rpg); F Ronald Jackson (6-8, 205, Sr., 12.9 ppg, 8.8 rpg); C Devin Haygood (6-8, 180, R-Sr., 6.2 ppg, 3.5 rpg).
 
AGGIES OVERVIEW: North Carolina A&T suffered a tough loss to Wake Forest, 76-64 in their previous outing on Dec. 21. The Aggies have three Division-I wins this season, good for second in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC). N.C. A&T is led by senior forward Ronald Jackson who leads the team in scoring and rebounding. Jackson has five double-doubles this year and is third in the conference in rebounding. Junior point guard Kameron Langley leads the MEAC in assist per game (5.0). He has also led the conference in assist-to-turnover ratio the past two seasons and leads the conference this season as the conference season approaches. The Aggies are led by acting head coach Willie Jones who took over the team earlier this week. Jones has been on staff since 2016 and the associate head coach and lead recruiter since the 2018-19 season.
 
ILLINOIS OVERVIEW: The Fighting Illini are coming off a 63-56 loss to Missouri in their last game. Illinois' marquee victory this season came on Dec. 11 when they defeated No. 5 Michigan, 71-62. The Fighting Illini lead the NCAA in rebounding margin (+12.7) and return 85.3 percent of their scoring from last season. Two players average over 15 points per game for Illinois, Ayo Dosunmu (15.3) and Kofi Cockburn (15.2). Head coach Brad Underwood is entering his third year at Illinois with a record of 34-43 (.442).
 
News & Notes:

• This is the first meeting in series history between the two teams.
• The teams share one common opponent this season in Nicholls. A&T beat Nicholls, 66-54, on Nov. 22 and Illinois beat them, 78-70 (OT), on Nov. 5.
• The Fighting Illini are 7-1 at home this season.
• A&T is looking to pick up their fourth Division-I victory, a tie for first in the conference.
• Freshman Fred Cleveland, Jr. is 9-13 (69.2%) from beyond the three-point arc in the last two games. He has scored 61 points in his last four games. 
• The Aggies are 0-15 all-time against Big 10 competition including five losses to Nebraska and three losses to Ohio State.