Illinois Basketball: Illini McDonald’s All-American History
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Despite Illinois starting the 90’s off in a bad way, the talent still wanted to come to Champaign.
Richard Keene was a McDonald’s All-American in 1992 and decided that he was going to play his college basketball for the Illini.
Keene’s first year with the program was fairly successfully. He averaged 8.3 PPG and 3.1 RPG in the 32 games played that year.
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The Illini did well that season too. They made it back to the second round of the tournament but fell just short to Vanderbilt.
The following year was the loss to Georgetown in the first round and Keene put up about the same numbers except his assists increased. He averaged 8 PPG, 3.5 RPG and 4 APG.
Keene and the Illini once again got back to the tournament the following year but lost in the first round as a No. 11 seed. He averaged 10.9 PPG, 3.8 RPG, and 3.6 APG that season.
The final season for Keene was also Henson’s final season as the Illinois basketball coach.
The Illini didn’t go out in the fashion that people wanted too as they missed the postseason all together. Illinois ended up winning 18 games that season.
Despite the down year, Keene averaged 10.2 PPG, 3.7 RPG, and 5.2 APG.
Keene’s run with the Illini wasn’t tremendously successful in terms of postseason runs, but he was a great player for Illinois and will always be looked at as one of the best.