Illinois Basketball: Trent Frazier on pace to rewrite Illini record book

The Illinois basketball team has produced some amazing scorers throughout the history of the program.

As of right now, the Illini have 49 players who have eclipsed the 1,000-point mark during their careers. The bottom of the scoring list when it comes to 1,000-point scorers is Govoner Vaughn who averaged 15.2 points and scored 1,001 points during his three seasons with the Illini. The top of the scoring list is Deon Thomas who spent four years with the Orange and Blue and managed to average 18 points per game and scored a total of 2,129 points during his career.

You can go down the list and point out some legends, players who never had a chance to make the NCAA tournament but were still talented and players you may have forgotten. Malcolm Hill is No. 3 on the scoring list playing four seasons and averaging 13.5 points per game and scoring a total of 1,846 points for his career.

The real Mark Smith is No. 10 on the list. He averaged 13.6 points per game with the Illini and finished his four-year career with 1,653 points. You can then go down to Dave Downey who averaged a crazy 18.9 points per game and finished with 1,360 points during his three-year career.

There are so many legendary scorers on this list for the Illini. We are in the presence of another legendary scorer despite the current state of the Illinois basketball program. Trent Frazier is on pace to rewrite the Illinois record books and permanently insert his name with the greats.

Frazier had a solid freshman campaign that saw him put up a total of 399 points and average 12.5 points per game. The mold of a superstar was taking shape. This season hasn’t been a disappointment as far as Frazier’s career trajectory goes either. He has taken his game to another level and is the main reason Illinois is even in most of the games.

Through 11 games this season, Frazier has averaged 16.5 points per game and has a total of 182 points. He did miss one game due to a concussion, so he only had a chance to play in 11 games this season. If he plays the rest of the games this season, his total games for the year would be 30 games. That isn’t including the one Big Ten game, so I will make it 31 games, worst case scenario.

So, if you take 31 games and multiply that by the 16.5 points per game Frazier is averaging, he would be projected to score 511 points this season. You add that to his freshman season and the number comes out to 910 points during his first two years with the Illini. That is an incredible number and one that almost puts him in the top 50 among career scoring leaders in Illinois basketball history.

After two seasons, Frazier is likely to be one of the most prolific scorers in the history of the Illini program. That is an impressive feat. He is a great player, but I think he will spend one more year in college before potentially heading into the NBA.

Let’s project out a little bit and see what numbers Frazier might put up his junior year with the Illini. He is averaging 16.5 points per game this season, so let’s give him a modest increase to 17 points per game during his junior year. Roughly speaking, he should play at least 31 games, so we will stick with that number. That would give him 527 points for the season during his junior campaign.

If you add the 527 points to Frazier’s freshman and sophomore seasons, then you would come out with 1,437 points through three years with the Illini. That would skyrocket Frazier up to No. 18 on the list of Illinois career scoring leaders. He would be three points behind legendary three-year starter Frank Williams. Mind you, this is a rough projection of where Frazier could be after just three years with the Illini.

Illinois probably won’t make the NCAA tournament once again. We are struggling this season. But, let’s enjoy what we are watching with Frazier. This kid is a legend and is likely to end up being one of the greatest scorers we have seen come through the program.