Before the start of the 1936–37 season, Douglas R. Mills began acting as the head coach and athletic director of the Illinois men's basketball team.

Combes implemented Full-court press defense, causing turnovers at a high rate which translated into Fast break points.

[2] In 1951, Combes signed the first black player to don an Illinois uniform, 3x All-State point guard Walt Moore of Mount Vernon.

Along with teammate and future Illinois standout Max Hooper, Moore led the Rams to back-to-back state championship titles, culminating with a perfect 33–0 record in 1950.

However, the Illini lost to eventual national champion Loyola (Chicago) in the Elite Eight of the 1963 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament.

Former Illini player Harv Schmidt was hired to fill the head coaching vacancy ten days after Combes' forced resignation.

At Illinois, Henson coached many future NBA players, including Eddie Johnson, Derek Harper, Ken Norman, Nick Anderson, Kendall Gill, Kenny Battle, Marcus Liberty, Steve Bardo, and Kiwane Garris.

In 1981, Illinois made strides in its return to the national spotlight with a 21–8 record, a third-place Big Ten finish and an invitation to the NCAA Tournament.

The team received a first-round bye in the NCAA Tournament and beat Wyoming, 67–65, in Los Angeles to advance to the regionals in Salt Lake City, where Illinois lost to Kansas State, 57–52.

The top-seeded and top-ranked 1989 Illini were upset 83–81 in the Final Four on a last second basket by Michigan's Sean Higgins, ending the school's deepest run in the tournament at that time.

The team also gained national prominence for its athletic players, such as NCAA slam dunk champions Kenny Battle and Kendall Gill, as well as Lowell Hamilton, Nick Anderson, Marcus Liberty, and Stephen Bardo.

The early 1990s Illini were dominated by players such as guards Andy Kauffman, Richard Keene, and Kiwane Garris, as well as centers Shelly Clark and Deon Thomas.

During his four seasons at Illinois, three of which resulted in NCAA Tournament berths, (all three of which saw the Illini eliminated in the 2nd round) Kruger became the only Big Ten coach to successfully sign three consecutive Illinois Mr. Basketball winners, inking Sergio McClain, Frank Williams, and Brian Cook between 1997 and 1999.Several times during his coaching tenure the Illini were predicted to be at the bottom of the Big Ten, however he overcame adversity each time performing far better than expected.

In 2001, his first season at Illinois, Self coached his new Fighting Illini squad to a 27–8 record, a share of the Big Ten title, and a number 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

McClain, Cook and preseason Big Ten player of the year Cory Bradford led the Illini to the Elite Eight, where they fell to eventual finalist Arizona in a much disputed contest.

In his five seasons as head coach at SIU, Weber took the Saluki program to the top of the Missouri Valley Conference, winning league titles in 2002 and 2003.

He posted records of 28–8 and 24–7 in his last two seasons, leading the Salukis to back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances, including a run to the Sweet 16 in 2002 with wins over Texas Tech and Georgia at the United Center in Chicago.

In leading his young team that featured just one senior on the roster, Weber became just the third coach in the history of the Big Ten to win an outright title in his first season.

Weber's second year at Illinois, the 2004–05 season, will be remembered as one of the greatest in Fighting Illini history, finishing 37–2 as the National Runner-Up in the NCAA tournament.

The Illini spent the majority of 2005–06 ranked in the Top 10 and recorded 26 wins on the year to tie the fourth-winningest season in school history.

With a depleted roster that had six different players combine to miss a total of 58 games due to injury, the Illini still advanced to the NCAA Tournament.

The lone bright spot came as Illinois came on strong to win four of its last five and five of its final seven games, which culminated with a runner-up finish at the Big Ten tournament.

While the 2018–19 season featured the debut of key pieces including Ayo Dosunmu, Giorgi Bezhanishvili, Andres Feliz, and Alan Griffin, the Illini posted one of the worst records in program history at 12–21 (7–13 in Big Ten).

Over the next 12 games, the Illini went 10–2, including Dosunmu's game-winning shot during their second matchup against Michigan to give Illinois a 64–62 lead with half a second left on the clock.

Before the 2021–22 season, Ayo Dosunmu was drafted by the Chicago Bulls, and Adam Miller transferred to LSU, leading to André Curbelo being expected to serve as the primary ball handler.

The Illini would secure two major wins in non-conference play, beating #8 UCLA in the Continental Tire Main Event semifinal and #2 Texas in the Jimmy V Classic.

Ultimately the season was a step back for the program, as due to tiebreaker rules, the team received a seven seed and lost to Penn State in their first game of the Big Ten Tournament.

In 2008, school officials, led by athletic director Ron Guenther, conducted a study to decide whether to refurbish the Assembly Hall or build a new basketball arena.

† = Consensus All-American In 2004, during the celebration of the program's 100th year of basketball as a varsity sport, the University of Illinois Division of Intercollegiate Athletics announced its All-Century Team.

In 1993, the awards were named in honor of former Olympian Dwight "Dike" Eddleman, who participated in basketball, football and track and field in 1943 and 1946–49, earning a combined 11 varsity letters during that timeframe.