Illinois Fighting Illini

How the Fighting Illini play under each referee

Every Fighting Illini game grouped by individual referee. Over this sample the Fighting Illini are 146-61 (70.5%); each ref win rate below is compared to that team average.

Paul Szelc has the most Fighting Illini games in this sample (40).

Updated Sep 30, 2026, 12:31 a.m.·2020-2026 (2020-11-25 – 2026-04-04)

Fighting Illini record: 146-61 (70.5%)

Officials with enough games overlap across crews; combined team-official games (416) exceed 207 unique team matches. Table lists refs with 8+ games.

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Brian McNutt
+20.4 pts vs team-5.5
Tim Comer
+14.1 pts vs team-3.3
Owen Shortt
+12.8 pts vs team-3.7
Courtney Green
+10.1 pts vs team-0.9
Randy Richardson
+9.5 pts vs team-4.1
Don Daily
+7.3 pts vs team-3.4
Brian Dorsey
+6.4 pts vs team-2.3
Robert Riley
+6.4 pts vs team-2.8
Earl Walton
+6.4 pts vs team-1.5
D.J. Carstensen
+3.0 pts vs team-2.7
Keith Kimble
+2.6 pts vs team-2.6
Brooks Wells
+2.2 pts vs team-2.2
Lewis Garrison
+0.9 pts vs team-3.1
Rob Kueneman
-0.5 pts vs team-2.5
Kelly Pfeifer
-0.8 pts vs team-2.0
Larry Scirotto
-1.5 pts vs team-2.4
Bo Boroski
-1.7 pts vs team-1.3
Edwin Young
-3.8 pts vs team-0.2
Jeffrey Anderson
-5.5 pts vs team-1.0
Ron Groover
-8.0 pts vs team-2.5
Paul Szelc
-13.0 pts vs team-2.0
Doug Sirmons
-28.8 pts vs team-1.0
Terry Oglesby
-32.0 pts vs team-2.8

Tight-game proxy

How Illinois Fighting Illini compares in tight final-margin games vs the full sample. Based on official box scores, not last-two-minute reports.

Close games (≤5 pt margin)

49 of 207 games match this window

Avg combined points
Tight-game avg
152.9
Season avg
150.2
Pressure impact
+2.7
Avg fouls
Tight-game avg
37.1
Season avg
34.5
Pressure impact
+2.6
Over rate
Tight-game avg
67.3%
Season avg
57.5%
Pressure impact
+9.8 pp

Over benchmark: 145.3 combined points · Seasons: 2020-21, 2021-22, 2022-23, 2023-24, 2024-25, 2025-26 · 207 total games in sample

Pregame toss-ups (spread ≤5.5)

What am I looking at?

Individual refs: stats for one official across all Fighting Illini games they worked, even with different partners.
Team baseline: the Fighting Illini went 146-61 (70.5%) across this sample. Ref win rates show how they compare to that team average.
Whistle differential: who gets called more. A positive number means opponents are whistled more often than the Fighting Illini.

Scores, fouls, and referee crews from ESPN (9885 games across 80 tracked programs, 6047 with sportsbook totals). Coverage: 2020-21, 2021-22, 2022-23, 2023-24, 2024-25, 2025-26. Matrix: 4078/8349 ref×team pairs with 3+ games. 69 games skipped (no officials listed). 0 games skipped (outside live conference gate). Ref game counts rebuilt from DISTINCT game_id in game logs.