On being a lifelong Illini fan …

“I grew up coming to the games, whether it was basketball or football. My dad (Terry Cole) played football (from 1980-83) so we always had season tickets growing up. My sister goes here too. Growing up if you’re always around it, I think naturally – whether you like it or not – you like Illinois. Because I’m always rooting against Iowa at the Illinois games, maybe I don’t want to go there.”

On Peoria being an Illini town …

“They still call it the Peoria pipeline. We got D.J. (Richardson) coming in next year. He’s from Peoria. The coaches told me they like to recruit out of Peoria. It’s been good to us the past couple years.”

On brother T.J., a junior standout athlete at Peoria Richwoods …

“I caught, like, two football games this fall before we really got going. I love watching his football games. Even when I can’t go I watch them online because they got some new thing where they put them online. He was on the varsity (basketball) team when I was a senior. Because he was a freshman, he never really played. I’ve never really seen him play. He starts this year. The first game I ever see him play will be Saturday after the Wisconsin game. They play at Centennial.”

On hobbies …

“I like to watch soccer. Liverpool is my team. Steven Gerrard is my favorite player. I used to play when I was little. I played on a travel team until I was a freshman in high school. I quit to concentrate on basketball.”

On injuries and limited playing time …

“It’s been frustrating because last year I was just starting to get back into the rotation and I had the stress fracture and it kept me out the last three months. But I got 100 percent healed from that. It took its time. That was hard to do. And right when I got back, I sprained my ankle really bad at the beginning of the season. But we’re playing good as a team. As we continue to move along, I can’t be disappointed that I’m not getting a lot of minutes. I’m just real happy that we’re winning.”