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11 a.m. home games in the Brad Underwood era have been surprisingly bad. Inferior teams always seem to bring their "A" game went visiting Champaign for some late morning hoops. The start of this one felt no different. Minnesota's Jaylen Crocker-Johnson hit two threes on their opening possessions and forced Brad Underwood to call a timeout not even two minutes into the game. The start gave me and many other Illini fans flashbacks to last year's USC loss at the same time withou

#13 Illinois is going for their 7th straight win as a frisky Minnesota team is in town for an 11 a.m. tip on Saturday. The Illini enter this one 14-3 (5-1), and the Gophers enter 10-7 (3-3). Illinois is coming off a solid road win against Northwestern, which will teeter between quads 1 and 2 status all year long. Minnesota is coming off gut-wrenching loss to Wisconsin at the buzzer, so they'll be looking to get back on track and move on. In his first year as the Minnesota he

Securing victories on the road in the Big Ten is always challenging, but the 2025-2026 Illinois Fighting Illini are making it seem effortless. With yesterday's win over Northwestern, Illinois moves to 14-3 (5-1) with a 4-0 record on the road. It is the first time Illinois has started 4-0 on the road in league play since the 2005 national runner-up team. That's some elite company to join. Like the '05 team, the Illini are trying to compete for a Big Ten title, and winning on t

Illinois basketball is almost back once again with a short turnaround, as Big Ten play is finally in full swing. The Illini are 13-3 and 4-1 in conference play as they head up I-57 North to face Northwestern. The Wildcats have had a disappointing season up to this point. They enter this one 8-8 and 0-5 in conference play. The frustrating part for Northwestern is that they have been competitive in all 8 losses. 7 of the 8 losses have been by single digits, and their lone doubl

After a successful 2-0 week, the Illinois Fighting Illini have moved up to number 13 in the week 10 AP Poll. The Illini have two games this week. Illinois makes the trip up i-57 North and are looking for their first win in Evanston since 2022 against Northwestern. That game will be on Wednesday night at 7:30. After that, a sneaky good Minnesota teams awaits the Illini in Champaign for an early tipoff on Saturday. I have always said that I want to be an AP Poll voter for both

13-3 (4-1) Illinois punched 12-4 (2-3) Iowa right in the mouth from the tip. A point of criticism during the Brad Underwood era has been the dreaded 11 a.m. tipoff, but this Illini team put that narrative to rest. Andrej Stojakovic hit an early three and then asserted dominance in the paint to help build an Illini 29-11 lead in the first half. The Hawkeyes rattled off a few threes to cut the Illini lead at half to 11, despite an awful half from Bennett Stirtz. Kylan Boswell p

Who needs the NFL Playoffs? #16 Illinois is in Iowa City for a top 20 showdown against Iowa for an 11 a.m. tip tomorrow. For Illinois, it is a chance to extend their win streak to 5 and really get rolling in conference play. For Iowa, it is a chance to pick up a coveted Quad 1 home win, an opportunity that does not present itself often. Last Games: 12-3 (3-1) Illinois is coming off a home win against Rutgers 81-55. 12-3 (2-2) Iowa is coming off a loss to Minnesota 70-67 at th

#16 Illinois hosted one of the weakest teams in the conference last night for a Thursday Night Big Ten matchup. Rutgers has experienced an extremely disappointing season, and the Illini contributed to it further last night with an 81-55 victory. After Rutgers hit a three on the first possession of the game, Illinois dominated from there on and used a 20-0 run over the final 8 minutes of the first half to put Rutgers out of their misery early. A strong defensive first half fro

The 2025-2026 NFL regular season has come to an end, and it was a successful one for many former Illini. The playoffs are starting this Saturday, so here are all the former Illini competing for the Lombardi Trophy. The first Wild Card game featuring Illini is on Saturday Night between the Green Bay Packers and the Chicago Bears. Former Illinois DB Nate Hobbs (2017-2020) was a fifth-round pick in the 2021 NFL Draft to the Las Vegas Raiders but wounded up in Green Bay via free

#16 Illinois 11-3 (2-1) hosts Rutgers 8-7 (1-3) on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. CST at the State Farm Center. The game will be aired on the Big Ten Network. Illinois and Rutgers have had very different seasons up until this point. The Illini have taken care of all their games against inferior opponents, while adding some nice resume building wins along the way. Rutgers, on the other hand, have struggled all season. After beginning with a 4-0 record in buy games, the Scarlet Knights

Coach Bret Bielema and Illinois have enjoyed the advantage of having one of the nation's top quarterbacks over the past two seasons, Luke Altmyer. In his second and third seasons as the Illini's starting quarterback, Luke Altmyer led Illinois to a couple of their best seasons in school history. Illinois had never won 9+ games in consecutive seasons until this season, and the Starkville native under center was the main reason why. While this ride the past three seasons have be

The Illinois Fighting Illini resumed Big Ten play with a road test against Penn State on January 3rd. The Illini were selected in the Nittany Lions' annual game in the "Cathedral of College Basketball." This was not the first occasion the Illini encountered Penn State in a venue where they would play only a single game. If you recall, and I am sure many of you do, two seasons ago, the Illini played in Penn State's volleyball arena "Rec Hall." The then East Regional runner-up