On the final day of the regular season, Illinois finished with a road test against Maryland. The Terps find themselves at 17th in the Big Ten standings and basically had nothing to play for. Illinois is in the midst of earning a 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament and needed a win to clinch a triple-bye in the Big Ten Tournament. You would have thought that Illinois would be the team that played with a sense of urgency and a spike in their energy. Besides David Mirkovic, Illinois h

The regular season is coming to an end. Illinois has one final test before they begin postseason play. The Maryland Terrapins have brought so much suffering to Illinois over the last 7 years. No matter how good Illinois has been, beating Maryland has been a nearly insurmountable obstacle for the Illini to overcome. Buzz Williams is in his first season with Maryland, and it seems like Maryland's reign over Illinois is done. In the first meeting in January, Illinois won 89-70,

The Illini made sure senior night ended on a high note. After a slow start where Oregon got out to a 9-3 lead, Illinois responded with a 21-0 run and never looked back. Illinois cruised by Oregon with an 80-54 win, snapping a two-game skid. This fanbase was eager for a stress-free win to begin March on the right foot, and Illinois delivered. It was a rough February for the Illini, but the vibes felt good once again in the State Farm Center. Illinois should build upon this mom

March has arrived and the regular season is coming to an end. In just under two weeks, Illinois is going to hear their name called on Selection Sunday. The Illini ended February in a rut. They are coming in losers of four of their last six games. Three of them came in overtime heartbreakers, and the last one was just pure domination from the opponent. With a new month underway, Illinois is looking for some “get right” games as they head into the postseason. With two Quad 3 ga

Coming off three heartbreaking losses in the last five games, Illinois fans still woke up with reason for hope. #3 Michigan gave Illinois a chance to bounce back in front of an electric home environment. The Orange Krush had been waiting outside since the early hours of Friday to potentially see one of the biggest wins in the Brad Underwood Era and prevent Michigan from clinching an outright Big Ten Title. Morez Johnson Jr. also made his return and gave Illini fans even more

#3 Michigan is in town, and they are looking to become the outright regular season Big Ten Champs. This game has been circled on the calendar the minute the Big Ten schedule release came out. Illinois and Michigan were expected to be at the top of the standings, but the bigger reason this game had hype was because of Morez Johnson Jr. The former Illini transferred to Michigan last offseason. Morez had been committed to Illinois since his sophomore year in high school. He watc

The greatest month of the year is swiftly approaching. There is a certain beauty to March, an electricity in the air that only college basketball can create. It's a time where campuses unite and legends are born overnight. All it takes is One Shining Moment to forever be in college basketball lore. We are just 19 days away from the unveiling of the 68-team field on Selection Sunday. Teams across the country have been building their resumes, battling through conference play an

In game number two of Illinois' west coast trip, Illinois' hopes for a Big Ten Title and potential 1-seed in the NCAA Tournament were shattered in 4.9 seconds. Ten minutes into the game all was well. Illinois' offense was unstoppable. The Illini went on a 20-0 run to give them a 23-point lead against the Bruins. Keaton Wagler went down with an injury, and UCLA immediately responded. The Bruins made 17 of their next 19 field goal attempts and stormed all the way back into the

Illinois will conclude their California trip with UCLA. The Bruins are led by head coach Mick Cronin. In his 7th season in Westwood, Cronin's seat has become a little hot. He led the Bruins to the final four from the first four back in 2021. He had a couple of good teams following that season, but the last two years has not been great. His attitude with the media and even his own players have not helped. Some are even questioning if he is actively trying to get fired. UCLA ca

It was a complete annihilation of a basketball game the moment Illinois and USC tipped off. Illinois started the game on an 8-0 run with two Jake Davis corner threes, and Illinois did not look back even for a tenth of a second. In game one of Illinois' west coast trip, the Illini overtook the Galen Center and destroyed USC 101-65. There was even a hypothetical "nuggets" chant aired out in the home of USC. Illinois fans travelled well and completely embarrassed a team who if t

Illinois begins their California trip with a desperate USC team trying to get on the right side of the bubble. USC enters 18-7 but lacks any true marquee win that stands out on their resume. They are 2-5 in quadrant 1 games, and one of those will constantly be teetering between quad 1 and quad 2 with Seton Hall being 50th in the NET currently. USC needs to pick up a true quality win, and time is running out as we approach March. It has not been the greatest season for Musselm

Early on Sunday morning, hours before Illinois was about to tip-off with Indiana, the Illini received excellent news. Senior guard Kylan Boswell was announced cleared to go and able see the floor for the first time in 7 games. While the news was great, there was one caveat to that. Wing Andrej Stojakovic was announced out as he is dealing with a high ankle sprain. Illinois is still looking to becoming whole once again, and the Illini might have to wait until after the Califor

Illinois and Indiana meet once again on Sunday, February 15th at 12:00 with the CBS production crew in town. Illinois has hit a speedbump in the last week. Having dropped two straight games, this is a good opportunity to bounce back before the damage keeps multiplying. Indiana went over their own speedbump in January. The Hoosiers come into this one winners in 5 of their last 6. Indiana is looking to get back into the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2023. Year 1 of t

Following Illinois' loss to Michigan State in a game where the Illini could not buy a made field goal, Illinois got to come home for the entire week. The first test was against Wisconsin. The Badgers were always going to be nightmare matchup personnel wise. Nick Boyd and John Blackwell make up one of the best backcourt duos in the country, and without Kylan Boswell, it was going to be a tall task. To make matters worse, Andrej Stojakovic was announced as questionable before t

The Illini's 12-game winning streak was snapped in East Lansing on Saturday Night in overtime. In a frustrating game that just seemed like Illinois could not hit enough shots and grab rebounds, Illinois was able to stick around. That result is in the past and should be forgotten. Illinois now gets to come home for two games, with the first being against (16-7, 8-4) Wisconsin on Tuesday night at 7:00 p.m. Wisconsin is coming off a frustrating road loss of their own, as their c

It was another top 10 road matchup for Illinois. The Illini were looking for their 3rd straight weekend with a road victory against a top 10 team. Illinois met Michigan State. The Spartans came in on a two-game skid, and with their backs against the wall, were looking for a signature win to get back on schedule. That is what they did in an overtime thriller. Illinois dropped a game for the first time since the middle of December. The start of the game showed it was going to b

Another weekend has arrived, and Illinois has an opportunity to pick up yet another road win against a top 10 team. The Illini have done it the two previous weekends with their wins over Purdue and Nebraska. Once the Illini received news of Kylan Boswell's injury, fans thought winning just 1 of these 3 games was a tall order. Well, that's the beauty of college basketball. Illinois can go 3 for 3 and increase their Big Ten Title and 1 seed hopes immensely. Illinois and Michiga

After rattling off 11 straight wins, Illinois moved into the top 5 with all the national attention surrounding them. Illinois had yet another trap game placed in the middle of the week at home. Illinois picked up their 12th straight win in dominating fashion. Illinois' offensive explosion in the first half capped off by a Keaton Wagler buzzer beater from beyond half court was the exclamation point on how well this run and season is going for Illinois. It is starting to feel l

Illinois and Northwestern meet once again. The two met just three weeks ago with Illinois picking up the win 79-68. Welsh Ryan Arena became a house of horrors for Illinois over the last 3 years, but this Illinois team walked in and walked out with a relatively stress-free win. This one will be at the place Northwestern hasn't won since the building was still called Assembly Hall. Illinois will look to reach their 7th straight 20-win regular season with a Hail to the Orange Ou

February is the month where the real contenders separate themselves from the rest of the country. On the first day of the month, we were treated to a matchup for the ages in Lincoln. #5 Nebraska and #9 Illinois met for the second time this season, and the road team came out victorious once again. Both teams entered this game 9-1 in league play and were looking to join Michigan at 10-1. The Big Ten Title race is going to be one of the best all time, and matchups like these go