As I get excited for our CBS game in East Lansing, it got me thinking ... I have this weird nostalgia for "important" Big Ten road games on a Saturday afternoon like this, especially if they are on a premier channel like CBS. As conferences continue to change, it just reminds me so much of the college basketball I grew up with. There is an inherent optimism about a Saturday afternoon (the "heart" of the weekend), and adding the anticipation of an Illini game to it is icing on the cake. For fun, these are some especially fun Illini memories of mine that fit into this exact type of game:
Saturday 1/25/2020: #21 Illinois W 64-62 at Michigan. Ayo's buzzer beater extends our Big Ten winning streak to 6!
Saturday 2/27/2021: #5 Illinois 74 W 74-69 at #23 Wisconsin. In our second game without Ayo, we pick up a top 25 victory.
Saturday 3/6/2021: #4 Illinois W 73-68 at #7 Ohio State. Ayo's return game with the Batman mask, and we win our fourth straight to end the season.
Saturday 3/5/2022: #18 Illinois W 74-57 at Indiana. Handily beating the Hoosiers to win our fourth straight and extend our record to 17-5 (10-2), this likely represented the height for that team for me until we hung the Big Ten banner. We had a few more stumbles in our next couple of games, but we looked great in Bloomington ... and I was at a bar in Indianapolis sporting my Illini gear to take it all in.
Saturday 2/7/2015: Illinois W 59-54 at Michigan State. This one might seem like a strange inclusion as this team ended up flopping, but I was also in Indianapolis for this one to visit my sister for her birthday, and I remember being SO pumped watching this one at a sports bar. It was our third straight win and moved us to 16-8 (6-5) and provided some hope yet for the Groce Era.
Saturday 3/4/2006: #10 Illinois W 75-68 at #25 Michigan State. I was at a soccer tournament during this one, but this win felt like the first time during conference play this season where we returned to that 2005 swagger. It was only our third top 25 win of that season and the first on the road. To go into East Lansing and beat a ranked MSU team for the second year in a row felt like something only an elite program could do.
Saturday 2/19/2005: #1 Illinois W 75-65 at Iowa. While seemingly a forgettable game for most, I would literally do anything to get my hands on the full video of this game. It was a great game throughout, and we only pulled away late with some AWESOME plays down the stretch - including saving the ball from going out of bounds leading to a Dee Brown fast break 3-point play AND a Nick Smith fade-away three to ice it.
The Krush made the trip in addition to a reported
4,000 other Illini fans, and it gave the arena an atmosphere like Braggin' Rights. As an impressionable seventh grader who'd never seen the Illini do anything but win, I felt literally so damn cool.