Illini Basketball 2025-2026

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#1      

Dan

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Welcome to the Illini Basketball & College Basketball news thread :illinois:


IL Returnees
Ty Rodgers
Kylan Boswell
Jake Davis
Tomislav Ivisic
Ben Humrichous
Jason Jakstys
AJ Redd

IL Signees
Keaton Wagler
Brandon Lee
Zvonimir Ivisic
Andrej Stojakovic
David Mirkovic
Blake Fagbemi
Mihailo Petrovic


Tickets
Tickets Info (fightingillini.com)
Single game general public tickets on sale in October.
Tennessee game in Nashville Dec. 6th general public tickets on sale now at Ticketmaster.


Reported Non-Conference Games
DateOpponentLocationInfo
Tue, Nov 11Texas TechChampaign
(State Farm Center)		Link
Wed, Nov 19AlabamaChicago
(United Center)		Link
Sat, Nov 22LIUChampaign
(State Farm Center)		Link
Fri, Nov 28UConnNew York
(Madison Square Garden)		Link
Sat, Dec 6TennesseeNashville
(Bridgestone Arena)		Link
Mon, Dec 22MissouriSt. Louis
(Enterprise Center)		Link



Illinois' Big Ten opponents for 2025-2026

Home & Away – Maryland, Nebraska, Northwestern
Home Only – Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Oregon, Rutgers, Washington, Wisconsin
Away Only – Iowa, Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, UCLA, USC


Last year, the full non-conference schedule was released on August 20th, the Big Ten schedule released on September 19th.
 
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#3      
illinifan1987
Confused Liam Neeson GIF
Ty?
 
#5      
Illini in Indiana
Looking forward to this years twist & turns.
I liked seeing a Ty or Morez style player on the floor to get us the 50/50 balls. Who's that guy this year?
I'd love to see a Pacers style team that everyone hustles, shoots, plays tough D and play we about 8-9 deep.
 
#9      
New Creation
Not sure where to put this but Morez was just ejected from the USA game, when they were up 35. The more I watch him play, the more I am understanding why he isn’t on the floor as much as he wants. 5 fouls in basically 1 half of basketball. Pretty bad
 
#11      
gary?
New Creation said:
Not sure where to put this but Morez was just ejected from the USA game, when they were up 35. The more I watch him play, the more I am understanding why he isn’t on the floor as much as he wants. 5 fouls in basically 1 half of basketball. Pretty bad
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ejected or fouled out? if the former, what'd he do?
 
#21      
PepeSilvia
IlliniFan42 said:
If the money gets good enough he might change his mind, but they're a negative from a basketball perspective compared to setting your own schedule.
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Don't get to set youre own schedule but get to play teams that you're unfamiliar with on a neutral court with little prep time and usually playing a game a day. Id argue that's a tremendous development opportunity for your team and only serves to get them more comfortable in an environment that somewhat resembles the NCAA tournament (and conference).

The last national champion to not play in a early season tournament was Baylor in 2021 though that was also the fall of 2020 and I believe most of those tournaments were cancelled and teams were playing weird non-cons.

Florida - won ESPN invitational this year
UConn - won the empire classic
UConn - won the Phil Knight tourney
Kansas - Third in ESPN invitational(lost to Dayton)

Baylor - did not participate(COVID year)

Virginia - Won battle 4 atlantis
Villanova - won the battle for Atlantis
UNC - won the Maui
Villanova - won NIT tip off
Duke - won Coaches vs Cancer classic
UConn - won 2k sports classic
Louisville - 2nd in batte 4 atlantis(lost to Duke)
Kentucky - won Hall of Fame tip off
UConn - won Maui
Duke - won NIT tip off
UNC - Won Maui

Kansas - did not participate

Florida - 2nd in Las Vegas Invitational
Florida - won 2k sports coaches vs Cancer classic(now empire classic formerly AC shootout)

Now I'm going to stop there because I can't remember who won the 2005 championship but I think my point stands. Now I understand correlation doesn't equal causation and obviously national champions are good teams that tend to excel in non-con but still 17 of the last 19 champions participated in an in-season tournament with 14/17 winning the event(1 of the 2 to not participate was likely influenced by COVID).

Now I think Brad and Dan Hurley are way more knowledgeable than me about basketball but I genuinely think they are wrong about these events. It's a good bonding experience for your team and makes them face adversity with multiple games in as many days in an NCAA tournament like atmosphere(lower stakes). That can only be a good thing for your team imo.

Hurleys complaining about Maui just came across as being a sore loser(he didn't complain the previous two years). Imo, if a coach doesn't like or is avoiding these events then it speaks to a lack of confidence in their own ability to coach and prepare their teams in a tournament like setting(very similar to conference tourneys and the 1 day or prep you get for the 2nd round, elite 8, and title game).
 
#22      
STLini25
The team runs a preseason mile for conditioning. The times have posted or in articles. Does anyone have a link to an article or to the times in any recent year?
 
#25      
GatorMcKlusky
3 point girl said:
Those used to be a blast- Vegas, Maui, South Padre, Cancun, etc. Can't believe he won't do them anymore. The players loved them.
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And the players suffered from jet lag and played like crap when they got home. But the coaches and administrators' spouses LOVED IT! So there's that.
 
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