Pregame: Illinois at Iowa, Sunday, January 11th, 11:00am CT, FOX
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Jason Benetti and Steve Smith to be on the call for this one.
frozenrope9190
- Aurora, IL
Bears win Saturday night, Illinois wins Sunday afternoon.
Perfect.
Perfect.
Illini in Indiana
- Indiana
Huge game, a win could nullify the Nebraska loss. Lets steal this one. Bring the Illini fans "surprise" block for this one.
PizzaHutParkingLot
- Vodice, Croatia
(Quad 1 victories)
Illinifan533
- Normal, Illinois
Wonder if the Iowa people are still on alert after the faux scandal a few years ago
Put Kylan and Andrej on Stirtz for 40 minutes. He’s gonna score 20 no matter what but make it tough as possible on him. I really think Andrej’s length could help bother him
Maryland fans say "hello!" 
They’re not Footprint. Not 1896.Maryland fans say "hello!"
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
I’ve been in Carver for a lot of these. Pretty much for any weekend game, Illini fan contingent has ranged from 1,000 or so to a high of literally 6,000 in 2005. I think their newspapers estimated we had over 3,000 in 2024.
I think there will be quite a bit of orange!!
I think Iowa is beatable, but we do not like morning games at all. Iowa has yet to lose a home game this season. I think we're the better team. First conference game of the season I really don't know which way to call, I'm very slightly leaning towards loss. Hope I'm wrong!
OrangeBlue98
Iowa is not in a great spot right now (LvilleILL1)
- Des Moines, IA
Unfortunately, work will keep me from this one. Would love to make the 90 minute trip from Des Moines, but unexpected items with compressed timelines will have me in the office with this game on my laptop.
Anyway, Go Illini!
Anyway, Go Illini!
We have to use height on the boards. Can't let Strrtz get going. Does Bam cover him? We need a big game by Tomi and Z.
altgeld88
- Arlington, Virginia
... and then scream an expletive in our faces. Been there (at Xfinity Center), done that.Maryland fans say "hello!"
Rock freaking bottom.
Definitely a "seed line win" opportunity as I like to call them. Quad 1A road kill is a tasty Sunday brunch coming off a Bears victory tomorrow night.
Interesting matchup. They can shoot (38% as a team) and look to be a good rebounding team but don’t look to have great size. They play one of the slowest paces in the country, but we also play pretty slow as well so I don’t think tempo will bother us.
Biggest concern to me is live ball turnovers. Both Andrej and Mirk have had a tendency to dribble into traffic and I don’t think they can do that vs Iowa. In fact this may not be a Mirk game, we may need Ben and Jake to chase around on the perimeter.
Stirtz is a stud. But I think if we stick with our normal game plan I like our chances. Stay on their shooters, make Stirtz’s shots tough with a combination of rear view contests from Kylan/Andrej/Keaton and shooting over the Ivisic’s, think we can contain their offense. Avoid live ball turnovers and use our positional size to exploit matchups and win the rebounding battle. Think we can come out on top.
Biggest concern to me is live ball turnovers. Both Andrej and Mirk have had a tendency to dribble into traffic and I don’t think they can do that vs Iowa. In fact this may not be a Mirk game, we may need Ben and Jake to chase around on the perimeter.
Stirtz is a stud. But I think if we stick with our normal game plan I like our chances. Stay on their shooters, make Stirtz’s shots tough with a combination of rear view contests from Kylan/Andrej/Keaton and shooting over the Ivisic’s, think we can contain their offense. Avoid live ball turnovers and use our positional size to exploit matchups and win the rebounding battle. Think we can come out on top.
Retro62
- North Bethesda, Maryland
Without a doubt, Maryland fans are the absolute worst. The last time I was at the XFinity Center for a game, I got a loud "F*** Illinois" shouted in my face at least three times just getting to my seat. They are a classless mob when they assemble. I got my second college degree there, but I've never rooted for them in any sport...except maybe when they played Duke or NC while still in the ACC. They are obnoxious whether they win or lose.
I juxtapose that with the fans I've dealt with from almost every other BIG school. The PSU folks at the Palestra were both friendly and gracious from the get-go. Likewise anytime I've dealt with Rutgers fans. They were even friendly to us when we went to a local place for dinner after the Pay Bryant TD game.
I juxtapose that with the fans I've dealt with from almost every other BIG school. The PSU folks at the Palestra were both friendly and gracious from the get-go. Likewise anytime I've dealt with Rutgers fans. They were even friendly to us when we went to a local place for dinner after the Pay Bryant TD game.
Must-win game, IMO, if we want to have a shot at the conference title.
I do want to say I think Iowa's record is a bit of fool's gold. They had an extremely weak non-con, 338th in the country, and haven't played well in their only two ranked contests. Illinois-Iowa is always a throw out the records kind of game, though.
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I think Stojakovic might be the better choice to gaurd Stirtz with his extra length.
While correct they had Iowa state on the ropes but yes not much there. We have more dudes than them besides 1.
What happened to Robbie Hummel? Hasn’t done a single Illinois game this year from my memory and did what felt like 10 of them last season.
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