Illini Basketball 2025-2026

Welcome to the Illini Basketball thread

Tickets | Schedule | Roster


Illini Basketball 2025-2026 (10-3, 1-1)

All times CT

Now that the NET Rankings are officially out, here is how our results and upcoming games look in the Quad system.

Quad 1 | 0-2
vs. #1 Michigan
at #3 Purdue
L 61-74 vs. #8 UConn (New York, NY)
at #10 Michigan State
vs. #11 Indiana
vs. #12 Tennessee (Nashville, TN)
L 86-90 vs. #14 Alabama (Chicago, IL)
at #16 Iowa
at #20 USC
at #28 Nebraska
vs. #28 Nebraska
at #48 Northwestern
at #63 Ohio State

Quad 2 | 1-0
W 81-77 vs. #37 Texas Tech
vs. #48 Northwestern
vs. #51 Missouri (St. Louis, MO)
vs. #69 Wisconsin
vs. #74 Washington
at #76 UCLA
vs. #83 Penn State (Philadelphia, PA)

Quad 3 | 1-0
W 84-65 vs. #141 Colgate
vs. #144 Minnesota
at #200 Maryland

Quad 4 | 4-0
W 87-73 vs. #174 UTRGV
vs. #186 Rutgers
W 98-58 vs. #187 LIU
vs. #192 Oregon
vs. #200 Maryland
W 113-70 vs. #219 FGCU
vs. #259 Southern
W 113-55 vs. #341 Jackson State

I definitely think there is some noise in these rankings that will get ironed out ... I mean, if playing AT Maryland is Quad 3, I hate the sound of that!!!! However, it is very clear that we have a ton of Quad 1 opportunities this year. Beat Tennessee, and get our first Quad 1 win of many!

Fighter of the Nightman said:

Now that the NET Rankings are officially out, here is how our results and upcoming games look in the Quad system.

Quad 1 | 0-2
vs. #1 Michigan
at #3 Purdue
L 61-74 vs. #8 UConn (New York, NY)
at #10 Michigan State
vs. #11 Indiana
vs. #12 Tennessee (Nashville, TN)
L 86-90 vs. #14 Alabama (Chicago, IL)
at #16 Iowa
at #20 USC
at #28 Nebraska
vs. #28 Nebraska
at #48 Northwestern
at #63 Ohio State

Quad 2 | 1-0
W 81-77 vs. #37 Texas Tech
vs. #48 Northwestern
vs. #51 Missouri (St. Louis, MO)
vs. #69 Wisconsin
vs. #74 Washington
at #76 UCLA
vs. #83 Penn State (Philadelphia, PA)

Quad 3 | 1-0
W 84-65 vs. #141 Colgate
vs. #144 Minnesota
at #200 Maryland

Quad 4 | 4-0
W 87-73 vs. #174 UTRGV
vs. #186 Rutgers
W 98-58 vs. #187 LIU
vs. #192 Oregon
vs. #200 Maryland
W 113-70 vs. #219 FGCU
vs. #259 Southern
W 113-55 vs. #341 Jackson State

I definitely think there is some noise in these rankings that will get ironed out ... I mean, if playing AT Maryland is Quad 3, I hate the sound of that!!!! However, it is very clear that we have a ton of Quad 1 opportunities this year. Beat Tennessee, and get our first Quad 1 win of many!

Click to expand...

Every 1 seed from the last two tournaments (that's as far back as I had time to look) and 6 out of 8 2 seeds had at least 10 Q1 wins.

We realistically have about 14 Q1 opportunities left including Q2 games that could move to Q1. Plus the BTT which, debatable how much those matter.

Certainly still doable for us to get to double digit Q1 wins. But if we drop Tennessee, we'd have to go 10-3 over our remaining Q1 games which would be a super tall order.

I still refuse to call any game this early a must win. But if we don't win, a 1 or 2 seed becomes very improbable. However, if we do win, we only need to go 9-4 in our remaining Q1 opportunities which feels a whole lot better.

I still think Texas Tech ends up a Q1 win... they have 2 NBA players and a really good coach, they'll figure it out imo.

Plus the NET obviously has 10+ teams ahead of them that are only there because they have played absolutely nobody.

We've all said this, but I'll probably take NET more seriously once we get into January.

Braggin’ Rights tickets:
Anyone receive their tickets yet?

RowdyFromRow22 said:

Braggin’ Rights tickets:
Anyone receive their tickets yet?

Click to expand...

Second week of December last year. My rep had the info available slightly earlier.

Speaking of Braggin’ Rights, I blew it and didn’t purchase during IFund or Season Ticket holder Pre-Sale. Now, turns out I can go.

Anyone know what half/sections are the Illini’s?

Thank you

Go Illini

Umit9 said:

Speaking of Braggin’ Rights, I blew it and didn’t purchase during IFund or Season Ticket holder Pre-Sale. Now, turns out I can go.

Anyone know what half/sections are the Illini’s?

Thank you

Go Illini

Click to expand...

Someone with tickets and / or someone who has gone a lot in the past can correct me, but I believe that if you are looking at the benches, Illinois is on the right, and Missouri is on the left ... that was also my recollection both years I attended (2021-22 and 2022-23). If that is the case and this seating map is accurate...




Illinois would for sure have sections 104-115 and 304-319 ... not sure if they split the middle sections right down the middle or not. Also, using this same ticket map zoomed in, with Mizzou on the left and Illini on the right...



... the crowd is going to be quite full, and we would (once again) outnumber Mizzou fans as of today.

Here are the locations of my Illini tickets the last few years:

305 row G seats 7-13 2018
320 row J seats 8 –12 2019
319 row G seats 3-7 2021
105 row U seats 1-3 2023
112 row H seats 4-7 2023
319 row A seats 5-6 2023
304 row K seats 15-16 2024

Konnie said:

Here are the locations of my Illini tickets the last few years:

305 row G seats 7-13 2018
320 row J seats 8 –12 2019
319 row G seats 3-7 2021
105 row U seats 1-3 2023
112 row H seats 4-7 2023
319 row A seats 5-6 2023
304 row K seats 15-16 2024

Click to expand...

Mad props on your record-keeping, Konnie (or, if photographic memory, even madder props).
Can I borrow some of your business receipts come tax time?

Fighter of the Nightman said:

Now that the NET Rankings are officially out, here is how our results and upcoming games look in the Quad system.

Quad 1 | 0-2
vs. #1 Michigan
at #3 Purdue
L 61-74 vs. #8 UConn (New York, NY)
at #10 Michigan State
vs. #11 Indiana
vs. #12 Tennessee (Nashville, TN)
L 86-90 vs. #14 Alabama (Chicago, IL)
at #16 Iowa
at #20 USC
at #28 Nebraska
vs. #28 Nebraska
at #48 Northwestern
at #63 Ohio State

Quad 2 | 1-0
W 81-77 vs. #37 Texas Tech
vs. #48 Northwestern
vs. #51 Missouri (St. Louis, MO)
vs. #69 Wisconsin
vs. #74 Washington
at #76 UCLA
vs. #83 Penn State (Philadelphia, PA)

Quad 3 | 1-0
W 84-65 vs. #141 Colgate
vs. #144 Minnesota
at #200 Maryland

Quad 4 | 4-0
W 87-73 vs. #174 UTRGV
vs. #186 Rutgers
W 98-58 vs. #187 LIU
vs. #192 Oregon
vs. #200 Maryland
W 113-70 vs. #219 FGCU
vs. #259 Southern
W 113-55 vs. #341 Jackson State

I definitely think there is some noise in these rankings that will get ironed out ... I mean, if playing AT Maryland is Quad 3, I hate the sound of that!!!! However, it is very clear that we have a ton of Quad 1 opportunities this year. Beat Tennessee, and get our first Quad 1 win of many!

Click to expand...

Great minds...

Before I even got to your closing comment, Maryland was the opponent I immediately zoomed in on. And that is not just because they have our number lately (new team every year, etc.). I saw them in person at Marquette this year. While I am in no way saying they are great, they did not look like a #200 team to me. Unless Marquette really stinks this year?

Battle89 said:

Great minds...

Before I even got to your closing comment, Maryland was the opponent I immediately zoomed in on. And that is not just because they have our number lately (new team every year, etc.). I saw them in person at Marquette this year. While I am in no way saying they are great, they did not look like a #200 team to me. Unless Marquette really stinks this year?

Click to expand...

Marquette is indeed, very bad.

A couple random things I noticed while looking at KenPom and Torvik this morning.

1. Most teams that make it to the second weekend, aren't playing their best ball in March. Of the last 32 Sweet 16 teams, the T-Rank for about 2/3 peaked before March.
2. Of the 11 teams that did peak in March, only one truly "jelled" in March - NC St. in 2024. The rest jelled (i.e. saw a big spike in their T-Rank) much earlier in the season.

What does this mean? Well, for one, it's directional not statistically conclusive so TIFWIW. But if you're hoping that we magically jell at the exact right moment, that probably won't happen. Good teams start playing well earlier in the season and tend to maintain a high level of play. On the other hand, contrary to popular belief, you don't have to be playing your very best ball in March to advance in the tournament.

------

The second thing, unrelated to the first, our KenPom NetRtg right now is 25.04. Good enough for 17th.

The three teams who ended last year with ratings closest to 25.04 were two S16 teams; Purdue and Kentucky, and then...Illinois.

And if you go back to 2024, the team with the NetRtg closest to 25.04....Illinois who finished ranked 10th in KenPom.

So, right now we're playing at a level that has been typical of our teams the last couple years and typical of second weekend teams the last couple years.

The fact that our rating right now only puts us at 17th shows how much more efficient teams are now than they were even just a couple years ago. Before last year a rating of 25+ would almost certainly have meant you were a top 10 team.

Couple random thoughts related to the NET Rankings and how they could affect our Illini.

1) I am no expert on how the NET actually works, but I feel pretty confident saying we should all expect to see a lot of noise removed from these rankings over the next couple of weeks. As one example Syracuse went from #91 yesterday to #73 today, making that a Quad 1 loss for Tennessee overnight that probably won't hurt their resume too much. I get it was a big win for 'Cuse, but I don't recall jumps that big being possible from this type of game later in the season.

2) Root for the Huskers. While it might be unlikely to stay this way all year, they are just two spots away from being #30 and therefore making our December 13 home game vs. them a Quad 1 opportunity.

2) Also root for UCLA. Their NET Ranking of #78 seems surprisingly low, and we really want both West Coast road games to be Quad 1 (which would require UCLA to get back into the top 75).

3) This has been mentioned before, but we really need Maryland to not pick up too many losses in the first half of the season. Not only do they have a weird voodoo curse over us, but I also think they have some talent that could improve as the year goes on, to the point where they are a much harder team to beat than anyone will be given credit for as it relates to the Quad system. We play them twice, and as of now given their NET Ranking of #171 ... that would be a Quad 3 game in College Park and a QUAD 4 GAME in Champaign. Those are potential resume torpedoes.

4) As much as it's fun to watch our rivals struggle, the NET is a good illustration of why we really do want at least a competitive Missouri team year in and year out ... it's not like we have struggled to beat the good ones over the years, either! Because that game is always in St. Louis, we get credit for a Quad 1 win if Mizzou gets into the top 50 and a Quad 1 win if they are in the top 100 ... given how records sort of go out the window in a rivalry game like that, it is nothing but bad news for us if Mizzou is a Quad 3 opponent.

Very early but it’s time to get to work….

RowdyFromRow22 said:

Braggin’ Rights tickets:
Anyone receive their tickets yet?

Click to expand...

No tickets yet! still waiting.

Any update on Ty? Is he able to start practicing soon?

HTime said:

Any update on Ty? Is he able to start practicing soon?

Click to expand...

From this morning:
Sure doesn’t sound like an imminent return.

thefalcon5 said:

From this morning:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1996612624956690709

Sure doesn’t sound like an imminent return.

Click to expand...

Yup, unfortunately given the type of injury (partially torn patellar tendon) he probably has another 3 months left if he's just now jogging. I'm certainly no doctor but I do have some experience with injuries like his via coaching over the years. However, I'm sure whatever medical staff they have is light years better than who our guys see / have seen lol... so you never know.

Get better and get that medical redshirt... we'll (hopefully) see you next season, Ty.

NarrowJ said:

Yup, unfortunately given the type of injury (partially torn patellar tendon) he probably has another 3 months left if he's just now jogging. I'm certainly no doctor but I do have some experience with injuries like his via coaching over the years. However, I'm sure whatever medical staff they have is light years better than who our guys see / have seen lol... so you never know.

Get better and get that medical redshirt... we'll (hopefully) see you next season, Ty.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I’m no doctor, but that sounds like a best case February return and at that point it could be more valuable to take a medical redshirt than try to integrate a brand new piece into an established team.

Not sure if this should be in some type of Bracketology thread, but here is an updated list of our results / upcoming schedule by Quad classification.

Quad 1 | 0-2
vs. #1 Michigan
at #3 Purdue
L 61-74 vs. #8 UConn (New York, NY)
at #10 Michigan State
L 86-90 vs. #11 Alabama (Chicago, IL)
vs. #22 Tennessee (Nashville, TN)
vs. #24 Indiana
at #25 USC
at #32 Nebraska
at #34 Iowa
at #49 UCLA
at #60 Northwestern
at #63 Ohio State

Quad 2 | 1-0
vs. #32 Nebraska
W 81-77 vs. #37 Texas Tech
vs. #53 Wisconsin
vs. #60 Northwestern
vs. #65 Missouri (St. Louis, MO)
vs. #81 Penn State (Philadelphia, PA)

Quad 3 | 1-0
vs. #88 Washington
vs. #123 Minnesota
W 84-65 vs. #145 Colgate
at #178 Maryland

Quad 4 | 4-0
vs. #176 Oregon
vs. #178 Maryland
W 87-73 vs. #185 UTRGV
vs. #189 Rutgers
W 98-58 vs. #198 LIU
W 113-70 vs. #223 FGCU
vs. #260 Southern
W 113-55 vs. #345 Jackson State

Some Changes & Notes
- Nebraska home game fell to Quad 2 (as we all might have expected, lol).
- Mizzou plummeted from #51 to #65, so hopes for Braggin' Rights to be Quad 1 anytime soon are probably gone ... still probably safe as Quad 2, though (requiring MU to be in the top 100).
- The Washington home game is now Quad 3 ... so no messing around on that day!
- UCLA made a dramatic jump from #76 to #49, so our road game there is now safely Quad 1.
- While it was great to protect home court, that Texas Tech win is only Quad 1 if TTU gets back into the top 30 (they are at #37). That is the advantage of neutral site games, where you get a much more lenient Quad system (Q1 #1-50 and Q2 #51-100) without having to play in a true road environment. We could REALLY use that win in Nashville!

Also, while all games are important and the rankings could change quite a lot, there are a couple games I am identifying as early ones that either (A) we must win because they're such golden opportunities or (B) absolutely cannot lose because they could sink us.

Golden Opportunities
vs. #22 Tennessee (Nashville, TN) ... This will almost CERTAINLY remain a Quad 1 game, and the Committee has stated in the past that it does put some positive weight on victories at neutral sites, given it's a Tournament-like environment.

at #49 UCLA ... This is very unlikely to slip to a Quad 2 game, UCLA looks pretty "meh" so far and it is one of the less intimidating environments in the conference for road teams. Need to get a W here.

CANNOT Lose
vs. #123 Minnesota ... The Gophers just knocked off an at least decent Indiana team, so they're not completely inept. Conversely, their metrics are highly unlikely to improve to the point where a home loss to them wouldn't be absolutely disastrous for our resume. Plus, this will be one of those dreaded 11:00 am weekend games where we have often seemed to be asleep at the wheel to start, and it will be played after two potentially emotionally draining road games at Iowa and Northwestern ... with very little rest. Need to show up this game!!

at #178 Maryland ... It's absolutely wild that a game AT Maryland would be Quad 3, but here we are. They have obviously had our number and it's always tough to play on the road, so we will need to come out with proper energy and effort to avoid an ugly stain on our resume in the season finale...

ironhand said:

No tickets yet! still waiting.

Click to expand...

Was told Tuesday by my account representative that they should have them out by the end of the week.

Can anyone provide a hypothetical reasoning why (A) Braggin' Rights tickets never even go on sale until like the very end of November and (B) why people never receive their tickets until like 10-15 days before the game?? It seems so bizarre, lol. Is it just related to the logistics of the 50/50 crowd setup and not having a random spattering of Illini and Mizzou fans in every section?

College basketball tickets in general go on sale later than one would expect relative to the game dates. My first guess is the athletic departments have donor lists they need to consult with first before tickets become available to the public (or less important donors).