Nice to see three people already in this thread who will be there - Fighter and Mrs. Fighter are meeting four of our Iowa friends and going together ... so I REALLY want this one! I am a little bummed the Sunday night start time might subdue Illini fan attendance, but this is traditionally the arena where we bring the most fans besides Northwestern. I think it is a combination of (1) Iowa not selling tickets at the level of other close opponents like Indiana/Purdue/Wisconsin and (2) Illini fans in the Quad Cities and Western Illinois actually having a shorter trip to Iowa City than to Champaign to see the team. I was at the game last year, and I would estimate there were somewhere around 1,500 to 2,000 Illini fans or 10-13% of the crowd. I will never forget newspapers reporting in 2005 that there were up to 5,500 to 6,000 Illini fans (plus the Krush) in attendance in Carver, which would be 35-40% of the crowd. I was there, and it honestly felt like 50/50. Besides Northwestern, I haver never seen so much orange in an opposing arena.
I encourage any Illini fans who can afford to take a Monday off to attend! Tickets are not expensive online. This will be my first and only time to see this team live and only time ever to see Domask, Guerrier and maybe even some others play. In an ever-changing college basketball world, a team like this deserves to see Illini fans everywhere they go!! I'm predicting they play inspired:
#12 Illinois 89
Iowa 81
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