Team had been dealing with positive COVID-19 tests.
www.stltoday.com
CHAMPAIGN, lll. — After Christmas break, coach Brad Underwood and the Illinois men’s basketball team got some bad news.
When players returned from trips home following their Braggin’ Rights win over Missouri, 10 of them tested positive for COVID-19 and a pause with the program began. After a canceled game against Florida A&M and a postponed contest against Minnesota, Illinois is gearing up to play again.
Illinois (8-3, 2-0 Big Ten) couldn’t play last week because it was under the Big Ten’s requirement of having seven available players, but the team expects to have everyone who isn’t injured to be available against the Gophers. That means Andre Curbelo and Austin Hutcherson still will be out when the teams meet Tuesday at 6 p.m in Minneapolis.
Those players returned after quarantines, some later than the CDC’s new five-day guideline because of inconclusive tests. The CDC’s previous guideline was a 10-day quarantine (until Dec. 27). Underwood said that it is to be determined whether some Illinois players will wear masks during the game.
The Gophers are second in the country in 3-point percentage defense (24.9%). That puts them in an intriguing matchup against the Illini, who are 11th in the country in 3-point shooting. Illinois is 39.75% from behind the arc this season.
“They’re very, very sound and they’re very conservative on the defensive end,” Underwood said. “They’re just right in front of you so they make you shoot over a hand all the time. You’ve just got to jump up and make them.”
“Next man up,” Illinois guard Trent Frazier said. “We’ve had guys put in different positions and have had to step up and had to play a role that they had never played in. I said to coach, ‘If we had five guys, we would have gone to Minnesota and played with five guys.’ That’s what this team is about.”
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Trent Frazier.................................Illini Dog ............................His heart pumps O & B blood........love him.........................