basketball recruiting

Illinois head coach Shauna Green says her team’s practice plan has changed but not the intensity of how they prepare early on in this 2024-25 season.

Game Notes:

#22 Illinois vs, Oregon State
State Farm Center, Champaign, Ill.
7 p.m. CST (BTN Plus)

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Staff Writer

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Less than a month into this 2024-25 regular season, the first question by Illinois head coach Shauna Green in the early morning staff meetings is the same: Who is available?

Not even before the Thanksgiving holiday, No. 22 Illinois has seen themselves down to as little as nine active players for practice and games. The Illini (4-0) have already seen All-Big Ten guard Makira Cook and Genesis Bryant miss extended time with minor injuries while already announcing the season-ending injury to 6-foot-7 transfer center Lety Vasconcelos from Baylor and continue to monitor the ongoing back issues of reserve forward Shay Bollin. Then, Illinois saw freshman wing/forward Berry Wallace, a former McDonald’s All-America honoree, be placed in a splint after suffering a fracture in her right hand.

By Brad Sturdy - IlliniGuys Insider/Analyst & Co-Host, IlliniGuys SportsSpectacular

November 21, 2024

(Cover photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

The Illini were beat up by the Alabama offense Wednesday night in Birmingham in the Bama Beatdown. No, this was no Albert Bandura experiment, this was a new fashioned 3 point barrage and analytics dream by the Crimson Tide in a 100-87 win over the youthful Illini.

Although the Illini made a charge in the second half to get within 8 points, the simple fact of the matter is that, at this point in the season, and in Birmingham, Alabama is the better team.

These 3 Things:

Hoop Du Jour September 8 Edition The Illini football […]

Illiniguys Mike Cagley and Sturdy talk about the Illini […]

Three-star OLB Pat Farrell from Chicago’s St. Rita High School is the 12th in-state high school prospect signed by Illinois since Bret Bielema was hired in Dec. 2020. 

Matt Stevens, IlliniGuys Staff Writer

June 5, 2022

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Bret Bielema’s rebuild of the Illinois football program has placed the Chicagoland area as a cornerstone to his recruiting philosophy and Pat Farrell continued that tradition Sunday night. 

Fighting Illini Head Coach Brad Underwood joins Sturdy to […]

Kedric Prince, IlliniGuys Director of Recruiting

February 28, 2022

Point guard Kylan Boswell, 6-foot-1, 180-pound from Compass Prep in Arizona, Boswell picked the Arizona Wildcats today.

Jeremy Fears committed earlier today to Michigan State.  What really happened?  Director of Recruiting, Kedric Prince, provides his insight.

By Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys.com Director of Recruiting

January 6, 2022

One of the many reasons you should subscribe to IlliniGuys.com is the quality and factual information we provide our members.

Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys Director of Recruiting

December 27, 2021

Illini-commit Jayden Epps courtesy of Virginian-Pilot

Illinois assistant coach Chester Frazier put his name on the map early upon arrival in Champaign.

December 14, 2021

This past weekend it was easy to be caught up in one of the biggest non-conference basketball games at the State Farm Center in decades.

If ever there was a time to have one of the nation's top prospects on campus, this was it. Akil Watson, a 6-foot-9, 200-pound forward from Roselle, New Jersey, saw one of the best college basketball games at the State Farm Center in a while.

December 13, 2021

Oct. 19, 2017, is the date Illinois basketball changed for the better in the late 2000s. Former All-American guard Ayo Dosunmu committed on that date to the Fighting Illini.

Dosunmu, the five-star recruit, picked Illinois over Cincinnati, Florida State, Butler, Iowa State, Kansas, Marquette, Missouri, Oklahoma State, USC, Texas A & M, and Xavier.

Everything about Dosunmu, from my first conversation to my last, has been nothing but first-class; you do not expect an 18-year-old young man to have that kind of charisma and professionalism at the same time.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - After adding three dynamic athletes in the backcourt and on the wing earlier this fall, the Illini found their big man in the transfer portal when former top 100 recruit Dain Dainja visited and pulled the trigger. Dainja transferred from Baylor after sitting out as a freshman and battling an injury that caused him to struggle this season in three games before jumping into the portal.

By Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys.com Director of Recruiting

Nov. 24,2021

It has been a while since Illini Nation got the latest update on 2023 6-foot-1, 165-pound point guard from Joliet, Illinois, Jeremy Fears Jr. who plays his high school basketball at La Lumiere Prep.

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Illinois made it clear this year that it wanted two outstanding guards in the class of 2022 and one dominant wing. Both guards signed are four-star recruits: Sencire Harris is a 6-foot-3, 160-pound combo guard from Akron, Ohio, and Jayden Epps is a 6-foot-1, 170-pound point guard from Suffolk, Virginia.

Now add Ty Rodgers, a 6-foot-4, 180-pound small forward originally from Grand Blanc, Michigan, who recently transferred to Thornton High School in Harvey, Illinois.