Basketball

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- With less than 12 days until Illinois opens the 2021-22 season at State Farm Center against Jackson State, uncertainty remains about whether they’ll have their All-American center in uniform.

Illinois head coach Brad Underwood confirmed in a media conference that the eligibility status...

Fort Wayne, Indiana, native Luke Goode was the first to commit to Illinois in the class of 2021. Goode was a four-star recruit who many did not know a lot about. Michigan State's head coach Tom Izzo, the dean of the Big Ten basketball coaches, hotly pursued Goode. Izzo followed Goode's football games and made every effort to pursue his services. But in the end, Brad Underwood won the battle and now the 6'7" wing wears orange and blue. Along with Goode in the 2021 freshman class is Wisconsin's Mr. Basketball Brandin Podziemski and Florida prep star R.J. Melendez.

Connor Cagley, IlliniGuys Basketball Writer October 29, 2021 The […]

Connor Cagley, IlliniGuys Basketball Writer October 28, 2021 Here […]

Illini's Cockburn voted  Big Ten preseason Player of the […]

Connor Cagley, IlliniGuys Basketball Writer October 26, 2021 Here […]

Mike Cagley, IlliniGuy October 24, 2021 Today is a […]

Illinois super-senior guard Trent Frazier’s leadership piece to this 2021-22 roster was evident early and often in the Illini’s 67-point win in an exhibition opener.

Matt Stevens, IlliniGuys Staff Writer

October 24, 2021

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- As far as this coaching staff and veteran players are concerned, Illinois accomplished every goal set out for this exhibition opener.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - For the first time in 593 days, fans were allowed in State Farm Center to root on their Fighting Illini team and they weren't disappointed.  Kofi Cockburn and Austin Hutcherson scored 14 points each as Illinois rolled to an exhibition win over St. Francis, 101-34 Saturday night.

For all but just a handful of players, this was the first time that most on the Illinois roster played a home game in front of fans as the arena was limited primarily to staff, family, and the media last season.  Illinois' last home game with a full house was back on March 8, 2020 for a win over Iowa.

Connor Cagley, IlliniGuys Basketball Writer October 23, 2021 The […]

Omar Payne, a 6-foot-10, 225-pound power forward from Kissimmee, Florida, started his career as a Florida Gator. But things did not go as planned for Payne.

Coming out of high school, Payne was considered as one of the country's top centers in the class of 2019. One recruiting service ranked Payne ahead of the current Illinois All-American center Kofi Cockburn.

There are recruits, and then there are big-time recruits. The Fighting Illini have put themselves in a great position with one of the nation's top 20 basketball players in the class of 2023.

Kylan Boswell, a 6-foot-2, 180-pound point guard from Chandler, Arizona, Prep School, is originally from Champaign. The family moved to California when Kylan entered his freshman year of high school.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Brad Underwood made it clear why his program chose the option of starting the 2021-22 season with two exhibition games against sub-Division I competition. 

The Illinois fifth-year head coach knows there will be a 594-day gap between the last time this program played a home game in front of fans. Only four players on this current Illinois roster (Trent Frazier, Da’Monte Williams, Kofi Cockburn and Benjamin Bosmans-Verdonk) has experience of playing at State Farm Center with thousands of fans in the stands. 

“Just the idea of getting 15,000 (fans) back in here excites me and I’m looking forward to seeing how our guys react to that,” said Underwood said Thursday morning.

IlliniGuys.com Insider Brad Sturdy and Director of Recruiting Kedric Prince have been hard at work getting the inside scoop on the Illini's top targets.  Here are their notes posted earlier today on the IlliniGuys members-only message forums:

Ty Rodgers will take his final visit to Alabama this weekend and should be deciding within 7 to 10 days after that. Obviously, Illinois...

Former Illinois guard Ayo Dosunmu finished the Chicago Bulls’ […]