Basketball

By IlliniGuys Staff January 14, 2024 (Cover photo courtesy […]

Brad Sturdy, Co-Host Sports Spectacular & Big Sports Radio, Illini Insider

January 14, 2023

The Illini will host Maryland on Sunday at 1PM on a bitterly cold afternoon. The Illini have won 5 of their last 6 and are 3-1 since losing Star Guard Terrence Shannon. Maryland comes in off of a home win against Michigan. The Terps have been good defensively, but have struggled on offense this season, shooting just 27.7% from 3 thus far. The Illini are on a roll offensively and will have a tough battle against the stingy MAryland defense. 

Here are our keys and a pick.

Setting the Stage

#10 Illinois (12-3, 3-1 B1G) vs. Maryland (10-6, 2-3 B1G) 

Jan. 14, 2024 // 1 p.m. CT // Champaign, Ill. // State Farm Center 

TV: BTN – Kevin Kugler (Play-by-Play), Robbie Hummel (Analyst) 

Radio: Busey Bank Illini Sports Network – Brian Barnhart (Play-By-Play), Doug Altenberger

Notables

Illinois welcomes Maryland to State Farm Center on Sunday afternoon (1 p.m. CT, BTN) for the second game of back-to-back Big Ten home contests, following Thursday night’s thrilling 71-68 victory over Michigan State.  The Illini are No. 10 in the latest AP ranking, marking the team’s seventh consecutive week inside the top 25. 

In the tradition of Ayo Dosunmu, Kofi Cockburn, Jacob Grandison and Giorgi Bezhanishvili, it’s possible Thursday night was another Illini formal introduction to Michigan State by a heralded addition. 

Matt Stevens, IlliniGuys Staff Writer

January 13, 2023

CHAMPAIGN — Whether it’s in State Farm Center or East Lansing, the coming out introduction party game for an Illinois player typically comes in a game against Michigan State. Welcome Ty Rodgers, make yourself at home.

Kedric Prince, IlliniGuys Director of Recruiting

January 13, 2024

Illinois women's basketball recruit Hayven Smith, the class of 2024, is just 64 points shy of reaching a milestone of the 1,000-point club. Just last month Smith was on campus to watch her future teammates take on the Missouri Tigers. Tuesday night against Stagg, she finished with 16 points and was under the weather. 

U.S. District Judge Colleen Lawless heard verbal argument for […]

January 12, 2024   IlliniGuys' Brad Sturdy was in […]

By Brad Sturdy - IlliniGuys Insider/Analyst; Co-Host, IlliniGuys Sports Spectacular

January 12, 2024

(Cover photo courtesy Joe Clark/IlliniGuys)

Slobberknocker. Rockfight. Grinder. There are numerous adjectives that are used to describe Thursday nights’ game between Illinois and Michigan State, but for Illinois the key was a 71-68 win no matter how you describe it. The Illini led by as many as 10 points, but could never put the Spartans away and had to hold on for the 3-point win. 

Marcus Domask, Ty Rodgers and Coleman Hawkins all had 15 points to lead a balanced attack for the Illini, who move to 12-3 and 3-1 in league play with a favorable stretch of games coming up. 

These 3 Things

Balance Prevails -

By Larry Smith - IlliniGuys Co-Founder & Host/Executive Producer, […]

By IlliniGuys Staff January 11, 2024 (Cover photo courtesy […]

By IlliniGuys Staff January 11, 2024 (Cover photo courtesy […]

Two of the best defensive teams in the Big Ten Conference coming off disappointing losses will meet in State Farm Center. 

Matt Stevens, IlliniGuys Staff Writer

January 11, 2023

CHAMPAIGN — Brad Underwood made sure his squad’s film review for the Michigan State Spartans included watching Tom Izzo’s post-game rant from Sunday night.

After an 88-74 loss at Northwestern, the Spartans 29-year head coach ripped into his team’s lack of defensive execution, inability to control the rebounding advantage or play with physicality, a laziness when it came to taking care of the basketball and for good measure, took some parting shots at the analytical community on his way out of Evanston, Illinois. 

Kedric Prince, IlliniGuys Director of Recruiting

January 11, 2024

Early this weekend four-star guard Jeremiah Fears released his final list of five schools. The original plan was to narrow the list to maybe 10. Jeremy Fears Sr., a former DI athlete himself, went through the recruiting process; with his son Jeremy Jr. a freshman at Michigan State and now with Jeremiah, they have learned a lot, and it is only right to be honest and fair to those he does not plan to attend. 

Jeremiah said, "I’m honored and blessed that all of those schools recruited me, they have been great, I've built some great relationships with all of them. But after talking to my family, it was time to narrow things down."

Jeremy Sr. shared with IlliniGuys why each school made this cut.

A restraining order/injunction filed by Illinois guard Terrence Shannon Jr. against the University of Illinois for an immediate removal of Shannon’s suspension will be heard in federal court on Friday.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Staff Writer

January 10, 2024

Terrence Shannon’s hearing against the University of Illinois in federal district court has been set for a Friday afternoon in the form of a video conference appointment. 

The graduate senior guard, who filed for a temporary restraining order Monday in Champaign County Court in order to immediately return to the University of Illinois basketball team, has seen his case moved to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois. According to federal court filings, the initial judge assigned to the case, Colin Stirling Bruce, recused himself on Tuesday and judge Colleen R. Lawless was assigned Tuesday morning. 

The representation for Shannon, which includes attorneys Mark P. Sutter, Rob Lang, Steve Beckett and Mark Goldenberg, apparently didn't need to refile the motion for the restraining order in federal court, as it was attached to the removal notice and the judge decided to take up the motion as is based on the limited info available. Lawless ordered the representation for the University of Illinois, University of Illinois Board of Trustees and University of Illinois System president Timothy L. Killeen - which includes attorney Peter G. Land - to file a response to Shannon’s temporary restraining order request by Thursday, and set a hearing date for Friday at 1:30 p.m. CST to be done by video teleconferencing. 

Brad Sturdy, Co-Host IlliniGuys Sports Spectacular & Big Sports […]