Basketball

December 15, 2022

It's been a tough week at Ubben for the Illinois men's basketball program.  A week intended to focus on final exams, despite the persistent cloud from last Saturday's upset home loss to Penn State that just won't go away.

Head coach Brad Underwood held nothing back in blasting his team's lack of leadership in that game in perhaps his most fiery postgame speech during his Illinois tenure.

How will the players respond, starting with this Saturday's non-conference game vs. Alabama A&M (3pm CT, BTN)?  The fellas give their thoughts on this week's IlliniGuys Sports Spectacular:

Illinois improves to 9-2 in 2022-23 season with a […]

Brad Sturdy, Co-Host IlliniGuys Sports Spectacular

December 11, 2022

Coming off of the win against Texas, the Illini were feeling good about themselves, perhaps a bit too good.

Just days after defeating the No. 2 team in the country on a neutral floor, No. 17 Illinois drops its worst loss at home since March 7, 2019.

Matt Stevens, IlliniGuys Staff Writer

December 10, 2022

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Illinois simply forgot to bring its defense back home from New York City and saw its second-half offense unable to make another comeback. 

IlliniGuys Staff and Illinois Sports Information December 10, 2022 […]

Connor Cagley, IlliniGuys Basketball Writer December 9, 2022 Illinois […]

Brad Sturdy, Co-Host IlliniGuys Sports Spectacular

December 9, 2022

Whirlwind 36 hours from the time I left my house and drove 4 hours to Chicago, flew to NYC, then back to Chicago and back home.

Illini women's basketball coach Shauna Green talks after getting […]

Adalia McKenzie had a double-double in the third quarter […]

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Staff Writer

December 7, 2022

(Cover photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Shauna Green needed to take the mental and emotional temperature of her basketball roster following a close loss at No. 5 Indiana.

In the Monday afternoon film review and short practice just over 24 hours after the loss in Bloomington, Ind., Green asked her team what they were feeling following the most competitive game that Illinois has played against the Hoosiers in several years.

“They kept telling me that they were mad,” Green said Tuesday. “They were saying words like disappointed. And I want them to be that way. I don’t want to coach a team that is happy to be in it because our expectation was to go there and win.”

By Brad Sturdy - IlliniGuys Insider/Analyst

December 7, 2022

(Cover photo courtesy Brad Penner/USA Today Sports)

Horns Down

The 17th ranked Fighting Illini trailed by as many as 10 points in the second half before battling back to beat the #2 Texas Longhorns in overtime in the JimmyV Classic at Madison Square Garden by an 85-78 score. Matthew Mayer scored a career-high 21 points, keeping Illinois alive in the first half, before Jayden Epps (11 points) made big plays down the stretch and Terrence Shannon took over with 12 points in overtime (16 overall) to give the Illini the win over the previously unbeaten Longhorns. 

The Illini move to 7-2 and now have another big non-conference win over a national program heading into Big Ten play. 

Here’s what we saw.

By IlliniGuys Staff December 6, 2022 (Cover photo courtesy […]

Jimmy V Classic // #17/17 Illinois (6-2) vs. #2/2 Texas (6-0)
Dec. 6, 2022 // 6 p.m. CT (7 p.m. ET) // New York, N.Y. // Madison Square Garden
TV: ESPN – Dan Shulman (Play-by-Play), Jay Bilas (Analyst), Holly Rowe (Reports)
Radio: Busey Bank Illini Sports Network – Brian Barnhart (Play-By-Play), Deon Thomas (Analyst) // SiriusXM 134/195, SXM App 957

• No. 17 Illinois returns to the East Coast on Tuesday night, facing No. 2 Texas in the Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden (6 p.m. CT, ESPN).

• Illinois’ two losses are away from home to undefeated teams: 7-0 Virginia in Las Vegas and at 8-0 Maryland. No. 2 Texas is Illinois’ fourth ranked opponent in nine games to open the season, and third top-10 Kenpom foe. Illinois is 1-2 versus ranked opponents this season and has won 12 of its last 20 games against Top 25 teams.  Illinois is 11-5 in their last 16 games versus top-10 teams. Illinois is a combined 7-40 all-time against teams ranked in the top 2 of the AP poll.

IlliniGuys Staff

December 5, 2021

(Cover photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

Long before our Larry Smith was an IlliniGuy, he was a sports anchor for CNN and more recently an award-winning news anchor in Washington, D.C.  So, the Illini's game at Maryland Friday night gave him a chance to not only cover his favorite team for us, but engage in a wide-range of conversations from the BTN broadcast team to Jayden Epps' family to Maryland's legendary national championship-winning coach Gary Williams.

He offered his thoughts the day after the Illinois loss to our premium members on the IlliniGuys' message forum, the site of countless insider nuggets and expert observations.  You can read Larry's contributions as well as those of our team of experts and analysts by signing up for your free 7-day trial right here on IlliniGuys.com: https://illiniguys.com/subscribe/

(From Illini Sports Information Department)   BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Illinois […]