Basketball

By IlliniGuys Staff November 4, 2024 CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - […]

By Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys Director of Recruiting

November 4, 2024

CHAMPAIGN, IL. — Coming off one of the best seasons in recent Illinois history with an Elite Eight appearance, Illinois head coach Brad Underwood has overhauled his roster, leaving only two returning players: junior Ty Rodgers and Dravyn Gibbs-Lawhorn.

IlliniGuys learned that Rodgers has been heavily weighing his options. The 6-foot-6 junior combo player from Saginaw, Mich., who attended Thornton Township (IL), has officially announced his decision to sit out the upcoming season.

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

November 4, 2024

Setting the Stage

NR/#24 Illinois (0-0) vs. Eastern Illinois (0-0) 

Monday, Nov. 4, 2024 // 7 p.m. CT // Champaign, Ill. // State Farm Center 

Stream: B1G+ – Peter Hanson (Play-by-Play), Genesis Bryant (Analyst), Alec Gilmore (Sideline) Radio: Busey Bank Illini Sports Network – Brian Barnhart (Play-By-Play), Deon Thomas

Notable

*The Illini have posted an all-time record of 105-14 (.882) in season openers. The Fighting Illini have won eight straight openers, a streak that began on Nov. 11, 2016 in an 81-62 victory over Southeast Missouri. • Illinois has hosted Eastern Illinois for its season opener in each of the last two seasons, defeating the Panthers 80-52 to open the 2023-24 season, and securing an 87-57 win over EIU to open the 2022-23 campaign. 

*The Illini are 40-2 all-time (.952) when starting the season at State Farm Center. Illinois has won 27 straight games when opening the year at State Farm Center, a run that began on Dec. 1, 1993 with a 99-73 win over La Salle. 

*Despite having campuses located 50 miles apart, Illinois will face Eastern Illinois on Monday night for just the third time in the last 22 years, all coming in the last three season openers. Monday marks the ninth meeting between the programs. Illinois has won the previous eight games, all in Champaign.

*Eastern Illinois Athletic Director Tom Michael was a four-year letterwinner for the Fighting Illini from 1991-94. One of the best shooters in program history, Michael still holds Illini records for season (.493) and career (.449) 3-point percentage. Following his playing career, Michael spent 18 years in the U of I’s Division of Intercollegiate Athletics, rising to senior associate athletic director, before taking over at EIU in 2014. Illinois assistant coach Geoff Alexander served on EIU head coach Marty Simmons’ staff at Evansville for five seasons (2013-17). EIU assistant coach Rich McBride was a four-year letterwinner for the Illini (2004-07), and team co-captain and coMVP during his senior season.

*Fighting Illini F Ben Humrichous and EIU F Skeou Kalle were teammates in 2023-24 at Evansville. Humrichous started all 24 games he played for the Purple Aces and averaged a team-high 14.7 points and 4.7 rebounds. Kalle appeared in 21 games off the bench, averaging 1.8 points and 1.5 rebounds in 6.6 minutes per contest. 

*Illinois has a dramatically different roster for the 2024-25 season, returning just one starter in junior Ty Rodgers, a second scholarship player in sophomore Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn, and a pair of walk-ons. Overall, Illinois returns a total of just 14.2% of its minutes, 9.6% of its points, and 16.2% of its rebounds from last season. After featuring six seniors in its rotation last season, Illinois has just one senior on this year’s roster in graduate student Ben Humrichous.

*EIU is coming off a 14-18 season including a 8-10 mark in the OVC as they advanced to the OVC Tournament for the first time since the 2019-20 season.

*Senior Nakyel Shelton was one of two Eastern Illinois players named to the Ohio Valley Conference preseason players to watch list for the upcoming season. Shelton is the Panthers top returning scorer from last season after averaging 11 points per game. He was the Panthers top rebounder among active players at the end of the season at 4.4 rebounds per contest.

*Kooper Jacobi was the Panthers other player named to the OVC preseason players to watch list for this year. Jacobi missed the final half of the season after starting the first 17 games. Jacobi was EIU’s leading rebounder at the time of his injury at 7.7 rebounds per game which ranked in the top five in the league. He averaged 10.5 points per game for the season. Jacobi, a transfer from Toledo last season, opened his EIU career with a double-double against Illinois with ten points and eleven rebounds.

*ROSTER RETURNING Eastern Illinois returns seven players from last season’s roster with that group combining to start 72 games. Corey Sawyer Jr., Nakyel Shelton, Isaiah Griffin, Carson Prost, Lazar Grbovic, Rodolfo Bolis and Kooper Jacobi all return accounting for 41 percent of EIU’s scoring and 43 percent of EIU’s rebounding last season.

*Blake Goodman looks to provide some offensive punch to the Panthers line-up as the transfer from Fisk University averaged 17.2 points per game last season to lead his NAIA team.

*Guard Zion Fruster joins the Panthers team as a double figure scorer in his last stop at Virginia Wise. A two-year member of the UVA Wise program, Fruster was the team’s leading scorer last year averaging 18 points per game

Keys to the Game

Defensive Connection -

By Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys Director of Recruiting

November 4th, 2024

(Cover photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

Champaign, IL – Anyone questioning what Dravyn Gibbs-Lawhorn means to this year's Illini basketball squad, consider that he's one of only two players who have spent a regular season under head coach Brad Underwood.

In other words, he's knows what's expected and knows what it takes to succeed in Underwood's system.

During last weekend’s exhibition game at Ole Miss, Illinois appeared somewhat disorganized on offense, missing several defensive assignments and, at times, forcing the action when they fell behind looking for the 15-point basket when there's no such thing.

Brad Sturdy, IlliniGuys Illini Insider & Co-Host of the IlliniGuys Sports Spectacular

November 3, 2024

Each year I like to look at the Big Ten and make a preseason prediction and determine the ‘best’ teams.

By Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys Director of Recruiting

October 31, 2024

CHAMPAIGN, IL. – Sophomore forward Carey Booth may be new to the Illini, but the Big Ten is nothing new to the Booth family.

His dad Calvin Booth was a 6-foot-11 center at Penn State in the late 1990s, a stint that included being  named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year as a junior and second-team All-Big Ten honors as a senior before a decade-long career in the NBA.

By IlliniGuys Staff November 1, 2024 CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – […]

Ked's Recruiting Roundup

November 1, 2024

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The Illinois women’s basketball program has been riding a wave of positive momentum. With recruiting success reaching new heights and head coach Shauna Green recently signing a contract extension, the team is building excitement ahead of the upcoming season.

Hours before the Illini took the court for the first time this season in an exhibition game vs. Lewis University, more good news emerged on the recruiting front as Manuella Alves-Fernandez announced her commitment. The 6-foot-3, four-star recruit from Kissimmee, Florida (IMG Academy) is ranked #61 in the nation by ESPNW.

llinois guard Makira Cook suffered a concussion in the exhibition opener of the 2023-24 season and forced her into a very frustrating start for the All-American player.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Staff Writer

November 1, 2024

Three Keys For Illini Exhibition Game vs. Lewis University (6pm, BTN+)
1. Player Rotation: Despite the season-ending injury to transfer center Lety Vasconcelos, Illinois head coach Shauna Green still has a possible rotation of 10 players that she’s attempted to sort out before the challenging season opener against No. 19 Florida State inside State Farm Center on Nov. 7. A matchup against a Division II conference champion, which is also predicted in the Great Lakes Valley Conference preseason poll to repeat as league champions in 2025, will allow Green to see certain chemistry with lineup combinations against an opponent that doesn’t know exactly their halfcourt sets and what they’re trying to do defensively in certain matchups.

“I think we got some good indications while we were in Italy and Greece at different lineups but yeah, Friday will be a good time to test some of that out,” Green said Wednesday. “We have more depth at the guard spots and I’m not used to taking Makira or Genesis off the floor and feel good about who is out there.”

2. College Debut (sort of…) For Berry Wallace:

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

November 1, 2024

Each year I like to look at the Big Ten and make a preseason prediction and determine the ‘best’ teams. This used to be directly correlated to the standings, but with the unbalanced schedules and 18 team conference, it seems like that is nearly impossible to predict. This year, we are going to break them into tiers and look at which teams appear to be the best on paper.

Perhaps the craziest part about this conference is the depth. They will have what looks like 18 top 100 teams on KenPom. The SEC has more top end teams, as does the Big 12 and Big East, but nobody in the Big Ten gets to play DePaul, Vanderbilt or Cal.

Today we look at the teams at the top of the Big Ten in 2024-25:

By Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys Director of Recruiting

October 31, 2024

Champaign, Ill.— It's the news that Illinois basketball has been waiting months to hear:

Tomislav Ivisic is cleared to play!

The 7-foot-1 center from Croatia made the announcement via social media Thursday evening. Ivisic expressed his confidence in a previous statement, saying, “I’m very confident I will get to play. Illinois did everything right. I just want to be with my guys when the season starts.” Now that opportunity has been granted.

Unlike Tomislav, his twin brother Zvonimir faced significant delays in his eligibility process while at Kentucky last season. Zvonimir was only cleared to play in mid-January, missing a large portion of the season. Aware of potential challenges, Illinois began Ivisic’s eligibility process in early May, a proactive approach that ultimately paid off.

Tomislav Ivisic, the Illinois center signee from Croatia, has […]

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

October 28, 2024

(Cover photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

The Illini fell to Ole Miss on Sunday in a charity exhibition 92-74 as the Rebels changed their name to ‘Can’t Miss’ and made it rain from 3 point range. The Rebels also stifled the Illini early on with their physical defense and getting ito passing lanes and making it difficult for them. 

Here are our takeaways from this one. 

By Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys Director of Recruiting

October 27, 2024

(Cover photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

Oxford, MS — One of the most iconic westerns of all time, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966), starred Clint Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef. Today, the Illinois men’s basketball team found itself in a fitting comparison as it traveled to Oxford, Mississippi, to take on the 24th-ranked Ole Miss Rebels in an exhibition game.

After Illinois’ impressive March run and a revamped roster, fans were excited to see the ten new players on the 2024-25 roster. However, the Illini faced a veteran Ole Miss team — the second-oldest in Division I basketball. Today’s game showed the importance of experience, as the Rebels beat Illinois 91-74 in front of 7,023 fans at the Pavilion.

By IlliniGuys Staff October 27, 2024 OXFORD, Miss. - […]