Basketball

By Brad Sturdy -- Illini Guys Insider/Analyst

It’s Friday afternoon, and we are between sessions for the Illinois men’s basketball team. So, where are they? They’re at Ubben. Hanging out together. Getting more shots up. For the freshmen, they get a second lift in with Coach Fletcher before they head back over to the State Farm Center for a look at the personnel for St. Francis, and a quiz.

So much has changed when it comes to scouting personnel. Now, Fighting Illini Men’s Basketball Assistant Coach Tim Anderson is in charge of the personnel aspect, but it wasn't always this way. In fact, Brad Underwood credits the pandemic for the change.

‘Last season, we couldn’t go out and recruit, so we changed the way we do things,’ Underwood said. ‘Gent (Former Assistant Coach Stephen Gentry) and Geoff were in charge of the offense, and O (Orlando Antigua) and Chin (Ronald Coleman) were in charge of the defense. Instead of one guy scouting the entire team, now we get everyone’s eyes on a team and I just feel like we can be much more thorough.’

December 20, 2021

It’s a 2-day scout and game prep for Illinois basketball in today’s day and age of analytics and video, and our insider Brad Sturdy was able to be a fly on the wall for two days of prep and scouting before the St. Francis game last weekend. In the first of this 3-part series, we look at the last full practice prior to the game.

9AM Friday

At 8:30AM, the 3 Freshmen, RJ Melendez, Luke Goode and Brandin Podziemski are getting shots up in the State Farm Center. I’m told that one of the biggest (pleasant) surprises has been the time spent in the gym by these 3. Although they have had their issues at times, they are beginning to ‘get it’. Underwood said the last week of practice and these 3 games over break will be important for them if they want to be in the mix in Big Ten play.

‘Film Room’ is called out repeatedly as the timer on the State Farm Center basket ticks down, and the players, coaches and staff head to the ‘Ready Room’.

The Ready Room in the State Farm Center is the multi-media room, there are about 25 seats in 3 rows where the players sit in the first two rows and they watch film and clips. The session starts with Underwood going over COVID and the situation right now, with all of the shutdowns in college basketball, but quickly turns to the film session. This is actually the second film session on St. Francis. The players received their personnel packets and St. Francis team sheets on Thursday.

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CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Kofi Cockburn recorded his 34th career double-double and the Illini hit a team record 18 three-pointers as Illinois cruised to a 106-48 win Saturday afternoon at State Farm Center.

Alfonso Plummer added 19 points, ending his streak of six consecutive games in which he scored 20 points or more.  Jacob Grandison added 18 as Illinois (8-3) rebounded from an 83-79 defeat to Arizona on this same court a week earlier.

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By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Staff Writer

December 17, 2021

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Do not expect to see Andre Curbelo playing in games before the end of the Christmas holiday season.

While still holding details back from the public on the nature of the ongoing condition of his sophomore point guard, Illinois head coach Brad Underwood did make it clear his staff is not aware of a current timeline for Curbelo’s active return to not only games but practices.

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.

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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. -- The word soft being thrown around after games at State Farm Center is becoming a little too common for Illinois head coach Brad Underwood to handle.

Following a 83-79 loss to No. 11 Arizona Saturday, the Illini fifth-year head coach found himself calling his team that four-letter word to describe his basketball team in clearly the most frustrated Underwood looked and sounded since the loss to Missouri in the 2019 Braggin’ Rights Game.

“Put it in all caps. Softness. Soft,” Underwood stated. “Have you guys ever known my teams to be that? And that I have a hard time with. When people are taking your ball and we’re not tough enough to get a stop on a good player when we need to, that’s something I gotta get right.”

By Brad Sturdy - IlliniGuys Insider/Analyst

December 12, 2021

The State Farm Center was rocking and Trent Frazier was rolling, but the Illini fell to #1 NET ranked Arizona 83-79 in a high level basketball game. Frazier led Illinois with 27 points and 5 steals, while Alfonso Plummer continued his hot shooting with 25 points, but Ben Mathurin scored 30 to lead an Arizona team that moved to 9-0 on the season.

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