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By Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys Sr. Recruiting Analyst

March 4, 2026

(Cover photo courtesy Yahoo! Sports)

Illinois football added another piece to its future recruiting class with a commitment from in-state defensive back Justin Johnson. The 2027 prospect becomes the second player to pledge to the Illini in the class, joining quarterback Kamden Lopati from Utah.

Johnson chose Illinois over several Big Ten programs, including Northwestern, Rutgers, Michigan State and Iowa State. Landing the in-state defensive back continues a recent emphasis for the Illini on keeping top Illinois talent at home.

Illinois cornerbacks coach Corey Parker led the recruitment for Johnson, a three-star prospect from Evanston Township. Parker has been active on the recruiting trail, building relationships with defensive backs across the Midwest and prioritizing versatile players who can fit the Illini secondary in the coming years.

Maddie Webber, who has scored 1,000 points in her collegiate career, will be a key bench element to Illinois’ run through the month of March as they begin postseason play tonight.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Staff Writer

March 4, 2026

(Cover photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

CHAMPAIGN — With Illinois struggling so much to find consistency in their starts after two-day preparations, Shauna Green hopes the schedule postseason play is the solution to this problem.

Essentially, from a layman’s perspective, more games and less practice might just be the best thing for this team to concentrate on.

“The honest answer is we’ll see, right? Maybe it’s about us just telling them to go play and not worry about so much. I really don’t know at this point,” Green said. “What I do know is March is about executing and being able to perform and it’s really not so much about preparation and practice time anymore.

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By Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys Sr. Recruiting Analyst

March 2, 2026

(Cover photo courtesy player's X page)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Illinois secured an important piece of its 2027 recruiting class last July when West Valley City, Utah, quarterback Kamden Lopati gave an early commitment to the Illini. Months later, that pledge still stands, but the four-star signal caller has become a national recruiting priority as several powerhouse programs continue to pursue him.

Lopati committed early in the process, citing fit and trust in the Illinois staff. Even as other programs have intensified contact with him, his message about Illinois has remained consistent; he's committed.

"I'm grateful to all of the other schools for recruiting me; there was nothing wrong with them, I just felt that Illinois was a perfect fit for me and my family." He told IlliniGuys previously.

Illinois head coach Shauna Green believes her team is simply being outexecuted and coming up with poor overall efforts in the first 20 minutes of games leading to six losses in the last 10 games.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Staff Writer

March 2, 2026

(Cover photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

CHAMPAIGN — As her team enters postseason play having stumbled in six of its last 10 games, Shauna Green sounds like a coach who is done trying to find excuses for her players lack of execution.

Another sleepy first-half effort saw another double-digit deficit before halftime leading to another loss where Green leaves a locker room full of players knowing Sunday afternoon could have been a win.

The 78-73 loss to No. 22 Minnesota put Illinois in a game on the first day of the Big Ten Conference Tournament for the first time since Green took over the Illini program and was the seventh time this season Illinois found itself in a huge deficit before the 20-minute break.

“Play hard,” Green said on her WDWS post-game radio interview when Illini play-by-play broadcaster Mike Koon asked what led to the second-half comeback. “I don't know why we didn't do that when we came out today. You need to play with 40 minutes of effort to beat anybody in this league and we had about 15 minutes of playing like who we need to be today.”

One more effort like that and Illinois (19-10, 9-9 in Big Ten) could be sweating out whether they are selected for the NCAA Tournament in a few weeks. And even if Illinois hears its name called in the NCAA selection process, two more opening efforts like the one on Sunday that saw Minnesota get 30 of its 36 first-half points in the paint and the Illini’s 2025-26 campaign is likely over.

March 2, 2026

(Cover photo courtesy Joe Clark/IlliniGuys)

It's like an hours-long car ride to your favorite destination.  You suddenly look up and realize...

March is here!

On a journey that began back in October, we've reached the month when every college basketball season will come to an end, with four exceptions.

It comes on the heels of a nine-day stretch when the Associated Press top ten lost a combined 10 games, leaving the top two seed lines of most NCAA tournament projections largely unscathed.

Illinois began that period as a projected 2-seed with a shot at the Big Ten regular season title. But after a crazy effort that saw a 23-point lead evaporate at UCLA and then a bruising double-digit loss Friday night to arguably the best team in the nation, the latter is gone while the former remains.

The next two weeks are pretty simple for Brad Underwood's Illini:

(From Illinois Sports Information Office) March 1, 2026 CHAMPAIGN, […]

Illinois got down as many as 15 points in […]

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

March 1, 2026

(Cover photo courtesy Joe Clark/IlliniGuys)

The Illini fell to Michigan 84-70 at the State Farm Center on Friday night, and the Wolverines showed why they are one of the 3 favorites to win the title on April 6th in Indianapolis, while the Illini showed why matchups are going to be very important to their success in March.

Here is what we learned about the Illini and Michigan in this one.

*Illinois likes to hunt matchups, and they did that against Michigan. The problem is that they have a hard time finding mismatches due to the versatility of the Michigan lineup. The Wolverines have more strength and athleticism, and they have the length to match up with Illinois and contest shots as well. The good news is that there are not many, maybe only 3 or 4 teams, that have the size and athleticism to do that.

*That doesn’t mean that Illinois can’t beat Michigan, but it means they are going to beat them consistently. You hope the one time will be in the Final Four. See 1989.

*Despite that, Illinois still got good looks.

By Steve Sturm - IlliniGuys Football Analyst

February 28, 2026

(Cover photo courtesy MaxPreps)

The second of Illinois' late wide receiver additions was Jacob Harvey of Mt. Zion. Illinois had kept in contact with Harvey through the recruiting process and encouraged him to wait on a committable offer and he had been patient until he finally committed to Illinois State as a safety net. However, that commitment lasted exactly one day, as Harvey finally got an offer from the Illini the next day and flipped. Harvey has good size at 6'2 and 195 pounds and good speed as well with a documented 7.57 60 meter and 11.19 100 meter dash from his sophomore year track season, yet despite his tremendous production he had no reported offers from FBS schools (more on that later).

What does he bring to the Orange and Blue?

By Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys Sr. Recruiting Analyst

February 28, 2026

(Cover photo courtesy player's X page)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – As recruiting for the class of 2027 begins to take shape across the country, the University of Illinois has turned its attention to Texas linebacker Anthony James, a fast-rising prospect who already has drawn significant Power Four interest. The 6-foot-3, 200-pound defender from La Marque, Texas, holds an Illinois offer and has scheduled an official campus visit for June 12-14. The Illini are showing strong interest in the Lone Star State's emerging defensive player.

IlliniGuys recently spoke with James about his relationship with Illinois and where the program stands in his early recruitment. According to James, Illinois linebackers coach Archie McDaniel and director of defensive player personnel Terry Hawthorne have built a strong rapport with him, especially after making a visit to see him.

"I'm excited to go see the campus.