Illinois freshman point guard Destiny Jackson has spent the last four months trying to prove she doesn’t act or play like a first-year player. These next few day of a Big Ten Tournament might prove it.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Staff Writer

March 5, 2026

(Cover photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

INDIANAPOLIS — There was a point during the second half of its Big Ten Tournament opening round win Wednesday night where Illinois players and coaches would’ve wanted the basketball in the hands of one person and one person only.

And it should come as little to no surprise that the person who Shauna Green and company wearing orange and blue feel the most comfortable minute to minute, possession to possession, dribble to dribble executing everything precisely. The destiny of Illinois’ postseason fate literally and figuratively resides in the fate of a 5-foot-6 guard playing in her first collegiate postseason inside an NBA/WNBA arena.

“She was ready to go, and she knew what she needed to do,” Green said of Illinois freshman guard Destiny Jackson’s Big Ten Tournament debut on Wednesday night. “She knows what she needs to do at a high level to help our team be, again, the best version of ourselves.”

Ready to go is an understatement as Jackson finished off the 82-70 win over Wisconsin in the first round of the 2026 Big Ten Tournament game with 21 points, six rebounds and five assists. Before Wednesday night, the most points dropped by an Illini freshman in a conference tournament game was Adalia Humrichous (McKenzie) posting 18 points in a second round loss to Nebraska in March 2022. Jackson was halfway to that total before the end of the first quarter on Wednesday. Jackson had two lay-ups, a midrange jumper, two assists and a steal before the first quarter horn blared alerting everybody inside Gainbridge Fieldhouse that the freshman from Chicago was essentially the reason Illinois held a 23-17 lead.

“The last couple of games, I was all about getting in the paint and being aggressive and getting downhill, and she did that right from the start,” Green said. “I think it's a really cool thing for a coach to see because her last two games, if you talked to her, probably didn't think she played the best either.”

The energy, effort and smile of player that was subbed out for only one minute and 46 seconds of her first college basketball postseason game in March is what drew Green to the excitable guard in the first place.

Jackson, the 2025 Illinois Gatorade Player of the Year along with being the 2025 Illinois Ms. Basketball out of Chicago Whitney Young High School and a 2025 McDonald's All America selection, proved Wednesday she is the spine of what Illini fans now believe will be the third NCAA Tournament team in Green’s four years with the program.

“I can yell at her and I can’t stay mad at her because she’ll just smile and her energy makes me smile,” Green said in November.

“If I make a mistake, I’m going to do it playing hard,” Jackson said in November about her approach to being a freshman. “If I make a mistake, I’m going to ask a question and then try it again. Ask a question and then do it again.”

As we now embark March, the 19-year-old Jackson might just be running out of questions the way she does everything else on a basketball court - quick, fast and in a hurry.

At the first media timeout of the win over Wisconsin on Wednesday night, Illinois (20-10) had a 17-7 lead where 12 of its points came from the freshmen outside-inside combination of Jackson and forward Cearah Parchment. As Illinois approaches a second round game against No. 18 Michigan State tonight (approx. 5:30 p.m., Big Ten Network), the realization of the future being right now is upon this Illini program.

“I tell them all the time we want to win now,” Green said. “It's going to be great for next year and all that, we'll worry about that when this is done. This team is locked in and we know what we're doing. We've played with or beat some of the top teams in this conference. On a neutral court in March, you never know what's going to happen. We're just happy to survive and play another day against a really good Michigan State team.”

In the only in-season meeting with the Spartans, Illinois saw an 11-game winning streak come to an end just over two months ago inside the Breslin Center in East Lansing, Michigan. Berry Wallace and Maddie Webber each provided 22 points in that 81-75 loss to MSU despite combining for eight three-point shots.

The perimeter shooting is something Illinois might need to knock off the Spartans for its second win in as many days after going just 2 of 18 from beyond the arc Wednesday night against Wisconsin.

The loss at MSU was the beginning of Illinois tumbling down to finish the month of January with five losses in seven games.

“I think we know that anything can happen in March, and we used those two (losses to end the regular season) to fuel us coming into this tournament,” Wallace said Wednesday. “I think we learned a lot, and we've played even more connected since then in practice and in this game tonight.”