A Fighting Illini community since 2012
The kid Kansas… is now the Big Ten’s best freshman. After a historic first season in Champaign, Keaton Wagler was honored Tuesday as the league’s Freshman of the Year. The lightly recruited four-star guard has had a dominant campaign for No. 9 Illinois, highlighted by his 46-point outburst in an upset win over Purdue in […]
about 6 hours ago | 0 reads
It’s finally here. When people talk about March Madness, they usually mean the NCAA Tournament. Personally, I love conference tournament time just as much. In the power conferences, you get to see hated rivals go at each other one day after another. Bubble teams making their last push. Low major tournaments tend to be filled […]
about 10 hours ago | 0 reads
We don’t write a ton of football recruiting — or any sport recruiting — content at TCR. There’s just so much going on all the time, and it does take a lot of work. Kudos to those who do it. But when you get a cool story like this starting to form, it’s worth reporting. […]
about 20 hours ago | 0 reads
How to Watch Illinois In Big Ten Tournament Quarterfinals Game Time: ~1:30 p.m. Friday TV Channel: BTN Online Streaming: FoxSportsGO Odds: N/A (Will be updated when available) Quick Hits: Illinois Fighting Illini (24-7, 15-5 Big Ten) Head Coach: Brad Underwood (9th season) Last Game: Illinois 78, Maryland 72 Illinois will play: No. 5 Wisconsin, No. 12 Washington […]
2 days ago | 0 reads
And here we go. With the Big Ten’s 20-game regular season gauntlet behind us, it’s finally time for the conference tournament, which starts Tuesday in Chicago. Some teams have a chance to win six games in six days en route to the league’s auto-bid to the NCAA Tournament. Illinois, which clinched a triple-bye with the […]
2 days ago | 0 reads
First Team All-Big Ten Cuscago Ty: Yaxel Lendeborg, Michigan *Big Ten Player of the Year Keaton Wagler, Illinois Jeremy Fears, Michigan State Bruce Thornton, Ohio State Braden Smith, Purdue Robby Nardini: Yaxel Lendeborg, Michigan * Big Ten Player of the Year Keaton Wagler, Illinois Jeremy Fears, Michigan State Braden Smith, Purdue Pryce Sandfort, Nebraska How […]
2 days ago | 0 reads
COLLEGE PARK, Md. — Process over results tends to be how Illinois sets its tone in the early stages of a season. But on the final day of the season, it certainly feels like Illinois will take the results despite a disjointed performance on Sunday afternoon, where the Illini narrowly escaped an inspired Terps program, […]
2 days ago | 0 reads
This time next weekend, we’ll be getting the printers ready to get our hands on some physical brackets on Selection Sunday. But until then, all we have is Bracketology to keep us busy as Illinois preps for the Big Ten Tournament in Chicago. According to FanDuel Sportsbook, the Fighting Illini have the seventh-best odds to […]
3 days ago | 2 reads
With one regular-season game remaining for each team, the Big Ten Tournament picture is almost set. While Saturday and Sunday’s games could still shuffle a few spots, the bracket will likely look something close to this mock-up I created when the tournament tips off Tuesday at the United Center. Most of the remaining movement will […]
3 days ago | 2 reads
INDIANAPOLIS — Illinois falls to Iowa in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament. The Hawkeyes started early, and the Illini, as they’ve done often this season, started slow on Friday. The early jump propelled Iowa to beat Illinois 64-58. Despite the Illini finishing the game on a 15-0 run to end the game, the […]
3 days ago | 3 reads
Brad Underwood’s Fighting Illini are in a basketball purgatory of their own creation. At 23-7, the regular season has simultaneously been an unequivocal success and a head-scratching disappointment. Now, Illinois heads to College Park to close the regular season against the Terrapins. They sit with a likely triple bye in the expanded Big Ten Tournament. […]
4 days ago | 1 read
After the Illini dismantled the Oregon Ducks 80-54 Tuesday on Senior Night at State Farm Center, emotions were high and Illini nation was celebrating. But after the euphoria, the question becomes: Is Illinois back? Just as their victory over Missouri on Dec. 22 sparked a 12-game winning streak for the Illini, a run that included […]
5 days ago | 1 read
The past few weeks have been less than stellar for this Illini team. It was a rough month of February for the Illini after such a promising start to conference play. Just a few weeks ago, this team was sitting at the top of the Big Ten with an 11-1 conference record. That quickly changed […]
5 days ago | 2 reads
INDIANAPOLIS — Illinois found a way to survive. In a game that felt messy early and much more tense late, the No. 10 seed Illini held off No. 7 seed Michigan State 71-69 Thursday in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Illinois leaned on a huge first half from Cearah […]
5 days ago | 3 reads
URBANA, Ill. — The Illini are officially set for their first Big Ten series of the season. After a lightning delay cancelled the game against EIU (and a non-conference matchup with Michigan State), Illinois is preparing for some (finally) good weather down in Southern California. The No. 20 USC Trojans have so far gone undefeated, […]
5 days ago | 1 read
It wasn’t smooth all the way, but the Illini got the job done on Wednesday night against Wisconsin. The 82-70 win over the Badgers sets up an electric rematch with Michigan State on Thursday. The Spartans bested the Illini back in January, despite a late Illinois comeback; the Spartans went on to win 81-75. What […]
6 days ago | 4 reads
Indianapolis IND. — Despite a surge in the third quarter, the Illini held off the Badgers to move on to the next round of the Big Ten Tournament. This was an all-around win for Illinois, with four players in double figures and two players who scored 20. Illinois has now beaten Wisconsin for a second […]
6 days ago | 2 reads
How to Watch Illinois at Maryland Game Time: 2 p.m. Sunday TV Channel: Fox Online Streaming: FoxSportsGO Odds: N/A (Illinois 89.4% Chance To Win – ESPN Matchup Predictor) Quick Hits: Illinois Fighting Illini (23-7, 14-5 Big Ten) Head Coach: Brad Underwood (9th season) Last Game: Illinois 80, Oregon 54 Gameday Reading: Maryland Terrapins (11-18, 4-14 Big Ten as […]
6 days ago | 1 read
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — It was an emotional Tuesday night at State Farm Center as the Illini faithful bid farewell to their seniors, and it ended quite perfectly. No. 11 Illinois rediscovered its identity on both sides of the floor in its final home game of the season, taking down Oregon 80-54 in the first ever […]
6 days ago | 1 read
Amid a tumultuous time for the program, the Fighting Illini wrestling team heads to State College this weekend for the Big Ten Championships. Illinois’ fifth-place finish at the event last year was its best since 2013, but they may be able to improve on that result. More importantly (to me anyway), Lucas Byrd has a […]
7 days ago | 1 read
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Back in the win column. After suffering back-to-back losses twice in the month of February, Illinois looks to have gotten back on track with a 80-54 win over Oregon on Tuesday night at the State Farm Center. With the win, the Illini move closer to securing a top four finish in the […]
7 days ago | 2 reads
How about this honor for Illinois’ Berry Wallace? The star sophomore was named a unanimous selection for First-Team All-Big Ten from the league’s coaches on Tuesday. Wallace has 544 points this season, the 16th-most in a year in program history. She took on a big role this season after many leaders graduated in 2025, and […]
7 days ago | 1 read
Illinois’ new defensive coordinator Bobby Hauck is filling out his defensive staff with coaches he’s familiar with. The Illini named two more assistants on Tuesday. The first is Mike Linehan, who will be defensive ends coach. He spent three seasons with Hauck at Montana. He started his coaching career in 2020 at San Diego State. […]
7 days ago | 1 read
CHAMPAIGN — AJ Redd never really expected to be waxing poetic about his circuitous route to Senior Night at the State Farm Center. Who can blame him? Just a couple of years ago, his role on the team involved doing laundry for the likes of Terrance Shannon Jr. Redd played high school basketball for St. […]
8 days ago | 1 read
The Illini were sitting at 20-3 following their blowout win at home against Northwestern but have since lost four of their last six games. They looked like one of the best teams in the country and a team that could compete with Michigan for a Big Ten regular season championship. Concerns have grown following their […]
8 days ago | 1 read