Tag: illinois basketball

How to Watch Illinois vs. Michigan State, NCAA Basketball Live Stream, Schedule, TV Channel, Start Time

Right at the beginning of Big Ten action, the Illinois Fighting Illini take on the Michigan State Spartans in East Lansing tonight.

Right at the beginning of Big Ten action, the Illinois Fighting Illini take on the Michigan State Spartans in East Lansing with each team hoping to begin the new year with a win. The Spartans come into the game with a five-game winning streak.

[protected-iframe id=”5f79a22ed7c5e0e566039065f5e32193-58289342-150719707″ info=”https://fubo-preview.global.ssl.fastly.net/lp/preview/index-lite.html?params=irad%3D538225%26irmp%3D1205322%26pack%3Dfubotv-basic&page_slug=FS1″ style=”max-width: 640px;” width = “100%”]

Illinois vs. Michigan State

  • When: Thursday, January 2
  • Time: 8:00 p.m. ET
  • TV: FS1
  • Live Stream: fuboTV (watch for free)

The No. 14 Spartans (10-3, 2-0) are coming off of a 95-62 trouncing of Western Michigan on Sunday in which four different players scored in double digits and the team went on a 25-0 first-half run. Forward Xavier Tillman picked up a double-double, tallying 15 points on 11 rebounds. Foster Loyer also had 16 points. MSU shot 49.2 percent (32-for-65) from the field and out-rebounded Western Michigan 46-24. The Spartans are still dealing with an injury to star point guard Cassius Winston, who didn’t play due to a bruised knee. Head coach Tom Izzo said the injury is nothing structural.

As for Illinois (9-4, 1-1), the team demolished North Carolina A&T 95-64 on Sunday behind 26 points and nine rebounds from center Kofi Cockburn in just 28 minutes and 19 points from Ayo Dosunmu. The team had four players score in double figures. In just 13 games this season, Cockburn now has four 20-point games and three games with 20+ points and 9+ rebounds. If the Illini have any chance of beating the Spartans, Cockburn has to put up the same kind of numbers.

We recommend interesting sports viewing and streaming opportunities. If you sign up to a service by clicking one of the links, we may earn a referral fee.

10 for 20: Illinois basketball

Illinois basketball in the 2020s

When discussing Illinois basketball in the 2020s, the focus for the Fighting Illini can go in several different directions, all of them valid ways of framing the future for the program. Some could say that Illinois has to get back to being a Sweet 16 program, which it was under Bill Self and Bruce Weber. Valid. Some would say that Illinois should be beating out other Big Ten programs for elite recruits in Chicago and other metro areas in the Midwest. Some would say the Illini simply can’t miss the NCAA Tournament six straight seasons, or that Illinois ought to be making NCAA tourneys in consecutive seasons. Believe it or not, the Illini have not made back-to-back NCAA trips since 2006 and 2007.

If you were to start in any of those places, you would be raising a fair question about the main goal for Illinois in the 2020s. To be sure, they are all part of the story of Illinois basketball and represent necessary discussion points for the program.

I frame the 2020s relative to Illinois basketball through this prism, however: I am less focused on the results (which obviously need to improve to a considerable extent) than on the man tasked with generating them.

Much like Maryland, Illinois is a coach-specific story heading into the new decade. Mark Turgeon has the profile and career trajectory of a coach who can succeed at the highest level, having made his way through a strong coaching tree on a path which led from the mid-majors to the high majors to a basketball school near a big urban center. Underwood has followed that same path. He is part of the Bob Huggins coaching tree. He won at Stephen F. Austin. He carried that success to Oklahoma State. Now he is in Illinois, where the access to Chicagoland talent gives him a chance to become a star in the coaching profession.

The first two seasons for Underwood in Champaign were very rough, probably rougher than he privately expected. (The first season, not so much, but the second season was an extremely bumpy ride.) In Year 3, signs of an improvement exist, but a late collapse against Maryland reminded Illinois how far it still has to climb, and how much it must work to expunge bad habits and inclinations. Had Illinois won that game, it would have had an especially strong NCAA resume, given its win over Michigan. As things stand, Illinois is a total mystery this season. At least, though, Underwood can see some evidence of improvement.

Will Underwood be an elite coach? If that question can be answered in the affirmative in the 2020s, everything else will take care of itself for Illinois. Wisconsin fans hope Underwood won’t cross the threshold. The next two seasons will probably tell the tale in Champaign.