Illinois (1-0, 0-0 Big Ten) vs. Southern Illinois-Edwardsville (0-1, 0-0 OVC)

Day and time: Friday (Nov. 8) at 7 p.m. CT
Venue: State Farm Center, Champaign, Illinois
Local: No TV
Stream: Peacock
Listen: WDWS-AM 1400 (Champaign)
WLS-AM 890 (Chicago)
Illini Sports Network affiliates (other local markets)
Varsity Network app
SiriusXM 388
SXM app 978

Favorite: Illinois (-26.5 points)*
Over/under: 155.5 points*
Illinois vs. Southern Illinois-Edwardsville all time: Illinois leads the series 3-0
Streak: Illinois has won three in a row against Southern Illinois-Edwardsville
Last meeting: Illinois 66, Southern Illinois-Edwardsville 46 (Nov. 14, 2011 at Assembly Hall)

(*Figures as of Thursday, Nov. 7)

Probable Illinois starters:

G Kasparas Jakucionis
G Kylan Boswell
G Tre White
F Ben Humrichous
C Tomislav Ivisic

Key stat: 2.9

That’s the percentage of player minutes, with Monday’s redshirt of junior Ty Rodgers, that Illinois returns from last season’s team. Guard Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn is now the Illini’s only scholarship player back from 2024-25, and he averaged just 7.1 minutes per game as a freshman last season. Judging from the eye test between their exhibition loss to Ole Miss and Monday’s season-opening win over Eastern Illinois, the Illini are developing team cohesion at warp speed. But expect some stumbles as the schedule gets thornier.

Quick tips:

Illini coach Brad Underwood had a lot of positive things to say about SIU-Edwardsville ahead of tipoff, and in this case it wasn’t the usual “we respect all our opponents” platitudes. The Cougars hung tough into the second half at Indiana before bowing out Wednesday night, and they have real size – not just the good-for-a-mid-major variety. They hammered the boards on the Hoosiers, grabbing 16 offensive rebounds. But the glass has been Illinois’ domain during the Underwood era, and bigs Ivisic, Morez Johnson Jr. and Carey Booth are the superior athletes in this matchup. Unless the chemistry the Illini appear to be blending suddenly blows up in their faces, this should be another smooth lab session.

Illinois 95, Cougars 66

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