Headlines

Illini Baseball Travels to Texas for Frisco Classic

Now that spring is starting to begin, Illini baseball is in full swing.  This weekend the team travels to the Frisco, Texas for the Frisco Classic, one of the top round robin tournaments of college baseball.  The Illini will be taking on some tough competition throughout the weekend, first taking on No 13 Texas A&M tonight at 7 p.m. CT at the Frisco Roughriders’ Dr. Pepper Ballpark.

Round 2 for the Illini begins at 2 p.m. CT as they take on No. 23 Oklahoma State and they finish off the weekend on Sunday taking on No. 1 UCLA at 11 a.m. CT.

The Frisco Classic has a well renowned history with over 10,000 wins logged, 687 MLB draft picks, 90 conference titles, 116 NCAA postseason appearances, 31 College World Series appearances and two College World Series titles.

The Illini have started off the season 3-3, winning their most recent games against Coastal Carolina, 5-2, and West Virginia, 2-1, down in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.  These two wins helped bring the Illini back to .500 after starting off the season 1-3.  Pitchers Ty Weber received the W against Coastal Carolina and Cole Kirschsieper got his W against West Virginia.

“It was an unbelievably well-pitched game for this early in the year,” said head coach Dan Hartleb about the win against West Virginia.

The Illini will have to bring their A-game against three of the toughest opponents they have seen thus far in this weekend’s Frisco Classic.

Contributor Blog

Illinois Is Officially Chicago’s Team

Jake Hasan
Feb 27th, 2020

It might be time for the Northwestern Wildcats to think of a new catchphrase.

The Illini traveled to Evanston Thursday night and took care of business as expected in a 74-66 win against a Northwestern team that has notched just one conference win all season.

With the win Illinois jumps back into a tie for second place in the Big Ten standings, a position that has them in line to get a coveted double bye in the Big Ten Tournament. It also secures a winning season in the Big Ten for the Illini, the first time since 2010.

Pretty big night if you ask us.

With all that for once it wasn’t the Ayo Dosunmu show, and while the star guard was still a force (21 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists) the big story of the night was sophomore forward Alan Griffin. He didn’t start the game but Griffin ended it as the talk of Twitter, he had a career-high 24 points on 6-8 shooting from three (so close to being nice) to go with 7 rebounds.  Griffin continues his breakout season after only playing sporadically as a freshman, and he is one of the Illini’s most important players going forward.

Elsewhere, Kofi Cockburn continued his case to be the Big Ten Freshman of the Year by putting in 12 points and grabbing 14 rebounds of his own. This is Cockburn’s second double-double in a row and his third in the past four games.

Looking ahead Illinois has three games left before entering the Big Ten Tournament, and the next comes Sunday back in Champaign against the Indiana Hoosiers. Indiana lost Thursday night against Purdue, and as a team that is fighting for their lives to get into March Madness, they will be hungry for a win in Champaign on Sunday.

Headlines

Another BigTen Win

Peyton Wesner

February 25, 2020

Men’s basketball reporter Peyton Wesner recaps the Fighting Illini’s 71-59 win over Nebraska as well as why head coach Brad Underwood believes his team will be in a ‘rhythm’ the remainder of the regular season.

Wesner Wrap: Scoring balance fuel Fighting Illini

Men's basketball reporter Peyton Wesner recaps the Fighting Illini's 71-59 win over Nebraska as well as why head coach Brad Underwood believes his team will be in a 'rhythm' the remainder of the regular season.

Posted by Illini Sports Night on Tuesday, February 25, 2020

Contributor Blog, Headlines

Softball Ready for Upgrades

Jake Hasan
Feb 25th, 2020

Illinois Athletic Director Josh Whitman is a wizard.  Not for the first time (and probably not for the last time either) he’s convinced another family to make a donation to Illinois Athletics. It started with football and their new facility helped by the donation from the Smith family.

Then the anonymous donation to update the facilities at Ubben for basketball.

Then a donation from the Demirjian family for track and field and soccer.

Then the Atkins family who supported new baseball facilities.

And now the Atkins family, who donated $3 million to upgrade the softball facilities.

The new softball facility, which will be called the Rex and Alice A. Martin Softball Training Center, is going to be an addition onto the current facilities and add an estimated 13,000 square feet. It adds a full practice area: infield, batting cages and pitching cages. This will put Illinois up there with some of the top softball facilities in the nation. The project will commence later this year and will conclude in the Winter of 2021.

This is just the latest step in Josh Whitman’s plan to rebuild Illinois athletics. We all knew when he came in that football and basketball would be the two main projects for Whitman to work on. But he has also shown a lot of commitment to making other sports better too. All part of the plan to make Illinois more relevant across the board, and it appears he is succeeding. At the very least he is convincing donors to believe in his vision.

Can we get an announcement on that hockey project next?

Contributor Blog, Headlines

The First Solo Show: A Memoir By Jake

Jake Hasan
Feb 25th, 2020

So I volunteered to captain the very first solo show of Illini Sports Night because I figured if I failed spectacularly at least the bar would be low for eveyone else to clear. Team player here.

But now that it’s over I think the show we put out on Valentines Day was awesome and I’m proud of the work that we all put in.

No to say that there weren’t issues and kinks but this is still an extremely new project and hiccups are to be expected. You don’t expect an infant to get up and walk right away right? No of course not, all infants fall on their faces sometimes, and so will Illini Sports Night.

But we’re going to learn and we’re going to grow and by the time May rolls around I think we’re gonna have an awesome product for you all that runs as smooth and crisp as anything you’ve ever seen.

Already we have some awesome stuff, I love Shot Clock and no not just because I get to be the buzzer and there’s a little GIF of me (shoutout Ken). I think Nathan has a real grasp on what to make Shot Clock and we’re gonna have a lot of fun with it. I’m excited to see what he comes up with.

Mariah did a great job with  our Illini Story this week, just absolutely crushed the interview with Karen Howell. Giving people a platform to showcase themselves and their personalities is gonna be a lot of fun and give fans some great looks at athletes when they aren’t on their respective court/field/what have you.

So after the first week of solo shows, and the second week well under way, I’ll leave you with this:

Illini Sports Night is gonna be something. I can feel it in my bones. I have total and complete confidence in Mariah, Peyton, Nathan, Patrick, Tristen and all our reporters. And of course Ken in guiding us. Myself too I guess. So keep coming back and tuning in because we’ve got some really really cool stuff coming.

 

Headlines

Scoring balance propel Fighting Illini past Nebraska

Scoring balance propel Fighting Illini past Nebraska

Peyton Wesner – Producer and Men’s Basketball Reporter
February 25, 2020

Let the wins keep coming!

With five players scoring in double-figures, Illinois (18-9, 10-6) men’s basketball shucked Nebraska (7-20, 2-14), 71-59, and moved into a tie for second place in the conference.

While Big Ten Player of the Week Ayo Dosunmu chipped in 18 points, it was freshman Kofi Cockburn who led the charge with his eleventh double-double of the season — fourth-most among NCAA Division I freshman.

“We gave him the ball in better positions to be successful in the second half,” said Fighting Illini head coach Brad Underwood. “Kofi impacts us probably more defensively on the glass than he does on the offensive end.”

The guard trio of Trent Frazier, Alan Griffin and Andres Feliz netted a combined 35 points. Griffin is averaging 10 points per game since returning from suspension on February 2.

The Fighting Illini are now 4-0 this season when a quintet scores ten or more points. Head coach Brad Underwood says he will take the scoring balance anywhere and anytime.

“If I could do that every night, I’d do that every night,” said Underwood. “I like that balance.”

Illinois’ dominance on the glass continued, out-rebounding the Cornhuskers, 48-35. Cockburn says a two-on-two rebounding drill has developed the team’s tenacity.

“We basically have two guys up top, two guys down low and we throw the ball off the backboard and we gotta go get it,” described Cockburn. “We can foul each other and do whatever we want.”

Next, the Fighting Illini will take on a pair of rivals. First up, a meeting with Northwestern (6-20, 1-15) in Evanston, Ill., on Thursday.

Contributor Blog

Wesner: Not “one and done!”

Wesner: Not “one and done!”

Peyton Wesner – Producer and Men’s Basketball Reporter
February 24, 2020

A first show is a first step. The second show is the continuation of hard work and collaboration.

With the blessing of Professor Ken Erdey, I was allowed to take a step back for the second show as my responsibilities were directly related to social media. Hence, I produced social media posts on the IHSA State Wrestling Championships (which will be featured in video content during our third and fourth shows) as well as wrote website-exclusive stories on Fighting Illini men’s basketball and men’s golf.

The opportunity to write stories on the website is something I have really enjoyed. At this point, I consider myself the “clubhouse leader” in doing so and the short write-ups keeps my print journalism skills sharp.

My coverage of high school wrestling will benefit Mariah’s newscast as well as my own. For Mariah, I will contribute a VO-SOT-VO on an Illinois commit (Luke Odom) who won a 3A state championship. Plus, I will have a PKG on the Braunagel brothers and their support of Joe Braunagel — who competed during the IHSA State Wrestling Championship.

In terms of looking ahead, I am very excited for my opportunity to produce on March 6. The newscast will be heavy on wrestling and men’s basketball. Honestly, with the wrestling room traveling to Piscataway, N.J., for the Big Ten Championships and Brad Underwood’s group competing for a regular season conference championship, I am excited to produce rich content that interests, you, the viewers. Also, keep an eye out for a new type of package. I had a great opportunity to capture footage at the high school wrestling championships and I look forward to you seeing my content. No spoilers!

That is because Illini Sports Night is all about beyond-the-field reporting and in-depth stories. I will not rest until Illini Sports Night and my first solely produced newscast represents this mantra and exceeds my personal expectations.

Headlines

Illinois Baseball Opens 141st Season with 1-2 Start

By Nathan DeHaan

Illinois baseball is finally back in action after a road trip to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where they played their first games of the 2020 regular season. The Illini were able to secure a victory in their first game, a 3-2 win over Milwaukee, but dropped their other two contests, suffering a 10-2 loss against Seton Hall and a 5-3 loss to #18 Wake Forest. This opening weekend marks the beginning of the 141st season in the program’s history.

The weekend got off to a rough start when the team initially tried to fly out of O’Hare International Airport in Chicago on Thursday afternoon, but the harsh weather conditions caused their flights to be canceled and their opening game against Milwaukee to be postponed. Eventually, the Illini were able to get spots on a flight out of O’Hare at 12:24 am Friday morning.

In the season opener, the Illini were led by two of their junior transfers by way of a 2-run home run from Nathan Aide in his first career Illinois at-bat and Alex Steinbach, who drove Aide in later on in the game. Illinois never trailed and starting pitcher Ty Webber scattered four hits and only one run in six innings pitched. 

Illinois Head Coach Dan Hartleb had high praise for the senior pitcher after the game, saying “That’s what we need him to do. Not only for the win, but we need the young guys to watch somebody be very efficient. We thought we could get him for four innings but he was able to extend himself because of his efficiency.”

Against Seton Hall, Illinois jumped out to a hot start with RBIs in each of the first two innings and 5 shutout innings from starter Ty Rybarczyk, but the Illini relief pitchers couldn’t keep the Pirates’ bats quiet. Seton Hall walks away victorious 10-2 after scoring nine runs in the eighth and ninth innings. 

On Sunday, the Illini looked to get back on track against the weekend’s hosts, Wake Forest. Things looked good for Illinois right from the first pitch, which center fielder Taylor Jackson sent 405 for a leadoff home run, but Wake Forest responded with three runs of their own in the second inning and never looked back, beating the Illini 5-3.

The Illinois bats were quiet, only finding a way to get four base hits on Sunday, but Hartleb believes that will change in the near future.

“I think you’ll see great improvement from this weekend to next weekend from this team,” said Hartleb. “Moving forward this is going to help us improve.”

Illinois (1-2) will be in action again this coming weekend against Western Carolina, Coastal Carolina and West Virginia.

Headlines

Tee Time in

Aloha, Illini!

Peyton Wesner – Producer and Men’s Basketball Reporter
February 19, 2020

The men’s golf team begins a three-day tournament in Lihue, Kauai, Hawaii, today. Ranked No. 40 by GolfStat.com, Illinois is coming off a second-place finish at the Mobile Sports Authority Intercollegiate earlier this month.

Senior Giovanni Tadiotto shot eight strokes under par (-8) at the event, the lowest of all Fighting Illini.

“We still need a couple of guys to have the ability to jump out and shoot some low scores and really take their game to the next level,” said Head Coach Mike Small last week. “We need someone to get that edge and start leading from the front.”

This is the Fighting Illini’s second trip to Hawaii during Small‘s twenty years at the helm. Small says the beauty of the Hawaiian event is it’s an exempted tournament, meaning it does not count against the number of tournaments his team can play.

Headlines

Illini Celebrate Senior Day at State Farm Center

Fighting Illini Come Up Short against Purdue Boilermakers

By Blake Landa

Fighting Illini Women’s Basketball had their senior day this past Sunday afternoon at the State Farm Center to celebrate the six graduating seniors on the team.  Before the action got started, the senior players received framed versions of their jerseys at half court.

Redshirt  junior Petra Holešínská, one of the seniors being celebrated, led the Illini (11-14, 2-12) with a game high 18 points, but that wasn’t enough to defeat the Purdue Boilermakers (17-10, 8-7) who dominated the boards, out rebounding the Illini 42-19, and finished the game with a win and a score of 70-58.

“We could look at all these things, but it’s the 42 rebounds (for Purdue), and us getting 19; that to me is where the game tipped,” said Illini head coach Nancy Fahey.

At the end of the first quarter the Illini lead 16-15 after senior Courtney Joens drained a three-pointer at the buzzer.  Joens (12) was among three Illini to score in double figures, including  Holešínská (18) and freshman Jeanae Terry (10).

The Illini were able to gain a slight lead, 25-24, towards the end of the first half but Purdue answered with a pair of three-pointers as well as a couple more baskets to finish the quarter with a leading score of 35-25.

The Boilermakers would never lose their lead as the rest of the game progressed, thanks in part to their shooting abilities from beyond the arc late in the third quarter and the entirety of the fourth.

It was too little, too late, when senior Brandi Beasley came to life in the fourth quarter and led the team in a comeback with a 10-1 run including a three pointer.   Purdue would go on to finish the game shooting 4-7 from the charity line and a final score of 70-58.

Next up on the schedule the Illini travel to Ann Arbor, Michigan on Wednesday, February 19th, to challenge the Michigan Wolverines at 6p.m. CT at the Crisler Center.