Wednesday's game at Penn State:

The trap:

• Playing in Rec Hall (special one-off venue, probably best PSU crowd of year)
• 5:30 Central start time
• Coming off an emotional road win for Illinois
• Penn State is ~12th in the conference and missing their best player. Would be easy to overlook.

The revenge:

• 3 humiliating losses to Penn State last year
• "Booty ball"
• An Illinois roster full of seniors that should know better than to FAFO in late February
• Penn State is 93rd in KenPom and ripe for a beating

My hope is that the team takes this weird Rec Hall thing as a little motivation to blow up the trap and get some sweet revenge. Last year sucked entirely too much for us to not want some payback. I also like that we have that 4th day between games as it should give us a chance to mentally reset. I'm also hoping the team sees the opening for a Big Ten title with the Purdue loss and is locked in. This is the time to start playing our best ball (especially making some defensive improvement!) and not the time to give away games to teams we should beat.

I'm fired up for this game and I hope the fans don't let any complacency sink in right now. We need revenge against Penn State!

Questions answered. If you have any more, post them here.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Six Illini are set to travel to Indianapolis' Lucas Oil Stadium from Feb. 26-March 4 for the annual NFL Combine. OL Isaiah Adams, DT Jer'Zhan Newton, OL Julian Pearl, DT Keith Randolph Jr., TE Tip Reiman, and WR Isaiah Williams will interview and work out in front of NFL scouts and front office representatives from all 32 teams at the event televised by NFL Network.

Illinois' six participants are the most in program history. The Illini's 14 invitees during the Bret Bielema era are Illinois' most ever over a three-year stretch.

Since 1987, a total of 69 players have represented Illinois at the NFL Combine. All-time results by Fighting Illini at the combine are available here.

NFL Combine live drills begin Thursday, February 29, with live coverage on NFL Network starting at 2 p.m. CT. Full lineup below:

• Thursday, February 29, 2 p.m. CT – Defensive Linemen, Linebackers
• Friday, March 1, 2 p.m. CT – Defensive Backs, Tight Ends
• Saturday, March 2, 2 p.m. CT – Quarterbacks, Wide Receivers, Running Backs
• Sunday, March 2, 2 p.m. CT – Offensive Linemen

Leading scorer for the Nittany Lions

I think it's fair to say that Coleman Hawkins is the most "online" player that we've ever had in this program. It's probably not the greatest thing right now with his potential for "reputation technicals" but it could be absolutely amazing after he's done playing. He could just spend the next decade as a social media superfan menacing the rest of the Big Ten.

There aren't that many four-year players any more. Twenty years from now everyone will remember Coleman Hawkins (just like every fan from 2001 remembers Lucas Johnson.) I hope he has a long successful NBA career but I also hope we as a fanbase start to embrace his unique personality down the stretch. It's been a long road for him as a player with a lot of ups and downs but he's probably our MVP (at least in terms of value over replacement) this season and he's earning his legacy this season.

I hope he finishes the year well and that he stays with the fanbase on social media for years to come.

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Purdue losing by 9 with 11:00 minutes to go in the second half.

Anyone know what happens if Illinois and Purdue end up tied in BT and each win one head to head?

Just got beat by Ohio St. Awesome!!!

As a Maryland resident, I’ve been to all our Big Ten games at College Park. I think I saw an Illini win there once way back in November 2011. It didn’t seem noteworthy at the time because Illinois generally won a respectable percentage of games that I attended.

I’ve long lamented my 9+ year in-person losing streak, and most of them came at College Park. I’ve seen blowout non-competitive losses, nail-biter upset losses, and a demoralizing blown lead loss (maybe two.) Maryland overachieved in every game.

I did have some confidence today since I saw us win in OT over Texas at MSG so I had my mojo back. Still, I almost get PTSD just walking in that arena.

First, it’s almost impossible to get there on time. The near-DC traffic, the lousy parking lot situation, and the limited gates make it a slow process that always takes longer than it should. I was running very late today waiting on one of my brothers and we actually made up time dodging a lot of the crowds. So we weren’t too late.

Second, it’s kind of infuriating having to pay $50/seat to sit in the very top row of the arena when they are basically giving away tickets for other games. We’re like their Homecoming game now. Maryland and their fans love playing us.

Third, the Maryland student section is famously obnoxious. So they do a great job of getting loud and making you feel like garbage when your team is struggling.

The one saving grace is that there are a ton of local Illinois alumni that always show up to the game. I finally figured out where most of them were sitting so I got to sit right in the middle of a ton of Illini fans today. So it was a fun little Illini diaspora up in the corner cheering on the team. My MD alumni relatives actually refused to sit with us because they wanted to be near Maryland fans. So we owned our little corner. I got to meet an older relative of Amani Hansberry after the game and tell him how excited we were to share the same high school and college as Amani. I hope it meant something to him (I think he said something about Amani having a bigger year next year which hopefully is a hint that he’s staying around. Was great to see him on the court today.)

Whoever started us singing the Alma Mater after the game is my favorite fan. I just loved it. Also there were frequent “I-L-L” chants so my daughter got to learn what that meant. Some of my nephews came too and they got to enjoy an Illini win.

I loved seeing us flip the script and refuse to let Maryland take that game from us. I’ve seen games like that slip away at the end (think MSU last weekend) and it was great to see some clutch play. It’s also a big deal when the Illinois game is circled on the calendar at every arena we play at on the road. We are relevant in a way we just weren’t back in the 2010s.

This team isn’t perfect. We still need to improve on defense (but we can!). However, this team is the kind of team that can break a negative streak. We beat Missouri. We won at Maryland. We can get to the Sweet 16.

Today this team earned some trust. I thought they could win like this and they did exactly what I’d hoped. 19-6 is solid. I believe there are many more wins to come.

Hail to the Orange and I-L-L. Shout out to all my fellow East Coast Illini fans. We got the W today.

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- Illinois baseball (2-2) closed out the opening weekend of the 2024 campaign with a dominant 9-1 victory over Fordham (0-3) today at David F. Couch Ballpark.

Regan Hall earned the win in his collegiate debut, twirling 6.0 innings of one-run ball, picking up nine strikeouts along the way to earn the quality start. Hall yielded just two hits and only issued one walk. The Albuquerque, N.M., native, began the day with a quick 1-2-3 frame, recording two punchouts, including whiffing the first batter of the game. Hall allowed a solo homer in the second but retired 14 of his final 16 batters faced.

Cal Hejza went 2-for-3 with a run scored and a pair of RBI and Coltin Quagliano 1-for-4 with a double and three RBI. Cameron Chee-Aloy and Ryan Moerman provided the power, with duo hitting solo home runs in the sixth and ninth innings, respectively.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Rams were first on the board on the second after a solo home run, but the Illini would grab the lead for good in the home half of the third. Jacob Schroeder led off with a single and came around to score on Hejza's RBI-single. Illinois would go in front after Chee-Aloy raced home on a passed ball to make it 2-1.

Working with the lead, Hall struck out two batters in each of his last 3.0 innings, keeping Fordham from generating any offensive threat. Quagliano added to the Illinois lead in the fifth with an RBI-groundout to make it 3-1.

The Orange and Blue broke the game wide open in the sixth, with Moerman crushing an opposite-field blast to begin the frame, his first home run of the season, making it 4-1. The Illini then loaded the bases and Hejza brought home the second run of the inning with his second RBI-single of the contest. Chee-Aloy scored on an error and Quagliano followed with a double down the left field line, scoring two and making it 8-1.

Jake Swartz was first out of the bullpen for the Illini, firing 3.0 shutout innings to earn the save. Swartz amassed three strikeouts and did not allow a hit.

Illinois capped the scoring in the ballgame when Chee-Aloy began the ninth with a solo shot to left center for his third home run of the weekend.

UP NEXT

Illinois heads to Conway, S.C., where they will take on No. 18 Coastal Carolina and Ball State on Friday before a showdown against Cincinnati on Saturday. First pitches for all three contests are scheduled for 2 p.m. CT, 6 p.m. CT and 11 a.m. CT, respectively.

GAME NOTES

» Regan Hall earned the win in his collegiate and Illini debut.
» 6.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R/ER, 1 BB, 9 SO, 1 HR, 1 HBP
» Had four frames with two strikeouts.
» First-career win and quality start.
» Jake Swartz earned the first save of his career.
» 3.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R/ER, 2 BB, 3 SO
» Cal Hejza went 2-for-3 with a run scored and 2 RBI.
» First multi-hit game of the season...has hit safely in three-straight.
» First multi-RBI game of the season.
» Cameron Chee-Aloy went 1-for-3 with three runs scored, a home run and an RBI.
» Has hit safely in four-straight to begin his career...went 4-for-13 (.308) during opening weekend.
» Homered for the third time in four games...his three home runs are the most among Big Ten hitters.
» Coltin Quagliano went 1-for-4 with a double and three RBI.
» Has hit safely in four-straight...has gone 4-for-15 (.267) to start the season.
» Jayden Comia, Regan Hall, Collin Jennings and Reagan Reeder all made their Illini debuts in the ballgame.
» All nine Illini starters reached base safely in the contest.
» 11 batters overall reached safely in the game.
» The Illinois pitching staff combined to strike out 12 Fordham hitters.
» The pitching staff tallied three double-digit strikeout games over the weekend.
» Three of the four Illinois starting pitchers this weekend struck out nine batters.
» The Fighting Illini out-hit the Rams at an 8-2 clip.
» Illinois out-hit its opponents in three of four games this weekend.
» The Illini held their opponents to just six hits combined in the last two games, the fewest allowed in a two-game span since allowing five from March 8-9, 2019.
» Illinois pitchers faced 31 Fordham hitters in the game, allowing five ground balls and nine fly balls while striking out 12.
» The Fighting Illini drew five walks from Fordham pitching.

TJ Shannon missed 6 games due to suspension, but he is averaging over 20 ppg on the No. 14 team in the nation.

Will he be left off of All-American teams?

Jeff Goodman from The Field of 68 failed to list him among his 30 midseason candidates for Naismith Trophy Player of the Year award.

Jeff Goodman
@GoodmanHoops

Naismith Trophy Player of the Year Midseason List:

Max Abmas, Texas
Armando Bacot, UNC
Johni Broome, Auburn
Boo Buie, Northwestern
Devin Carter, Providence
L.J. Cryer, Houston
RJ Davis, UNC
Johnell Davis, FAU
Hunter Dickinson, KU
Zach Edey, Purdue
Kyle Filipowski, Duke
PJ Hall, Clemson
DaRon Holmes, Dayton
David Jones, Memphis
Dalton Knecht, Tennessee
Tyler Kolek, Marquette
Jaedon LeDee, San Diego St
Tamin Lipsey, Iowa St
Caleb Love, Arizona
Kevin McCullar Jr., KU
Tristen Newton, UConn
Antonio Reeves, UK
Baylor Scheierman, Creighton
Mark Sears, Alabama
Jamal Shead, Houston
KJ Simpson, Colorado
Braden Smith, Purdue
Isaiah Stevens, Colorado St
Wade Taylor IV, Texas A&M
Tyson Walker, Michigan St

I'm going out on a limb and predicting that we will win both games this week and rise all the way to...#10 in the Feb. 19th AP poll

2/12: 14th
2/5: 10th
1/29: 14th
1/22: 10th
1/15: 14th
1/8: 10th