Sorry guys. I dropped the ball on this one. Traveling all day, I won’t be back in Champaign until around 2 a.m.

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Illinois lands ex-Ball State wide receiver Justin Bowick.


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Nothing but bad luck for Shauna Green’s team this year.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Fighting Illini fifth-year Makira Cook will miss the remainder of the 2024-25 season due to an ongoing health condition, Illinois head coach Shauna Green announced Wednesday.

Cook concludes her collegiate career with 1,723 points (14.6/game), 408 assists (3.5/game), 376 rebounds (3.2/game), and 119 steals (1.0/game) across 118 games played and 95 starts. She shot 40.1% (639-of-1592) from the field, 34.4% (151-of-439) from 3-point range, and 81.4% (294-for-361) from the free throw line across her career. Cook finished with 86 games scoring 10+ points, 33 with 20+ points, and one 30-point outing. The point guard notched four double-doubles.

In her time at Illinois, Cook tallied 1,152 points (16.7/game), 289 assists (4.2/game), 213 rebounds (3.1/game), and 76 steals (1.1/game) across 69 games, starting all 69. Throughout her three seasons in the Orange and Blue, Cook shot 40.3% (417-of-1036) from the field, 34.1% (104-of-305) from deep, and 85.3% (214-of-251) from the charity stripe. She finished with 56 games scoring 10+ points, 26 with 20+ points, one 30-point effort, and two double-doubles while at Illinois.

After spending the first two seasons of her career at Dayton, Cook followed Green to Illinois ahead of the 2022-23 season. She competed in the WNIT as a freshman, the NCAA Tournament her sophomore and junior campaigns, and the WBIT her senior season.

Cook racked up accolades across her career, earning AP honorable mention All-America status (2023), WBIT Most Outstanding Player (2024), two-time First Team All-Big Ten (Coaches and Media, 2023), two-time Second Team All-Big Ten (Coaches and Media, 2024), Second Team All-Atlantic 10 (2022), Atlantic 10 Most Improved Player (2022), Atlantic 10 All-Tournament Team (2022), two-time Preseason All-Big Ten (2023, ’24), two-time Naismith Trophy Player of the Year Watch List (2023, ’24), and two-time Nancy Lieberman Award Watch List (2023, ’24).

At this time, Cook owns spots on the all-time lists across several career statistical categories in the Illinois record book. Her 85.3% mark from the free throw line is the top mark of all completed Illini careers. Cook ranks tied for 12th on both the career made 3-point field goal and career 3-point field goal percentage lists. She also ranks 14th in career 3-point field goals attempted, 16th in career assists, and 24th in career points scored at Illinois.

Cook made eight appearances during the Illini’s 2024-25 season, with her final appearance dating back to Dec. 8 at Ohio State. The fifth-year guard averaged 11.9 points, 3.6 assists, 1.9 rebounds, and 1.0 steals across those eight starts while shooting 34.8% (31-for-89) from the field, 27.6% (8-for-29) from 3-point range, and 80.6% (25-for-31) from the free throw line. Scoring in double figures on four occasions, Cook tallied 20 points twice, including a 20-point effort in Illinois’ season-opening upset of No. 19 Florida State on Nov. 7.

To start, here is the breakdown of number of teams by time zone:

ET - 8
CT - 6
MT - 0
PT - 4

The four West Coast teams play each other twice, leaving 14 other conference games: seven home and seven away.

Those seven away games are made into four trips to the ET/CT time zones (three two-game trips and a single game trip). The three two-game trips all appear to be over four days, just like we had playing on Thursday and then Sunday. I think those teams are going to be fried by the end of the regular season.

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Mountain West Conference? It would be for football only and would start July 1, 2026. The university received a formal invitation from the MWC but the Board of Trustees has to approve it.

Nm

Not a great postseason for the over glorified Conference.

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CHAMPAIGN, Ill.– Illinois guard Kasparas Jakucionis is Big Ten Freshman of the Week, the conference office announced Monday. Jakucionis is co-recipient of the league's weekly honor, along with Rutgers' Ace Bailey.

• Jakucionis led the Illini to three wins during the nomination period of Dec. 23-Jan. 5, averaging a team-best 16.0 points and 5.3 assists along with 5.0 rebounds, while shooting 60% from the field, 39% from 3-point range, and making all seven free throw attempts.
• Scored a team-high 18 points with team-high six assists and added five rebounds in the win at Washington.
• Made the game's final basket, scoring on a left-hand driving layup with 32 seconds left to break a 75-all tie. He then added two free throws with :12 remaining to put the Illini ahead by four and seal the victory.
• Recorded 16 second-half points with game-high six assists along with six rebounds in a 32-point victory at No. 9 Oregon, as the Illini recorded the largest road win over a top-10 team all-time.
• Began the stretch with 14 points, four assists and four rebounds in only 22 minutes in a blowout win over Chicago State.

Jakucionis earns his second Big Ten Freshman of the Week award this season, following recognition on Dec. 16. Jakucionis is currently averaging 16.4 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 5.4 rebounds on the season, the first freshman from a power conference with 16+ points, 5.5+ rebounds and 5+ assists since Washington's Markelle Fultz in 2016-17.

No. 13 Illinois is back in action Wednesday night, hosting Penn State at State Farm Center (8 p.m., BTN). Tickets are available at FightingIllini.com.

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West Virginia defeated Oral Roberts 87-59. Sencire Harris and Amani Hansberry were both in the starting lineup for WVU. Harris had 4 points and 4 rebounds. Hansberry had 9 points and 12 rebounds.

Memphis defeated Mizzou 83-75. Dain Dainja started and had 6 points and 8 rebounds.

Indiana (Luke Goode) opens its season on Wednesday night vs. SIUE. Goode came off the bench in both of Indian's exhibition games.

Kansas State (Coleman Hawkins) opens its season on Tuesday night vs. New Orleans. Hawkins started in KSU's exhibition vs. Fort Hayes State. 13 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 assists.