CHAMPAIGN — The Fighting Illini football team is headed to Florida. The team announced Sunday afternoon that it has accepted an invitation to play in the ReliaQuest Bowl in Tampa on Jan. 2. They’ll face the Mississippi State Bulldogs from the SEC. Both teams finished with 8-4 regular season records. Illinois head coach Bret Bielema…
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) — Mackenzie Holmes scored 23 points, including a go-ahead layup with 37 seconds left, and No. 5 Indiana got past Illinois 65-61 in their Big Ten opener. Indiana improved to 9-0. The Hoosiers hadn’t trailed in the second half of any game this season before going back and forth in the closing…
COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) — Jahmir Young scored 24 points, including a crucial 3-pointer with 14.3 seconds remaining that helped No. 22 Maryland stay undefeated with a 71-66 victory over No. 16 Illinois on Friday night. Maryland is off to a sparkling 8-0 start under new coach Kevin Willard, who became the first coach in…
PITTSBURGH, Pa. — The Fighting Illini women’s basketball team won just seven games all of last season. They’ve equaled that total this season in just eight games. Behind hot shooting both inside and out, Illinois blasted Pittsburgh 92-71 to improve to 7-1. Adalia McKenzie tallied a career high 24 points. Three other Illini scored in…
CHAMPAIGN — Coleman Hawkins had 15 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists, and No. 16 Illinois thumped Syracuse 73-44 in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. Neither team shot well, but Illinois hit 6 of its 15 3-point attempts in the second half to send the Orange home with their third straight loss. Terrence Shannon Jr. had…
EVANSTON, Ill. (AP) — Safety Sydney Brown returned a touchdown and an interception for scores and Illinois snapped a three-game losing streak with a 41-3 rout of Northwestern. Brown raced 53 yards for a touchdown after Northwestern quarterback Cole Freeman fumbled, then sprinted in for a 39-yard score off an interception, both in the third…
CHAMPAIGN — The Fighting Illini women’s basketball team is off to its best start since the 2014-15 season after an 84-55 win over Oakland University Monday night in Champaign. Four Illinois players scored in double figures, led by junior Makira Cook with 18 points. Senior Jada Peebles added 12 points off the bench for the…
URBANA — University of Illinois wheelchair athlete Susannah Scaroni announced her presence on the world stage last year with a gold medal in the 5,000 meters at the Tokyo Paralympic Games. Scaroni added to her trophy case on Sunday when she won the Chicago Marathon, her first victory in one of the six world “major” marathons….
CHAMPAIGN — On back-to-back possessions in the second quarter of Saturday night’s game against Iowa, Illinois muffed a punt at their own 35-yard line and fumbled on their own five-yard line. Iowa could only score a total of three points off those two turnovers. An Illinois defense that head coach Bret Bielema calls “the best…
CHAMPAIGN — The Fighting Illini football team dominated every aspect of the game against Chattanooga Thursday night in a 31-0 win at Memorial Stadium. The Illinois offense totaled just over 500 yards, while the defense shut-out the Mocs, who were previously 3-0. Head coach Bret Bielema spoke well of the defensive effort after the game. “You…
CHAMPAIGN – Chase Brown picked up where he left off last season, rushing for 151 yards and scoring three touchdowns, as Illinois wore down the Wyoming Cowboys 38-6 in the season opener for both teams on Saturday. Brown ran for 1,005 yards a season ago, and looked every bit the part of the team’s leading…
CHAMPAIGN — The 133rd season of Illini football kicks off Saturday afternoon in Champaign. Illinois hosts the Wyoming Cowboys in a game that will feature a lot of fresh faces on both sides of the field. Head coach Bret Bielema revealed Thursday that his starting quarterback will be Syracuse transfer Tommy DeVito, who won the…
URBANA – As a member of the Fighting Illini football team in the 1980s, David Williams set many records on the field. He finished his collegiate career as the second leading receiver in NCAA history. And he’s a member of the College Football Hall of Fame. As his beloved team gets ready for its season opener, David…
TARRYTOWN, NY – A bloodhound, born and bred in St. Joseph, Illinois, has won the 146th Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. The four-and-a-half-year-old dog, named Trumpet (his official show name is Flessner’s Toot My Own Horn), bested six other finalists on Wednesday night to snare U.S. dogdom’s most coveted Best In Show prize. Trumpet is…
CHAMPAIGN – As Champaign Cycle slowly returns to its normal inventory, it’s experiencing price increases in bikes and bike parts that are indicative of the ongoing national bicycle shortage, which began after the sudden increase in sales at the beginning of the pandemic. As of May 13, a report from Statista found that Americans spent…