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Welcome to “Good Morning, Illini Nation,” your daily dose of college basketball news from Illini beat writer and AP Top 25 voter Scott Richey. He’ll offer up insights every morning on Brad Underwood’s team and college basketball at large:
Two things stood out when the Big Ten released its full conference schedule earlier this week. For one, Illinois will play Penn State at The Palestra in Philadelphia instead of State College, Pa. (a win for anyone who’s had to travel to the Nittany Lions’ hometown before). Two, five days in Los Angeles in February sounds delightful.
Here’s a few other tidbits about the Illini’s Big Ten slate:
— Illinois opens Big Ten play on the road for the fourth straight season with a Dec. 9 game at Ohio State. The Illini are 1-2 in that stretch with losses at Northwestern (2024) and Maryland (2022) and a win at Rutgers (2023).
— Illinois plays eight league games against teams that participated in last year’s NCAA tournament.
— Illinois’ game at The Palestra will be its first at the historic Philadelphia arena since beating Temple 75-60 on Nov. 29, 2003, in Bruce Weber’s first season as coach. Roger Powell Jr. led the way with 19 points and 10 rebounds.
— Illinois’ Jan. 29 game against Washington will mark the Huskies’ first trip to Champaign since Dec. 7, 1991. T.J. Wheeler scored a game-high 14 points, and the Illini won 75-55.
— Illinois will play at USC for the first time since Dec. 13, 1975, when the Trojans played at Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena. The Illini will also play at UCLA at historic Pauley Pavilion for the first time since Dec. 30, 1997.
— Illinois will host Oregon for the first time, ever, on March 3.