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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:
The rest of Illinois’ 2025-26 schedule should be published … soon. Why it takes the Big Ten increasingly longer each offseason to get this done remains a mystery. Until then, we’ll take a look at the other teams the Illini will face this year:
Colgate
Last year’s finish: 14-19, 10-8 Patriot League (Third)
When the Raiders are on the schedule: Nov. 14, State Farm Center
Most important returning player: The Raiders had three players average double figures last season. Jalen Cox is the only one returning after Nicolas Louis-Jacques and Jeff Woodward exhausted their eligibility. The 6-foot-3, 180-pound point guard put up 11.9 points 4.4 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game last season and was much more efficient inside the three-point line (57 percent) than outside it (29 percent). How his role evolves when it comes to being the best scoring option but also the best playmaker could be a real factor in Colgate’s success this season.
Best offseason acquisition: Freshman guard Charlie Pugh — no, not the musician — arrived in Hamilton, N.Y., with arguably the best high school basketball résumé of Colgate’s first-year players. (Honorable mention to freshman forward Andrew Alekseyenko). Pugh was a captain at prep powerhouse Brewster Academy (N.H.) last season and averaged 14.3 points, 5.4 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.2 steals.
Projection for 2025-26: Last season was a disappointment for the Raiders. The end of a six-year streak where they dominated the Patriot League with six regular season titles and five conference tournament titles (that probably would have also been six if postseason play wasn’t wiped out in March 2020). Matt Langel was able to retain most of his players that could return this season, but getting back to the expected level of success will only happen if guys like Parker Jones, Brady Cummins and Sam Wright take serious steps forward in their production.