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Oct. 27—First, let’s get this important fact out there.
Sunday’s 91-74 loss by the Illinois men’s basketball against No. 24 Mississippi in front of 7,023 fans at the Sandy and John Black Pavilion at Ole Miss in Oxford, Miss., doesn’t count.
The charity-exhibition game to raise proceeds for the Court Appointed Special Advocates of North Mississippi won’t affect the Big Ten or SEC standings.
Doesn’t change the fact when the season tips off a week from Monday against Eastern Illinois at State Farm Center in Champaign, Brad Underwood and his Illini will find themselves unranked, just outside the preseason Associated Press Top 25 poll.
Doesn’t change the fact Chris Beard and his Rebels will, in fact, remain the No. 24 team in the country when Mississippi opens against Long Island on Nov. 4.
But, man, Sunday showcased a lot of items for Illini fans to digest in the coming week and overreact to starting as soon as the final whistle sounded early Sunday afternoon.
Starting with the starting five Illinois trotted out late Sunday morning, none of whom suited up for Illinois the last time it played in front of fans late last March in the Elite Eight loss of the NCAA tournament to eventual national champion Connecticut.
Tomislav Ivisic is still awaiting clearance from the NCAA on if he’s eligible to play when the regular season starts (the fact he can play in a charity exhibition, though, defies a bit of logic). The 7-foot-1 freshman showed some promise early, scoring 12 points on 5 of 6 shooting and having a presence at the rim defensively Illinois hasn’t had since Kofi Cockburn roamed the paint.
Kasparas Jakucionis looked, at times, like a potential first-round NBA draft pick in 2025. Looked, at other times, like an 18-year-old freshman guard playing against another college team with fans in the stands for the first time, and finished with 12 points, six rebounds, five assists and four turnovers.
Louisville transfer Tre White was a non-factor, Arizona transfer Kylan Boswell looked great…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/daniels-learning-curve-illini-steep-035900991.html
Author : The News-Gazette, Champaign-Urbana, Ill.
Publish date : 2024-10-28 03:59:00
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