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Well, this news is really heartbreaking to hear, per the Boise State X page.
Best wishes to Ty for a healthy recovery.
I was so pumped to see this picture on the Illinois Men's Basketball Twitter page last night as all seven Illini newcomers have arrived on campus and will be beginning summer workouts.  From left to right are incoming freshmen Landon Davis, Xavier Zens, Lincoln Williams, Ethan Brown, Lucas Morillo and Quentin Coleman, and Providence transfer Stefaan Vaaks.
Of course, Vaaks and Coleman are expected to be starters next season, with Morillo likely carving out a role off the bench. In terms of the other four freshman, it shall be interesting to see if either Brown, Davis, Zens and Williams can earn some spots minutes on a veteran Illini team. I am very excited about this group, hoping that Illinois can retain as many of these six freshmen as possible after next season. Development will be key for many of these players during the 2026-27 campaign, not necessarily in games but on the practice court and in the weight room. This could very well be the next generation of Illinois basketball so here's hoping this group can stick around and develop with Illinois possibly losing a lot of experienced players following next season.
Today I am going to take a break from writing about my favorite 30 Illinois men's basketball players of my 30-year fandom, which has been a lot of fun strolling down memory lane, and share a couple of quick thoughts about an interview with Brad Underwood that the Illini Inquirer podcast dropped yesterday. For a quick review, here are #s 30-11 of my list of favorite Illini basketball players from the 1996-97 season to today, with the top 10 being revealed starting this weekend:
As for the Illini Inquirer interview, Underwood gave the podcast a good 40 minutes of his time, sharing thoughts about last year's Final Four Run and this offseason so far. I highly suggest you watch/listen to it, which I did while sitting in a downtown Chicago rush-hour traffic yesterday. Below are my five things that Underwood said that stood out to me in relation to next season. 1. Underwood kept mentioning the likely adoption of the "Five for Five" rule, which makes me think he has plans to try and retain several of the Illini's current seniors after next season: Tomislav Ivisic, Zvonimir Ivisic, Jake Davis and Andrej Stojakovic. Could you imagine two of those four players returning after next season?
2. Underwood described Providence transfer Stefaan Vaaks as the best offensive player in the transfer portal. 3. Underwood called incoming five-star freshman Quentin Coleman "an ultimate winner," referencing the guard's +/- in recent games with Team USA. 4. Underwood compared incoming freshman Lucas Morillo to Marcus Domask in terms of having an inside/outside game, which got me excited to think about. 5. Underwood talked about the need for Stojakovic to improve his decision making with the ball in his hands. As amazing as Stojakovic was during the month of March, he was a black hole at times last season, getting the ball, putting his head down and failing to look for open teammates, though this worked out quite well for the Illini during the 2026 NCAA Tournament. In addition to these five things that immediately stood out, Underwood shared some insight about when he knew freshman Keaton Wagler was going to be really good, a funny story about David Mirkovic leaving him speechless against Northwestern, his thoughts about Jason Jakstys being the fourth big on this team, and the nerves he experienced prior to the Elite Eight game against Iowa.
According to Jon Rothstein of CBS, a return date between Illinois and Texas Tech is set for next season. The Illini will be traveling to Texas Tech on Tuesday, November 10th of this year to play the Red Raiders at United Supermarkets Arena in Lubbock, Texas. Last season Illinois defeated Texas Tech 81-77 on November 11, 2025 in Champaign, with Andrej Stojakovic and Kylan Boswell leading the Fighting Illini with 23 and 22 points, respectively. Of note, Texas Tech has added former Ilini Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn through the transfer portal this offseason. In addition to the Red Raiders, Illinois will be playing Duke on November 17th at Cameron Indoor Stadium and UCONN on December 4th at United Center as part of its nonconference schedule for the 2026-27 season. In other news, Head Coach Brad Underwood had his current six-year contracted amended, with an option to extend through 2036 based upon the team's performance during the next four seasons. Currently 62 years old, Underwood would be 69 at the conclusion of the 2032 season and 73 at the end of the 2036 season. It's safe to say that it would be shocking if Underwood does not retire as Head Coach of the Fighting Illini.
Add Duke with UCONN to next season's nonconference slate for the Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team. Yesterday the Illini men's basketball program announced that it will be playing a home-and-home series with the Duke Blue Devils during the next two seasons. Illinois will travel to Durham to play Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium on November 17th of this year. In return Duke will travel to Champaign to play the Illini at State Farm Center on December 4, 2027. Of course, Illinois last played Duke at Madison Square Garden on February 22, 2025, with the Illini getting embarrassed 110-67. Here's hoping Illinois can avoid that fate and continue to have similar success at Cameron Indoor Stadium as experienced by the 1995-96 and 2020-21 teams.
Yesterday the Illinois men's basketball programs announced which Big Ten Conference opponents it will be playing at home and on the road during the 2026-27 season.
Illinois will have home games against:
Illinois will have road games against:
The Illini will play the following teams twice, once at home and once on the road:
Dates and times are to be determined.
According to Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports, next season's return game between the Connecticut Huskies and Illinois Fighting Ilini has been scheduled for Friday, December 4, 2026 at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois. Last season, Illinois played the first of a back-to-back season series with the Huskies at Madison Square Garden, losing 74-61 on Black Friday. Of course, both teams met again in the Final Four, where UCONN won 71-62. I recently rewatched that game for the first time since it happened and left with similar feelings of regret and frustration as UCONN was beatable. Illinois also played UCONN during the Elite Eight of the 2024 NCAA Tournament, losing 77-52 to the eventual national champion Huskies. In all honesty, I am considering this season's game against UCONN a must-win for Brad Underwood and his program, which is 0-3 against Dan Hurley's Huskies. While a lot of people are projecting Illinois ahead of UCONN in the preseason rankings, I am not going to do so until the Illini show that they can beat the Huskies. As Hurley's team showed last year, even in defeat to Michigan during the national title game, the road to a championship in men's college basketball must go through Connecticut. It is time for Illinois to knock off the Huskies in front of a pro-Illini crowd in Chicago, which should be an electric atmosphere. Doing so will legitimize Illinois as a true national title contender in my eyes.
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