Alan Griffin announces transfer to Syracuse
By Jackson Janes, Assistant Sports Editor
April 5, 2020
Former Illinois sophomore guard Alan Griffin announced he will be transferring to Syracuse University next season. Griffin entered the transfer portal on March 24, via a post on his personal Twitter account. Griffin averaged 8.9 points per game for the Illini this season, shooting a team-high 41.6%...
Head coach Fahey receives contract extension
By Claire O'Brien, Staff Writer
April 3, 2020
Illinois women’s basketball head coach Nancy Fahey’s contract was extended Friday, pending approval from the UI Board of Trustees, according to a press release sent out by Fighting Illini Athletics. The contract goes through 2025. Fahey came to Illinois from Washington University in St. Louis in 20...
Transfers and tribulations: Tracking Illini transfer activity this offseason
By Miles Powers-Huang, Staff Writer
April 1, 2020
Transfers have become a fundamental component for college basketball coaches to build their rosters in recent seasons. This season, each of the top seven teams in the final edition of the Associated Press Rankings had at least one transfer player in their starting lineup. In the past week, Illinois has...
Illini women’s basketball hires new assistant coach
By Claire O'Brien, Staff Writer
March 31, 2020
Illinois women’s basketball head coach Nancy Fahey hired a new assistant coach, Scott Merritt, last week. Merritt replaced LaKale Malone, who’d been coaching at Illinois since 2012. Malone has not been introduced as a coach at another school yet. Merritt was a starter at Marquette in 2003, per Illino...
Jones becomes second Illini to enter transfer portal
By Alec Busse, Video Editor
March 25, 2020
Rising junior guard Tevian Jones is the second Illini men's basketball player to enter the transfer portal following the 2019-2020 season, according to a tweet by The Athletic's Brendan Quinn on Wednesday afternoon. Rising junior guard Alan Griffin previously announced his own transfer from the program...
Griffin announces transfer from Illini
By Gabby Hajduk, Sports Editor
March 24, 2020
Sophomore guard Alan Griffin announced his transfer from the Illinois men's basketball team via Twitter on Tuesday night. Griffin came off the bench for the Illini, often as the sixth man, but played in 28 out of the team's 31 games and averaged 18 minutes of play per game. https://twitter.com/alangriffin_/status/1242589528315002880 ...
Fans use social media to quench sports thirst
By Miles Powers-Huang, Staff Writer
March 24, 2020
It seemed too good to be true when sophomore guard Ayo Dosunmu picked up the loose ball with Illinois down two and drained a deep three with 6.8 seconds left to steal a 79-78 upset win over 2-seed Creighton to advance to its first sweet sixteen since 2005. That’s because it was. No, that sequence did not act...
Dosunmu must decide: Making the case for junior season
By Alec Busse, Video Editor
March 23, 2020
Sophomore Ayo Dosunmu doesn’t like making the easy decision. Dosunmu took the hard route coming out of Morgan Park in Chicago, signing with Illinois in November 2017. Dosunmu made the hard choice when he announced he was returning to Illinois for his sophomore season in the spring of 2019. Now, the...
Illini finish on high note, rank No. 21 in final poll
By Gabby Hajduk, Sports Editor
March 18, 2020
The Illinois men's basketball team came in at No. 21 in the final Associated Press Top 25 Poll of the season on Wednesday. The Illini haven't finished a season ranked since the 2005-2006 season when the team advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament and were ranked No. 13. Illinois spent...
Recruiting never stops for Underwood and company
By Alec Busse, Video Editor
March 18, 2020
There is a saying that basketball never stops. Unfortunately, the coronavirus pandemic that is sweeping our world has forced a stop to basketball. All the major conferences canceled their tournaments last week, and the NCAA followed suit, canceling the NCAA Tournament on Thursday. March is supposed t...
Illini Cinderella story cut short
By Miles Powers-Huang, Staff Writer
March 15, 2020
In a typical college basketball season, only four Division I teams come out victorious in the final game they play, the winners of the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament (CIT), College Basketball Invitational (CBI), National Invitation Tournament (NIT) and, of course, the NCAA Tournament. If one...
Coronavirus halts sports world, affects NBA draft
By Brendyn Jones, On-Air Editor
March 15, 2020
March 11 will always be remembered as the day the sports world halted. After Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19, the NBA suspended its season, becoming the first major U.S. sports league to do so. The next day, the MLB and NHL both suspended their seasons, with the NCAA also can...
