Illinois is heading into the season with big numbers attached to it: 25 wins, a share of the Big Ten title and a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament. That’s the projection here, with the Illini finishing 25-7 overall and 15-5 in league play.
The season starts in less than three weeks, when Illinois opens against Fairleigh Dickinson on Monday, Nov. 2.
Before that, fans will get a first look at the 2026-27 group this Saturday in an exhibition against Cincinnati. That game won’t be televised, but highlights and the box score will follow.
Illinois also has preseason games coming against Baylor and UIC at the State Farm Center before the regular season begins.
For the regular season, the path is mapped out pretty cleanly: wins over Fairleigh Dickinson, Penn, Sam Houston State, Eastern Illinois, Winthrop, Western Kentucky, UConn in Chicago, Minnesota, Penn State, Missouri in St. Louis, Seattle, Purdue, Northwestern, Maryland, Nebraska, USC, North Carolina in Nashville, UCLA, Michigan, Northwestern again, Oregon, Washington, Rutgers and Iowa. The losses, in this forecast, come at Texas Tech, at Duke, at Wisconsin, against Ohio State, at Indiana, against Michigan State and at Purdue.
That gives Illinois seven defeats total, with most of them coming away from home. The two home losses are the ones that stand out most. The Ohio State game is viewed as a possible trap, especially with students away from campus, and Michigan State has given Illinois trouble in recent years even at the State Farm Center.
There are other Big Ten games that could swing either way, and the idea here is that Illinois will probably drop a game or two where it’s favored. Maryland was a close call, given how well the Terrapins have played against the Illini recently, but the pick still landed on Illinois.
The final stretch is where the forecast gets even cleaner: Illinois is projected to enter the Big Ten Tournament on a six-game winning streak.
That would put the Illini in position to claim at least a share of the Big Ten regular-season title and secure the No. 1 seed in the Big Ten Tournament. It would also leave them squarely in line for a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament, which would set up another deep March run.
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Illinois Suddenly Has A Bigger QB Question After Michigan State Win
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Clayton completed 6 of 8 passes for 88 yards and two touchdowns, and his performance was enough to push Illinois to a 38-37 finish in overtime. It also put the spotlight squarely on what happens next, because the Illini suddenly have to sort out a quarterback situation that looked a lot more settled before Houser went down. [Read more 🡒]
Illinois Practice Clips Just Sparked A Real Rotation Debate
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For a staff that will have to balance development with immediate production, those short practice windows can mean a lot more than they seem. The video did not answer every question, of course, but it did underline why the rotation conversation feels so open right now: there are multiple players with tools that could push for minutes, and the way Illinois chooses to deploy them may say as much about the season ahead as any preseason projection. [Read more 🡒]
Brad Underwood Just Spotlighted An Illinois Player Fans Might Be Undervaluing
Brad Underwood has made it clear that Jake Davis matters to Illinois in ways the box score does not always capture. The Illini coach sees Davis as more than a modest-statistics contributor, pointing to his shooting touch, intelligence and work ethic as traits that help steady the program behind the scenes and on the floor.
For a team that has leaned on all kinds of contributions to stay competitive, Davis has emerged as the kind of role player coaches trust and teammates follow. Underwoods view also suggests the appreciation for Davis may still be catching up to his value, especially with another important supporting role expected for the 2026-27 season. [Read more 🡒]