Good Morning, Illini Nation: First Big Ten rematch

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Jan. 26—The westward expansion of the Big Ten — bringing in four new teams — meant moving further away from a round robin conference schedule. Now, there are only three home-and-home season series for each team. Illinois got Northwestern, Wisconsin and Michigan State this year.

The first of the rematches is Sunday at State Farm Center with Northwestern making the return trip. The Wildcats beat Illinois in overtime in early December in Evanston.

So what’s different a month-and-a-half later?

“I think, as a team, we’re much more together,” Illinois forward Jake Davis said. “We feel each other out more. We have better chemistry, if that makes sense. We’ve been through a lot more — played a lot of games since then — and I just think we’ve gotten better since then.”

And for Northwestern?

“They’re not playing some guys as much,” Illinois coach Brad Underwood said. “They’re playing (Brooks) Barnhizer quite a bit at the point, who’s probably as tough a kid as there is in the league. (Jalen) Leach is a really good player. They’re who they are. (Northwestern coach Chris Collins) does an outstanding job, but not a lot of changes. Maybe a few personnel tweaks here and there, but nothing major.”

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/good-morning-illini-nation-first-165200572.html

Author : The News-Gazette, Champaign-Urbana, Ill.

Publish date : 2025-01-26 16:52:00

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