Illinois basketball to host Duke for first time ever as part of home-and-home

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The Illinois basketball program is looking to turn the page to the 2026-27 season after a highly successful 2025-26 campaign that saw the Fighting Illini make it all the way to the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament. While they lost to the UConn Huskies when they got there, it was still a strong campaign for head coach Brad Underwood and company, who continue to climb in the national consciousness.

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Now, the team has delivered some exciting news about two upcoming regular season matchups against the Duke Blue Devils.

“Orange vs. Blue. Illinois will travel to Durham in 2026 and host in 2027,” reported the school’s basketball account on X, formerly Twitter.

This, of course, means that a “home and home” series is on the horizon for the two squads, and fans in the comment section were understandably excited.

“This is awesome for both programs! Duke-Illinois rivalry brewing,” wrote one fan.

“Let’s have some fun!” added another.

Meanwhile, Dave Wischnowsky pointed out some interesting trivia about the history between the two schools, of which there isn’t much to speak.

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“Illini-Blue Devils Fun Facts: Duke has never played in Champaign. Quite incredibly, Illinois is actually 2-0 at Cameron Indoor,” he reported on X.

Illinois will look to make it 3-0 at the iconic home of the Blue Devils when they travel there next year.

The two teams very nearly met in the Final Four this past season, but Duke ended up choking away their Elite Eight game against UConn, which matched the Huskies up against the Illini instead of the Blue Devils.

In any case, Illinois’ full schedule for the upcoming 2026-27 college basketball season will be released at a later date.

Related: Illinois’ Andrej Stojaković reveals deciding factor on NBA Draft future

Related: Isaiah Evans officially ends Duke…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/illinois-basketball-host-duke-first-174558454.html

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Publish date : 2026-05-13 17:45:00

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