What Illinois Basketball Must Prove Against Baylor in Exhibition Game

It’s spooky season, so want to give Illinois fans a scare? Here’s an idea: Name any Big Ten guard from the 2025-26 campaign. We’ll go first: Jeremy Fears Jr., Nick Boyd, John Blackwell, Donovan Dent. Shall we go on?

OK, just one more – an honorable mention: Kayden Mingo. As a Penn State freshman guard, Mingo poured in 16 points against the Illini while adding five assists (and four steals, for good measure) in a too-close-for-comfort Illinois win.

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On Friday, Illinois will again run into Mingo, now donning a Baylor uniform. So what can the Illini’s performance against Mingo tell us? Let’s break it down:

Will Baylor’s Kayden Mingo torch Illinois, a la Cincinnati guard Tylen Riley?

Cincinnati Bearcats guard Tylen Riley (10) shoots from three point range in the first half of the CareSource Invitational exhibition game between the Cincinnati Bearcats and the Ohio State Buckeyes at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, Ohio, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026. The Bearcats won 79-68. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Last season, time and again, Illinois was left absolutely bewildered by elite Big Ten guards. And that was with supposed defensive stopper Kylan Boswell, who is now gone. Who’s up next?

Well, through one exhibition game, the answer seems to be … nobody. Cincinnati’s Tylen Riley put up 31 points and 13 assists (against just three turnovers) vs. Illinois on Saturday, and – quite obviously – no Illini defender stepped up to put the brakes on him.

We know: Didn’t we just say defensive shortcomings in exhibition games aren’t telltale signs? That is unequivocally true. And coach Brad Underwood admitted after the game that his Illini had “talked personnel” but didn’t talk X’s and O’s.

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So Underwood’s group knew the rundown on Riley. Yet they seemingly didn’t have a player who could get in front of him and stay there. Riley’s playmaking was heavily out of ball-screen action. So, to be fair, Illinois may not have had a well-thought-out plan for that (by…

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Publish date : 2026-10-22 02:56:00

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