Chambana Sun

Illinois is set to begin its 120th season of men's basketball with a matchup against Eastern Illinois on Monday at the State Farm Center in Champaign. The game, which will start at 7 p.m. CT, will be available for live streaming on bigtenplus.com and the B1G+ App, while radio coverage will be provided by the Busey Bank Illini Sports Network and other platforms.

Head Coach Brad Underwood, entering his eighth year with Illinois, leads a team that has won eight consecutive season openers. "The Illini have posted an all-time record of 105-14 (.882) in season openers," notes the press release. The Fighting Illini have consistently performed well when starting their seasons at home, boasting a record of 40-2 all-time and having won their last 27 home openers.

The Illini are coming off a successful run in recent years within the Big Ten Conference. They were crowned champions of the 2024 Big Ten Tournament as the #2 seed and also secured regular-season championships in previous years. In preparation for this season, Illinois participated in a charity exhibition game against Ole Miss and held a closed scrimmage with Butler.

This meeting marks only the third time Illinois will face Eastern Illinois in over two decades, despite being geographically close. "Monday marks the ninth meeting between the program," according to information from Illinois Athletics. Notably, Eastern Illinois Athletic Director Tom Michael is an alumnus of Illinois' basketball program and holds records for three-point shooting percentages.

Fighting Illini forward Ben Humrichous is among those expected to play significant roles this season after transferring from Evansville where he averaged 14.7 points per game last year.

As both teams enter this contest without any games played this season (0-0), it sets up an intriguing opener as they aim to start their campaigns positively.