How to Watch Illinois vs. Nebraska
Game Time: 3 p.m. Saturday
TV Channel: N/A
Online Streaming: Peacock
Odds: N/A (Illinois 80.2% Chance To Win – ESPN Matchup Predictor)
Quick Hits:
Illinois Fighting Illini (8-2, 1-0 Big Ten)
Head Coach: Brad Underwood (9th season)
Last Game: Illinois 88, Ohio State 80
Gameday Reading:
Nebraska Cornhuskers (9-0, 0-0 Big Ten)
Head Coach: Fred Hoiberg (7th season)
Last Game: Nebraska 71, Creighton 50
- The Cornhuskers play Wisconsin on Wednesday, Dec. 10.
What Happened the Last Time These Two Teams Played?
- Illinois leads all-time series 23-9.
Jan. 30, 2025: Nebraska 80, Illinois 74
LINCOLN, Neb. — Another bad loss in Big Ten play.
Nebraska entered Thursday’s game as the losers of six straight Big Ten games, including two blowout losses. The Illini have struggled recently too, but were
coming off a mostly dominant win over Northwestern just four days ago.
Yet, Nebraska outlasted Illinois in overtime in Lincoln, winning 80-74, without either team playing particularly well. Illinois closed the gap late with some timely shooting from Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn and Will Riley, but couldn’t pull it out in the end.
Illinois beat themselves in this one. The lack of a functioning offense, attributed to bad shooting and lazy turnovers caused their downfall, even though they managed to force overtime.
“We’re the youngest team in Power Four,” Brad Underwood said postgame. “We’ve had two games without Kasparas, we’re three now without Tomi…It’s nice when we have our pieces and would like to continue to grow. It is frustrating for me, because I know where we could be and where we’re getting to. Tonight’s frustrating for me because of the mental lapses we had that we haven’t been making. I don’t know when we get whole again.”
It was another poor shooting night for Illinois (14-7, 6-5 Big Ten), who went 10-for-42 from downtown, including 0-for-8 in overtime. Freshman Will Riley did his best to keep Illinois alive in the second half, finishing with 16 points on the night.
For the ninth time in 11 conference games, Illinois shot under 33% from distance. Nebraska (13-8, 3-7 Big Ten) is one of the worst teams in the conference at defending the three-pointer, yet Illinois was unable to capitalize.
Illinois managed to stick around in the first half despite shooting just 3-for-18 from beyond the arc and not recording a single assist. They went without a field goal for nearly six minutes, but didn’t trail by more than five points during that scoring drought.
Nebraska eventually capitalized on Illinois’ poor shooting, costly turnovers, and foul trouble, going on a 16-6 run late in the half. The Cornhuskers caught the Illini sleeping several times, scoring in transition easily and getting wide-open dunks due to defensive miscommunications. They took a 40-31 lead into the break.
Illinois shot better in the second half, led by Riley’s three triples, but played incredibly sloppy basketball otherwise. Nebraska’s veteran roster took advantage of lazy turnovers and uncharacteristic mistakes from Brad Underwood’s squad.
“Tonight was very uncharacteristic of us from a scouting report standpoint making those turnovers,” Underwood said. “Not gonna beat anybody doing that.”
Sophomore center Tomislav Ivisic (mononucleosis) missed his third consecutive game. Illinois clearly missed his presence, as they were outscored 44-28 in the paint. The Illini didn’t have much offensive success down low and struggled to initiate much offense in general.
“Without Tomi…we’re not the greatest post-up team in the world,” said Underwood. “We’ve gotta be able to crease the defense with our guards and we have been. We’re one of the top teams in the country with two-point rate. Tonight, we didn’t do it very well and that’s a tribute to their defense.”
Illinois had won nine straight games against Nebraska, with three of those wins coming in Lincoln.
