Monday morning was a fun one for head coach Shauna Green and the Illini as they were ranked No. 25 in the AP poll. This was the first time the Illini have been ranked all season and the first time that
they’ve been ranked since Feb. 17, 2025.
This comes after Illinois started their season 14-3, including 4-2 in conference play, matching the best 17-game start in program history.
Since Big Ten play started, the Illini have beaten a current top-15 opponent in Maryland, and two of their three losses this year have also come to top-15 teams.
The Big Ten is the most competitive conference in women’s basketball this season with eight teams ranked in the top 25 and four more teams receiving votes. This means every conference game is a challenge f0r the Illini.
Illinois has four more games in the month of January and none of them are going to be easy.
On Thursday the Illini travel to Ann Arbor to face off against the No. 8 Michigan Wolverines. The Wolverines only have two loses so far this season, including one against the No. 1 team in the country, UConn.
The orange and blue will then travel home on Jan. 18 to face one of only three Big Ten teams with a sub-.500 record, in the Northwestern Wildcats.
After that however it is back to the gauntlet for Illinois as they have two ranked matchups to end the month.
On Jan. 24 the Illini will take the trip south to Lincoln Nebraska to play No. 24 Nebraska in what should be a great matchup between two teams with very similar resumes.
Then the Illini will end the month at home in what will be the most challenging contest yet against No. 3 UCLA.
UCLA is not only the highest ranked team in the Big Ten, but also a serious contender to win the national championship come April.
It will take everything out of Green and her team to shut down Lauren Betts and the Bruins, but if they were to win that game, Illinois could be seen as a serious threat to win the conference.
