This coming season is a pivotal one for the Illinois Fighting Illini basketball program as coach Brad Underwood has set the wheels in motion for his team to make it to back-to-back Final Fours.
The goal this season will be nothing short of championships, as Illinois hasn’t won a regular season Big Ten title since 2022, although they did win the Big Ten Tournament in 2024. They have also never won a national championship despite coming close many times.
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The team’s non-conference schedule was released on Friday, and parts of it read like a ‘Who’s Who?’ of college basketball.
Several highly talented, blue blood college hoops programs are expected to tangle with Underwood’s team, in games that should fetch a pretty penny among ticket brokers heading into the season.
Apr 4, 2026; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini center Tomislav Ivisic (13) blocks the shot of UConn Huskies center Eric Reibe (12) during the second half of a semifinal of the Final Four of the men’s 2026 NCAA Tournament at Lucas Oil Stadium. Credit: Bob Donnan-Imagn Images
Jon Scheyer’s Duke Blue Devils and Michael Malone’s North Carolina Tar Heels are among the teams listed on this year’s non-conference schedule, posing a high level challenge for coach Underwood’s loaded squad.
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The schedule includes only two true regular season road games but they are against two of the best college basketball programs of the last few years in Texas Tech and Duke.
It also includes neutral site challenges that will serve as excellent warm-ups for the NCAA Tournament next spring.
Dates for the games are as follows:
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Oct. 17 – at Cincinnati (Exhibition)
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Oct. 23 – Baylor (Exhibition)
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Oct. 28 – University of Illinois-Chicago (Exhibition)
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Nov. 2 – Fairleigh Dickinson
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Nov. 10 – at Texas Tech
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Nov. 13 – Sam Houston State
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Nov. 20 – Eastern Illinois
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Nov. 27 – Western Kentucky
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Dec. 20 – Missouri (St. Louis)
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Jan. 30 – North Carolina (Nashville)
The Fighting Illini’s full Big Ten schedule hasn’t been released yet but includes the following teams according to the university’s official basketball team website: Iowa, Michigan State, Nebraska, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, UCLA, USC and Wisconsin.
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Road trips have been announced to Indiana, Maryland, defending national champ Michigan, Minnesota, Northwestern, Oregon, Purdue, Rutgers, Washington and Wisconsin.
The full Big Ten schedule will be released at a later date.
Coach Underwood’s team went 28-9 last season, constituting the fourth-most wins in team history, and were the Big Ten runner-up during the regular season.
They have won more games in this past decade than any other Big Ten school and have won 20-plus games in seven straight seasons, one of four teams to accomplish that feat nationwide.
