The Illinois Fighting Illini pull off a huge road win at the Ohio State Buckeyes — final score 88-80 — to kick off Big Ten play with a statement.Keaton Wagler leads Illinois with 23 points and big plays down the stretch. David Mirkovic steps up with 22 points and 8 rebounds, fueling the Illini starting lineup. Balanced scoring from the Illini — including Andrej Stojakovic and Zvonimir Ivisic — proves clutch in a hostile environment. Despite a monster night from Buckeyes guard Bruce Thornton (34 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists), Illinois’ composure at the free-throw line and late-game execution sealed the win.This marks Illinois’ first Big Ten win of the season and another important road victory — their 35th in conference play since 2019-20, the most in the league.Tune in with Cody as he gives his takeaways on the Illini win.LINKS: https://linktr.ee/cody.illini

What. A. Win. The Illinois Fighting Illini came through in a huge way, knocking off Tennessee Volunteers 75-62 in a physical, hard-fought battle at Music City Madness. Balanced scoring paced the Illini: Tomislav Ivisic and Keaton Wagler dropped 16 points each, while Kylan Boswell added 15 and David Mirkovic put up 10. The Illini’s defense stood firm — holding the Vols to just 62 points, the fewest allowed by Illinois in a top-25 nonconference win in nearly two decades.Ohio State will is the next test. They’ve looked sharp early in conference play with a win over Northwestern, and this will be Illinois' first true road-game challenge of the season. Can Illinois keep this momentum going?Cody digs into it all on this episode of From Beyond Champaign.LINKS: https://linktr.ee/cody.illini

The UConn Huskies dominated Illinois Fighting Illini in a wire-to-wire win, but Illinois showed flashes — here’s what stood out.The Huskies held the Illini to just 32.1% shooting overall and a brutal 20.7% from three. Illinois just couldn’t find rhythm or consistency from deep.Illinois’ offense lacked creativity & adjustments — Even when their big men (like Tomislav Ivišić) got opportunities inside, Illinois reverted back to low-percentage, stagnant three-point attempts instead of attacking the mismatches. That choice undermined their comeback attempts.Illinois showed grit with a 16-2 second-half run and some fight, but poor shot selection and lack of discipline made their comeback attempt too little, too late.In this episode, Cody Delmendo gives his biggest takeaways from the loss a few days later and offers some perspective headed into Tennessee next weekend.

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