Illinois basketball playing coast-to-coast in new Big Ten

May 2—State Farm Center will be the site of multiple marquee games during the 2024-25 season, with Illinois hosting UCLA and Southern Cal for the first time as Big Ten opponents and avoiding a trip to Los Angeles. The Illini haven't played the Bruins in Champaign since 1964 (a 110-83 victory) and last hosted the Trojans at then-Assembly Hall in 1977 (an 82-59 win). While UCLA hasn't played in Champaign in six decades, one Bruin is quite familiar with State Farm Center. That game will mark Skyy Clark's return after he spent part of the 2022-23 season with the Illini. Illinois' home-only slate also includes Purdue, Ohio State, Iowa, Maryland and Penn State. The pro? Mackey Arena is avoided. The con? Just one game against Iowa for the second time in three seasons.

While Illinois won't make a trip to Los Angeles in 2024-25, it will still visit the furthest reaches of the Big Ten with games at Oregon and Washington. It would make sense if those games came during the same, extended road trip. But an 18-team Big Ten doesn't make any sense beyond financial, so don't be shocked if the Illini get separate trips to Eugene, Ore., and Seattle, with the Ducks and Huskies assumedly not coming to Champaign until 2025-26. Illinois fans are saved from the conundrum of having to decide to boo Luke Goode or not by Indiana hosting the only game between the Illini and Hoosiers next season. The rest of the Illini's road-only matchups include trips to Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska and Rutgers. That will give Illinois the full bi-coastal experience in the new Big Ten.

Each Big Ten team will play three teams twice next season — home and away — and the conference kept some rivalries alive in those matchups. Michigan and Michigan State play twice. The former Pac-12 teams all get each other twice. Purdue and Indiana can hate each other in person twice. Minnesota and Wisconsin can put whatever the basketball equivalent of Paul Bunyan's Axe is on the line twice. And Illinois gets Northwestern, once in Champaign and once in Evanston. Geographical rivals more than anything else, although the Wildcats have made it more competitive lately . The other double plays on the Illinois schedule are also Big Ten OGs in Michigan State and Wisconsin — matchups that have delivered good games (and a fair number of Illini victories) in the last half decade.