UConn, Illinois basketball finalizing Black Friday showdown at MSG
The UConn Huskies and the Illinois Fighting Illini are reportedly on the verge of making official a Black Friday date at Madison Square Garden in New York, according to college basketball insider Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports and College Hoops Today.
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'NEWS: UConn and Illinois are finalizing an agreement to meet on November 28th — Black Friday — at MSG, according to multiple sources,' Rothstein shared in a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Monday.
The news of the matchup has left fans buzzing with reactions online.
'Should be a home and home!!!' one said.
'Illinois will just get blown out of the water in MSG like they did against Duke this year,' a fan predicted.
From a different commenter: 'They want that crucial rematch 😭😭'
'We should get another game in Chicago in 2027,' an Illinois fan suggested.
'REMATCH BABY,' commented an excited fan, who's already looking forward to that Black Friday showdown in the Big Apple.
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Should this game get finalized, Illinois will get a chance to score some measure of revenge against the team that eliminated it from the Elite Eight round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament.
In that contest, Dan Hurley's No. seed Huskies flummoxed Brad Underwood's No. 3 seed Fighting Illini on both ends of the floor to score a 77-52 victory at TD Garden in Boston. Donovan Clingan, who now plays for the Portland Trail Blazers, led the way for UConn with 22 points and 10 rebounds to go with five blocks and three steals. Marcus Domask paced Illinois with 17 points, as his team shot just 25.4 percent from the floor.
The Huskies then proceeded to beat the No. 4 seed Alabama Crimson Tide in the Final Four and the No. 1 seed Purdue Boilermakers in the national championship game to successfully become two-peat champions.
Having Illinois on UConn's 2024-25 assignments will strengthen the Huskies' schedule that already features non-conference games against the likes of the BYU Cougars, Arizona Wildcats, Texas Longhorns and reigning NCAA champions Florida Gators. The Fighting Illini, on the other hand, have out-of-conference games versus Alabama and Missouri.
The Huskies went 24-11 in the 2024-25 season and exited the Big Dance in the second round, while the Fighting Illini put together a 22-13 record and also struck out of the national tourney in the second round.
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