Illinois Basketball: Illini squeeze in game between Baylor and Duke

There has been a game added to the 2020-21 schedule for the Illinois basketball program.

On the FightingIllini.com website, the Illini always had a TBA game schedule for Saturday, December 5. It was revealed on Tuesday that Illinois will be facing off against UT-Martin in this game at the State Farm Center. The tip-off will be at 8:00 PM CT.

Honestly, this is great news for the Illini. The No. 2 ranked Baylor Bears are next up on the docket and that should be a dogfight. Baylor has a great team, but there are some keys to coming away with the victory against such a good program.

Illinois is going to need a palate cleanser after the Baylor game. There will need to be a game to correct some things that go wrong against the Bears. So, this is why I think playing someone like UT-Martin at home is going to be great for the program.

After the UT-Martin game, Illinois then goes directly into a matchup with the No. 6 ranked Duke Blue Devils on Tuesday, December 8. This is going to be another tough test for the Orange and Blue, so having that game in between Baylor and Duke will help the Illini get things in order.

The schedule is messed up in the COVID-19 year.

With so much going on in the world, Illinois’ schedule doesn’t have as many easy games as usual. The Illini are currently projected to have at least 10 ranked games this season even with a shortened year.

While the schedule is a little messed up thanks to the pandemic, having a tough schedule is always exciting. It is the barometer to see where the Illini are as a program and how good we could be come March.

Illinois needed a game like UT-Martin. I am glad we could squeeze that in between two tough matchups. Let’s hope, by the time the Braggin’ Rights game rolls around, the Illini still have a zero in the loss column.