We are just over three weeks away from the Illinois basketball team taking the court for an exhibition game on October 19.
That game is against an in-state program in Illinois State. The last time the two teams played in the regular season, the Illini narrowly clipped the Redbirds, 63-59, back in 2011. Illinois leads historically 8-0 in the series.
We aren’t going to see these two teams play in the regular season this year, though. Illinois will take on Illinois State in an exhibition game held at the State Farm Center in Champaign. This is a great opportunity for the Redbirds and Illini to get a tune-up game before the regular season starts.
While this is going to be a fun matchup, Illinois State head coach Ryan Pedon did jokingly mention that Brad Underwood has been ghosting him about a return trip to Illinois State for a home-and-home exhibition series.
Illinois State Redbirds Coach Ryan Pedon is excited to take his ISU team to Illinois for an exhibition game next month. Pedon would love a return game in Normal! pic.twitter.com/0PH2fGQwRl
— Jim Mattson (@hoijim) September 26, 2025
This was a light-hearted call-out by the former Illini assistant coach under John Groce. Pedon clearly has no hard feelings, but it was a statement that I wouldn’t mind coming true.
I always think that playing in-state programs in an exhibition or regular season capacity is good for the sport in the state of Illinois. With Normal, Illinois, being just 59 minutes from Champaign, this would be a fun little series for the two programs.
Illinois basketball is going to need this Illinois State exhibition game with what is to come in the regular season
Illinois State is no slouch when it comes to basketball. They are always a pesky team, so it will be nice to see where the Illini are at when we face the Redbirds.
Underwood is going to need this game, and the first couple of the regular season, to prepare for a tough stretch in the non-conference.
Starting on November 11, Illinois has Texas Tech, Alabama, UConn, Tennessee, Ohio State, Nebraska, and Missouri in the next 10 games. Those are seven tough games before we enter the meat of the Big Ten slate. Illinois is going to need all of the tune-up we can get.