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Illinois basketball not cowering in fear from Blue Blood dominance

The Illinois basketball team doesn't fear anyone, and they are showing that via their upcoming non-conference schedule.
ByRees Woodcock|
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Illinois Fighting Illini forward Zvonimir Ivisic (44) gets high fives as he walks onto the court before practice ahead of a Final Four game on Friday, April 3, 2026, at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.
Illinois Fighting Illini forward Zvonimir Ivisic (44) gets high fives as he walks onto the court before practice ahead of a Final Four game on Friday, April 3, 2026, at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. | Christine Tannous/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

There are a lot of things I admire about what Brad Underwood has done with the Illinois basketball program.

Underwood has transformed the Illini into a serious program over the last decade. We weren’t a serious program before. In years prior to Underwood taking over, the Illinois basketball program was a doormat that other programs just walked over on a nightly basis.

Another thing that I admire about Underwood is his lack of fear. He doesn’t want to schedule cupcake programs throughout the non-conference. We take teams head-on, and that mentality got ratcheted up a notch on Wednesday with a big series announcement.

The Illinois basketball social media account posted that there is a new home-and-home series matchup with the Duke Blue Devils.

This season, Illinois will head to Cameron Indoor Stadium to play Duke on November 17. In 2027, the Blue Devils will return the favor and come to Champaign on December 4 for an epic battle.

Duke is one of the historic Blue Bloods of the college basketball world. Not only that, but they have dominated the Illini in the past.

The last matchup between the two teams came in February 2025. Illinois went to New York City to take on the Blue Devils and came home with a 43-point loss, 110-67.

Out of the last six contests between the two programs, Illinois is just 1-5. The only win coming in 2020 when Illinois took Duke down, 83-68. Historically, Duke leads the series 6-3.

Brad Underwood is loading up on a Final Four-caliber non-conference for the Illinois basketball program

Duke is going to be a battle this season. They are reloading after losing Cameron Boozer to the NBA Draft. They won’t be short on talent, though. There is no reason to feel bad for the lowly Blue Devils.

This isn’t the only tough game Illinois will be playing in the non-conference for the 2026-27 campaign, either. Underwood loaded the Orange and Blue up with a ton of good matchups.

In addition to Duke, Illinois will be playing UConn at the United Center in Chicago. We have Texas Tech as part of another home-and-home series. And then you have the yearly Braggin’ Rights game against a tough Missouri squad.

The strategy of playing a tough non-conference schedule has benefited Illinois. This past season, we never dropped outside of the top 20. The non-conference consisted of No. 11 Texas Tech, No. 11 Alabama, No. 5 UConn, and No. 13 Tennessee. This didn’t even include the game against Missouri.

I am a fan of having a bunch of tough non-conference games. It is boring playing teams like Alabama A&M and Colgate. Illinois needs to get prepared for a tough road in the Big Ten and the NCAA tournament, and there is no better way than to play tough teams throughout the schedule. This is a great move by Underwood, and the program will be better for lacing the non-conference with some of the best teams in the country.

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