Illinois Fighting Illini News

Baseball

No. 1 seed Illinois defeated No. 8 seed Nebraska 3-2 in the first round of the 2015 Big Ten Tournament. After falling behind 2-0 in the 6th inning, the Illini scored three unanswered runs before junior LHP Tyler slammed the door in the 9th.

Illinois' 27-game winning streak is now the longest in Big Ten Conference history--it snapped Nebraska's 26-game mark.

The Illini (46-6-1) will face No. 4 seed Maryland (36-20) in the second round at 9:00pm CT on Thursday night. You can catch the game live on the Big Ten Network.

Women's Basketball

Mike Thomas finally discussed the women's basketball situation with the media on Wednesday. He joined 670 The Score early in the morning before joining Jeremy Werner on the local ESPN radio station.

"I don't think there should be a rush to judgment," Thomas told Werner. "I think it surprises me when people ask the question, 'Why are you supporting these coaches?' Well, the investigative process into one of them is almost complete, and the other one is just getting started. So let the facts play out and let's not rush to judgment because the facts are going to determine what the next steps are.

You can click here to read the rest of the above article.

Men's Basketball

Marcus LoVett Jr. ('15 PG) has committed to St. John's over the Illini.

C.J. Walker ('16 PG) cut his list to Illinois, Butler, Florida State, Wichita State, Xavier, Pittsburgh, and Missouri on Wednesday night. Walker decommitted from Purdue about two months ago and picked up an offer from the Illini shortly thereafter. There's a very good chance that he'll take a visit to Champaign sometime this Summer.

For more on the program's recruiting targets, check out our Illinois Basketball scholarship grid.

Football

Incoming freshmen Caleb Reams should definitely .

Contemplating not walking for graduation because it's at Northwestern #Illinination

— Caleb Reams #13 (@SirClutch97) May 19, 2015

Lunchtime Links

2015 College Football advanced stats projections - SBNation
One part of the formula that gives Football Outsiders its official team rankings has a surprise No. 1. Where's your team rank?

2015 Eastern Conference Finals: Cleveland wins 97-89 in Game 1 - SBNation
Smith scored a playoff career-high 28 points and set a Cavaliers playoff franchise record with eight three-pointers, while James scored 31 points.

2015 Eastern Conference Finals: Tampa Bay wins 6-5 (OT) in Game 3 - SBNation
New York had no answer for the Lightning's top line in Game 3.

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