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Updated: October 22, 2022 @ 10:53 am
Illinois head coach Brad Underwood watches his team perform at practice at Ubben Basketball Complex in Champaign on Sat, Oct, 8, 2022.

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Scott Richey is a reporter covering college basketball at The News-Gazette. His email is srichey@news-gazette.com, and you can follow him on Twitter (@srrichey).
Illinois head coach Brad Underwood watches his team perform at practice at Ubben Basketball Complex in Champaign on Sat, Oct, 8, 2022.
Welcome to “Good Morning, Illini Nation,” your daily dose of college basketball news from Illini beat writer and AP Top 25 voter Scott Richey. He’ll offer up insights every morning on Brad Underwood’s team:
There’s only so much the Illinois basketball staff has been able to learn about its team since official practices began in late September (or throughout the spring, summer and first part of the school year). Workouts and practices are important. So is playing somebody wearing a different uniform. Real competition.
That’s what Illinois will get today when it plays its secret (shh, don’t tell anyone) scrimmage against Kansas in St. Louis. Not a bad test either given the Jayhawks are just six-plus months removed from winning a national title.
That scrimmage and next week’s exhibition game against Quincy will simply provide Brad Underwood and his staff a little better insight into what this year’s team can do. What works well. What needs some work before, let’s say, a pair of top 25 matchups in Las Vegas in less than one month.
Who the playmakers just might be when the game is on the line.
“I don’t know yet,” Underwood said earlier this month. “I probably won’t know that until we actually live through those moments. I’ll be honest. We haven’t spent a ton of time on situations — yet. As we get into our scrimmage and exhibition, we’ll manufacture a lot of those to find out who those guys are.
“Right now we’re really balanced. We’re finding out who can execute — who can do all the little things — but we do have some guys who can literally just go get one. That’s a pretty good feeling to know that.”
Scott Richey is a reporter covering college basketball at The News-Gazette. His email is srichey@news-gazette.com, and you can follow him on Twitter (@srrichey).
Welcome to “Good Morning, Illini Nation,” your daily dose of college basketball news from Il…
Welcome to “Good Morning, Illini Nation,” your daily dose of college basketball news from Il…
Welcome to “Good Morning, Illini Nation,” your daily dose of college basketball news from Il…
Welcome to “Good Morning, Illini Nation,” your daily dose of college basketball news from Il…
Welcome to “Good Morning, Illini Nation,” your daily dose of college basketball news from Il…
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