REPORT: Illinois Basketball to Host Multi-Team Event in Late November

Illinois basketball will reportedly host a multi-team event in Champaign during the opening week of the 2020-21 NCAA basketball season.

by
Jonnie Nonnie
October 5, 2020

Photo: IlliniMBB/Twitter

*Article was updated on 10/15/30 at 8:30 AM CT with additional teams

There’s a great deal of hype surrounding the 2020-21 Illinois basketball team. After star players Ayo Dosunmu and Kofi Cockburn announced that they would return to Champaign for their junior and sophomore seasons, respectively, the Illini instantly became a Big Ten favorite. Illinois also received a great deal of praise from national media, as Andy Katz listed them as a top-five team in his latest ‘Power 36’ preseason rankings.

Given all the hype surrounding Illinois basketball, the team is expected to be a focal point of the NCAA’s 2020-21 season tip-off. John Rothstein of CBS Sports reported today that Illinois will host a multi-team event from November 25-27.

Source: Illinois will host its own MTE in Champaign from November 25-27. Event will feature four teams and three games in a round-robin format.
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) October 5, 2020

Last month, the NCAA announced that the 2020-21 basketball season will begin on November 25th. In the proposed details of this early-season event, Illinois would host three other teams and they would each play three round-robin games in as many days. Matt Norlander of CBS Sports reports that the other teams will be Wright State, Ohio, and North Carolina A&T.

Illinois has agreed to terms w/ three other schools for its Nov. 25-27 MTE, per sources. The four-team event will be round-robin. The teams: Wright State, Ohio, North Carolina A&T. Friday's games will move to Sat. if the OSU-Illinois football tilt gets flexed to Friday, Nov. 27
— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) October 13, 2020

The reported multi-team event would be a replacement of sorts on the Illini basketball schedule, as they were supposed to partake in the Emerald Coast Classic on November 27th and 29th. That event has now been canceled.

#Illini Schedule Update:

The Emerald Coast Classic has been canceled for this season. Illinois was previously scheduled to face Florida Nov. 27 and Oregon/Iowa State Nov. 29 in that event.
— Illinois Basketball (@IlliniMBB) October 5, 2020

Illinois basketball is expected to make plenty of noise this year. They’ll have the spotlight on them from day one of the 2020-21 season if this multi-team event comes to fruition.