Good evening everybody. Who's ready for some late Sunday basketball? Yes, it's a 5:30 p.m. tip against Illinois and Northwestern, but that qualifies as late on the last day of the week (or first if you follow that type of calendar). Just another odd tip time for the Illini this season.
Regardless of when this game starts — and here's hoping it's actually at 5:30 p.m. and not like 5:42 p.m. or something — it's a game that does probably fall into the "must win" category for the Illini. Sure, Illinois has a couple more shots in the final week of the regular season to avoid the first day of the Big Ten tournament, but a three-game losing streak has not been the follow up the Illini wanted to their four-game winning that got the fan base back invested into the team this season.