Remember when Illinois was the most dangerous team in the Big Ten? The one that nobody wanted to play.
Well, that team is playing on the first day of the Big Ten Tournament.
Despite the offensive return of Giorgi Bezhanishvili and a tighter defensive effort, Illinois couldn’t clinch a first-round bye in this week’s conference tournament after a 72-56 loss to Penn State in College Park on Sunday afternoon. Illinois closed the regular season with a pair of losses, where a win in either would have sent the Illini to a top-10 seed and a chance to avoid playing on the tournament’s first day for the second straight season.