The Indiana men’s basketball team will take on Illinois this weekend in the first and only regular season matchup of the 2025-26 season between the Hoosiers and Illinois.
This is the first year of Indiana’s rebuilding program under Darian DeVries and arguably the culmination of a long-term project at Illinois under Brad Underwood. The Indians hope to break their NCAA tournament drought, while the Illini hope to reach the Final Four.
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Is this a close matchup? perhaps. It depends on who you ask.
Fans have recently rejected the idea, especially Indiana fans. The rivals are Purdue and Kentucky, especially now that the latter series has been removed. Ask anyone who was at the Hoosier-Illinois game in the 2000s and you’ll get a slightly different story.
Those matchups centered around Eric Gordon are pretty intense for them. He may have only spent one season in Bloomington, but the animosity he created in Champaign after ditching Illinois for Indiana lingers.
These programs have had their share of barbs historically, but never to the level of Indiana, Purdue or Kentucky. But their passion is more intense than any other Big Ten team.
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So, with the rise of super conferences and regionals fading away as a concept in major college sports, why shy away from a decades-old rival? If Illinois wants to call this a rivalry, like it did before the 2023 Champaign showdown, why not embrace that?
Here’s the thing: The Illini’s current scheme is light years ahead of the Indians. Illinois is a better matchup away from the Final Four in 2024, beat Indiana at home in 2025 and looks to make a deep run this season. Indiana spent that time just trying to get to the tournament. That’s not what Indiana fans want to hear, but it is what it is. Indiana could catch up faster than ever through the transfer portal and NIL, but that’s still just a hypothetical.
Many programs had several rivals, and there was a time when Indiana only played one game regularly, at Purdue. Illinois and Indiana always feel more competitive than other non-Purdue Big Ten games, so why not embrace that?