SPRINGFIELD, IL - The University of Illinois Springfield men's basketball team kicks off its exhibition slate on Sunday against Illinois. Tip off is set for 2 p.m. at the Prairie Capital Convention Center in Springfield. This is the first-ever meeting between these two teams.
Follow the game using the links at the top of the page. Tickets are still available for the game. Click on the link above to purchase yours or go to the Prairie Capital Convention Center website
here.The Prairie Stars take on the Fighting Illini for the first time ever to open the 2015-16 season. UIS head coach
Bill Walker returns for his second season in Springfield after leading the team to an 11-16 record and 5-13 Great Lakes Valley Conference mark last season. His top assistants return for their second seasons in
Dana Morgan,
Rich McBride and
Joel Plummer.
Aaron Fisher joins the staff as a volunteer for his first year at UIS.
The 2015-16 roster features seven returners led by senior
Jamall Millison (Bolingbrook, Ill.), the team's leading scorer from a year ago. Millison averaged 14.1 points per game last season and led the GLVC in three-point field goals made (75). Joining him are fellow seniors
JJ Cravatta (Streator, Ill.),
Davi Austin (Newark, N.J.) and
Colin Blaydes (Chicago, Ill.). Junior
Mark Weems (Chicago, Ill.) returns for his junior campaign after setting career-marks as a sophomore in minutes played (26.2) and points (10.9). Redshirt freshman
Vince Walker (Ankeny, Iowa) returns after missing most of last season due to injury and junior
Xavier Todd (Chicago, Ill.)...
The Prairie Stars brought in seven newcomers to bolster the roster and bring in more size. Five of the seven newcomers are at least 6-4. Freshmen
Zach Steinberg (Wildwood, Mo.) and
Bahari Amaya (Harrisburg, Ill.) are joined by freshman
Chidiebere Ngwe (Chicago, Ill.) as they look to make an impact in their first seasons at UIS. Transfers
Paxton Harmon (Warsaw, Ill.),
Richard Freeman (Indianapolis, Ind.) and
Jesse Tesmer (Greencastle, Ind.) add size and experience to the Prairie Stars' roster.
UIS opens the regular season next weekend on the road at the D2 Vegas Showdown in Las Vegas. The Prairie Stars' home opener is Wednesday, Nov. 18 against Robert Morris Springfield.
QUICK HITS- The 2015-16 season begins with an exhibition against Illinois and it's the first time the two schools have ever met.
- UIS head coach Bill Walker returns for his second season with the Prairie Stars. Last season his team finished 11-16 and reached the GLVC tournament for the third straight season.
- Senior Jamall Millison returns for his fourth and final season at UIS. The Bolingbrook native is on track to become the second player to score 1,000 points in program history.
- The Prairie Stars said goodbye to Dylan Sparkman and Kentrell King last season, making this the first UIS game to not feature one of the two players since the 2010-11 season.
- The Fighting Illini went 19-14 overall last season and 9-9 in the Big Ten.
- John Groce enters his fourth season at Illinois. He has led the Illini to an average of more than 20 wins per season and postseason appearances in his first three years in Champaign, owning a combined record of 62-42.
- Illinois returns two of their top three scorers from last season, Malcolm Hill and Kendrick Nunn.
- Hill averaged 14.4 points per game and Nunn averaged 11.1.
