even the announcers starting repeating that clap trap at the end of the game today.

There are only so many slots on the schedule. We can't play everyone that wants to play us - get over it.

Good win today against undermanned Ga Tech .

You should leave this board. Bashing Sister Jean and then giving underhand compliments.

uicrap u have one good year and you act like you are king of the hill....be honest you have avoided playing local teams dp and lu.....

Illinois basketball has been a joke for years and I am not even talking about Lou Henson’s piece. Northwestern has been more relevant in the last ten years. Sorry. Their alums have spent all that money on players and they still can’t win.

1. It is absolutely true that they won't play us, that's not just a trope, and it's not limited to Illinois. There's a well-documented history that goes back to the 1980s on this. I believe the game where they swore off playing us was Dec. 28, 1986 when we beat #9 Illinois 83-82 at UIC Pavilion. LU86 played in that game, I believe, so maybe he can share his knowledge. I think we've only played them three times since then, IIRC-- two of them that I attended in Dec. 1999 and Dec. 2001. The other time was to open the 2011-12 season. All at their place, of course.
2. Compare how many times Purdue, Wisconsin, Michigan State and other area Big 10 teams have played us. Compare how many times Illinois plays us in non-revenue sports, and that should give you a baseline of what a natural, unbiased scheduling ratio would be.
3. If you really believe that Loyola has NOT repeatedly tried to schedule Illinois in almost every non-con, or that it's NOT Illinois just refusing to play us because they don't like the matchup for strategic reasons, let us know your side of the story.

In the interim, let's not jump on uoficpa just because he's giving Illinois more of the benefit of the doubt than we do.

Local Midwest schools played by U of I by year below. Ignoring this year because of covid (although they still played Chicago State)

19-20: Lindenwood, Lewis
18-19: Illinois Wesleyan, Evansville, Iowa State
17-18: Eastern Illinois, DePaul, Augustana
16-17: Lewis, Wash U, SEMO, McKendree, Detroit, Central Michigan, IUPUI
15-16: Illinois-Springfield, Chicago State, UIC

This also doesn’t include the buy games of other low majors flying in to Champaign. Crazy that Illinois was way too busy scheduling all of the above instead of playing Loyola. Guess they are way too desired!!

You’re awful at being a troll, shouldn’t you be busy during tax/audit season?

The last game I recall us playing Illinois was 2011-12, at Illinois. We were not a good team, but it was a relatively close going into the second half. I was living in Champaign at the time, was at that game, and distinctly remember the holier than thou attitude of Illinois fans...who were just beginning their own long run of irrelevancy. That run continued through our Final Four year, that many I know down there had a tough time stomaching. Screw them and any “fan” of theirs who wants to come on here and start this crap. I have a lot of friends who love Illinois, and can respect our team and history at the same time...the rest I’ll just ignore.

It was Lou Henson who started the don't schedule Loyola policy after that game in 86. He wanted the games here as a recruiting trip for Chicago players. The UIC game was when Bernard Jackson beat them with 31. The 84 game at the Rosemont Horizon was also an embarrassing loss for the Illini. 15,000 fans, probably half for Illinois. 63-62 Loyola. On the final play Alfrederick stuck 6'9 Efraim Winters and the buzzer sounded before he got off the shot. Great games!

MikeH - you are much too generous the crowd was more like 3/4s Illinois fans. Tons of Orange and Blue. It was like an away game.

It was a great game.