Sept. 12, 2005
2005-06 Women's Basketball Schedule
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CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The University of Illinois announced its 2005-06 women's basketball schedule on Monday, revealing that the Illini will have only 11 regular season home games on tap this season. As usual, the schedule will be challenging as it includes 14 games away from Assembly Hall and nine games against seven teams that advanced to the NCAA Tournament a year ago - Oklahoma, Illinois State, Penn State (twice), Michigan State (twice), Minnesota, Ohio State and Purdue.
The Illini kick-off the preseason schedule Sunday, Oct. 30, with the Orange & Blue scrimmage at Assembly Hall at 2 p.m. They will then host the Ohio Girls Basketball Report (Nov. 7) and Lewis University (Nov. 13) for exhibition tune-ups before opening the regular season at Loyola on Nov. 18.
Illinois' first four, and seven of its first eight, regular season contests will be away from the friendly confines of Assembly Hall. After the opener at Loyola, the Orange and Blue will head west to Colorado for a trio of games the week of Thanksgiving. First, the Illini will travel to Greely, Co., to face Northern Colorado on Nov. 23. They will then head to Boulder to play in the 19th Annual Coors Classic Tournament hosted by the University of Colorado Nov. 25-26. The Illini will face Utah State in the first round (Nov. 25) before taking on either the host Buffalos or Northern Iowa on day two (Nov. 26).
The home opener will be on Nov. 29 vs. Northern Illinois. That will be followed by a game vs. St. Louis in the annual Lexus December to Remember Classic at the United Center in Chicago (Dec. 3) and trips to Peoria, Ill., to face Bradley (Dec. 5) and Gainesville, Fla., to face the Florida Gators (Dec. 9).
The Illini finally return home to host Oklahoma on Dec. 18 and Illinois State on Dec. 22 before hosting Michigan for the Big Ten opener on Dec. 29. They will close out the non-conference schedule with a road game at the University of Rhode Island on Jan. 5.
This year, the Big Ten Conference promises to be as strong as ever after having five teams advance to the NCAA Tournament a year ago, including three Sweet 16 teams (Michigan State, Ohio State, Minnesota) and one title game participant (Michigan State). The Big Ten schedule includes the same four one-game opponents as last season. The Illini will host Purdue (Jan. 22) and Minnesota (Feb. 2) and will travel to Indiana (Jan. 26) and Ohio State (Jan. 29) for the single games. The Big Ten Tournament will take place March 2-6 at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Ind.
Illinois returns three starters from last year's team, which reached the postseason for the eighth time in the last nine years. Seniors Maggie Acuna, Janelle Hughes and Brittney Daugherty will lead a revamped squad that welcomes six talented newcomers.
Television Coverage
Three Illinois regular season games are already slated for regional television coverage. The Dec. 9 game at Florida will be televised by Fox Sports Net Florida, while Comcast Sports Net Chicago will air the Feb. 5 game vs. Michigan State at Assembly Hall, and the Feb. 12 contest at Penn State. CSN Chicago will also televise the first three rounds of the Big Ten Ten Tournament (March 2-5), while Championship game (March 6) is scheduled to be shown nationally on ESPN2. Local cable outlets may pick-up other games throughout the season. Be sure to check fightingillini.com for television updates.
Ticket Information
Season tickets go on sale starting Monday, Sept. 12. Prices are $84 for the general public, $70 for faculty/staff and $42 for non-UIUC students. Individual game tickets go on sale Nov. 4. Those prices are $7 for public reserved, $6 for faculty/staff, $4 for non-UIUC students and $2 for general admission. All University of Illinois students get in free to home games with their UIUC ID. Tickets may be purchased by calling the UI Athletic Ticket office (217-333-3470) or at www.fightingillini.com.
