Illinois Schedule | Printable | Big Ten Composite Schedule
The 2020-21 Big Ten schedule was announced Wednesday by the conference office.
For the third year in a row it is a 20-game slate with member schools playing seven teams twice (both home and road) and six teams once (three at home, three on the road).
This year's schedule includes the most conference games on over-the-air broadcast networks in Conference history (17) and also features six games between Dec. 25-26, with four games to be played on Christmas Day. To allow for maximum flexibility in the potential rescheduling of games, this year's schedule is built with two sets of collapsible byes during the weeks of Jan. 18-21 and Jan. 25-28, and the weeks of Feb. 22-25 and March 1-5.
Big Ten men's basketball teams will follow the same medical protocols that were developed by the Big Ten Return to Competition Task Force and announced on Sept. 16. These protocols include daily antigen testing, enhanced cardiac screening and an enhanced data-driven approach when making decisions about practice/competition.
The Illini's doubles are with Indiana, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State and Wisconsin.
Illinois' home singles are Iowa, Maryland and Purdue, while its road singles are Michigan, Michigan State and Rutgers.
The Illini begin conference play on Dec. 15, facing Minnesota in Champaign. Up next are back-to-back east-coast trips for the second straight season, as the Illini head to Rutgers on Dec. 20 followed by Penn State on Dec. 23.
Illinois will be home for the holidays, hosting Indiana on Saturday Dec. 26 and Purdue on Saturday, Jan. 2.
After a visit to Northwestern on Jan. 7, the Illini are back on campus to battle Maryland on Sunday, Jan. 10.
Following a Jan. 13 trip to Nebraska, Illinois returns home for consecutive games. Ohio State will make its first appearance at State Farm Center in four years on Saturday, Jan. 16, followed by Penn State traveling to Champaign on Jan. 20.
A daunting five-game stretch for the Orange and Blue begins on Jan. 23 at Michigan State. The Illini return home Jan. 29 to take on Iowa in a Friday night showdown, then are back on the road at Indiana on Feb. 2.
Illinois welcomes Wisconsin to Champaign on Saturday, Feb. 6 before traveling to Michigan on Feb. 11
After hosting Northwestern on Feb. 16, the Illini play three out of four on the road to close out the regular season.
Illinois is at Minnesota on Feb. 20 before wrapping up the home campaign on Feb. 24 versus Nebraska for Senior Night at State Farm Center.
A pair of Saturday road trips wrap up league play, at Wisconsin on Feb. 27 and at Ohio State on March 6.
The Big Ten Tournament is set for March 10-14 at the United Center in Chicago.
Illinois previously announced in conjunction with the release of its non-conference schedule that there will be no public sale of tickets for Fighting Illini Basketball due to the pandemic.
