PREVIEW
Opening Tip
The Fighting Illini women's basketball plays its first games away from home this week, traveling to Daytona Beach, Fla., to compete at the Daytona Beach Invitational.
» The first matchup of the tournament pits the Illini against the defending Atlantic 10 regular-season  champion Dayton Flyers.
» The Illini then face off against a Middle Tennessee State team that won both the regular-season and tournament titles in Conference USA last season.
» The games will be streamed live on FloHoops.com (and the FloSports App) with Corey Brooks (play-by-play) and Jennifer George (analyst).
» Mike Koon will call the action for the Illini on the Busey Bank Illini Sports Network (1400 AM / 93.9 FM).
» Streaming audio is also available at FightingIllini.com.
About The Illini
Illinois enters the week with a 3-1 record after opening the season with a four-game home stand at State Farm Center.
» The Illini have captured home victories over NC Central (W, 76-53), Miami (OH) (W, 72-65), and UC Riverside (W, 86-82), while suffering their lone setback of the year against SIUE (L, 71-62).
» Offensively, the new-look Illini have opened the season with a much-improved scoring average from last season. Through four games, the Illini are averaging 73.3 points per game, an improvement of 13.7 points per game over last year's season average of 59.6 ppg.
» Leading scorer, sophomore G Aaliyah Nye, is averaging 15.0 ppg, an improvement of nearly 7 points per game from her freshman campaign (8.1 ppg).
» Behind Nye, the Illini's offensive attack has been balanced with seven other players tallying at least one double-digit scoring game so far this season, and five others - Jada Peebles (9.5), Jayla Oden (9.3), Kendall Bostic (8.3), De'Myla Brown (8.3), and Sara Anastasieska (8.0) - entering action at the Daytona Beach Invitational averaging at least 8.0 ppg."
» Sophomore F Kendall Bostic ranks as the team's top rebounder, pulling down 10.3 boards per contest. Bostic enters the week ranked third in the Big Ten and 34th nationally in the category.
» At 3-1, the Illini are also off to one of the best four-game starts in program history. The Illini have opened a season 3-1 or better 26 times in the program's 48-year history.
About Dayton
Dayton travels to Florida after a 3-1 start to the season which includes home wins over Alabama A&M (73-52) and Toleda (69-60), as well as a road win against Big Ten foe Purdue (78-62). The Flyers' lone setback came in a home game vs. Duke (70-56).
» The Flyers open play in Daytona against Mississippi State on Thursday before Friday's matchup vs. the Illini.
» Graduate G Erin Whalen, a 2021 second team All-A10 selection, leads the UD team in both scoring (16.8 ppg) and rebounding (6.8 rpg), while knocking down a team-high eight three-pointers.
» Fellow graduate G Araion Bradshaw the reigning A-10 Defensive Player of the Year, leads the team in minutes (33.8 mpg), assists (4.8 apg), and steals (0.8 spg).
Series vs. Dayton
Friday's matchup vs. Dayton marks the fourth in the series between the Illini and the Flyers.
» Dayton has won each of the three previous matchups. The first two matchups happened in 1979 (L, 98-64) at Dayton and 1981 (L, 81-74) in Champaign.
» The last meeting between the two teams resulted in an 80-66 UD win on Dec. 20, 2011 at the Las Vegas Holiday Hoops Classic.
Current Illini vs. the Flyers
No members of the current Fighting Illini roster have ever faced the Dayton Flyers during their collegiate careers.
Up Next
The Fighting Illini face Middle Tennessee at 11 a.m. CT on Saturday in their second matchup at the Daytona Beach Invitational.
Follow The Illini
For more Fighting Illini women's basketball news, stay tuned to FightingIllini.com and follow @IlliniWBB on social media: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook.
FULL GAME NOTES (PDF)
