Boys high school basketball regional championships are on the line in Classes 3A and 4A. In 3A, Pontiac takes on Morris at Coal City, Bloomington hosts Morton and U-High faces Washington at Peoria High School. In 4A, Normal West hosts Danville. The Class 1A Sectional title at Arcola will be decided tonight as Ridgeview takes on Cissna Park.
Illinois State steps into Arch Madness this afternoon with the first quarterfinal game. The top-seeded Redbirds face Evansville at noon in St. Louis after the Purple Aces defeated Indiana State 83-72. Bradley advanced in the other first round game on Thursday with a 67-58 victory over Drake. Today’s quarterfinals at Scottrade Center include Illinois State-Evansville at noon, Loyola-Southern Illinois at 2:30, Bradley-Wichita State at 6 and Missouri State-Northern Iowa at 8:30.
Illinois State’s Dan Muller is the Missouri Valley Conference Coach of the Year in men’s basketball. He’s the fourth Redbird coach to earn the award.
In the Big Ten, Iowa won at Number 22 Wisconsin 59-57 and Minnesota topped Nebraska 88-73.
The Fighting Illini men will travel to Rutgers for a Saturday contest. Illini Sports Network pre-game on 98.9 WJEZ begins at 10 a.m.
Illinois Wesleyan women’s basketball plays its first NCAA game in five years this afternoon at Ohio Northern University in Ada, Ohio against Number 17 Trine University. Game time is 4:30 Central.
Girls high school basketball takes over Redbird Arena again this weekend as the two larger school classes decide their champions. Morton goes for a third straight title in Class 3A.
The Bloomington Edge open the Champions Indoor Football season tonight at home against the West Michigan Ironmen. Kickoff is 7 at the Coliseum.
Bloomington Thunder hockey lost 5-2 at Dubuque. The rematch is tonight at Dubuque before the Thunder return home Saturday night.
Illinois State softball plays a pair of games today in Baton Rouge, facing Illinois at noon and host LSU at 5:00.
The Bulls defeated the Golden State Warriors 94-87. Jimmy Butler led Chicago with 22 points.
