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Preview: No. 20 Illinois vs. Southern

Originally posted on Illinois Fighting Illini on SI
By Jason Langendorf | Last updated Dec 27, 2025 1:45 PM ET

Most of us will never know the curse of overwhelming talent – and even fewer among us are willing to spare an ounce of sympathy for those afflicted by it. No one pities the high roller at the table who foolishly burns through one of his countless tall stacks.

Illinois basketball, if you hadn't noticed, is hoarding armfuls of chips. The Illini (9-3) have one of the deepest and most potent collections of talent in college basketball, so the rest of the field isn't interested in hearing about the team's early-season health issues, slow-boiling chemistry or defensive communication lapses. Tough noogies, boys.

That's why Monday's home stand against a limited Southern team (4-8) has more import than may appear on its surface. The Illini have been up and down in 2025-26, seemingly in part due to their own level of interest and engagement on any given day. The Jaguars likely aren't a threat even if Illinois shows up with no better than its C game. The Illini shouldn't even need much more against Penn State and Rutgers in their next two matchups. But these things don't just turn off and on. If Illinois' focus and commitment to its principles are absent against Southern, rediscovering them against Iowa on on Jan. 11 – and against Purdue, Michigan State and others in the weeks ahead – will become that much more difficult.

Here’s more information on Illinois' final regular-season non-conference game, against Southern:

How to watch Illinois Fighting Illini vs. Southern Jaguars

Have we bragged about our fans yet? pic.twitter.com/AVo4UKSITh
— Illinois Men's Basketball (@IlliniMBB) December 23, 2025

Who: Illinois Fighting Illini (9-3) vs. Southern Jaguars (4-8)
What: Non-conference matchup
When: Monday, Dec. 29 at 2 p.m. CT
Where: State Farm Center, Champaign
TV/streaming: BTN
Radio/audio: Busey Bank Illini Sports Network (Champaign: WDWS 93.9 FM or 1400 AM; Chicago: WLS 890 AM); Fighting Illini Productions; Varsity Network App
Last week: Illinois rebounded from a frustrating home loss to Nebraska with a 91-48 rout of Missouri in the annual Braggin' Rights game last Monday. Southern most recently took a 111-67 beating at Baylor on Dec. 21 – the Jaguars' fourth consecutive defeat.
Series history: Illinois is 2-0 against Southern in the all-time series. The Illini most recently rolled the Jaguars 88-60 in Champaign on Nov. 19, 2023. That followed Illinois' 102-55 thumping of Southern at State Farm Center in the school's first-ever meeting, on Nov. 10, 2017.

Highlights of our 91-48 Braggin' Rights victory over Missouri on Monday, Dec. 22, 2025, at Enterprise Center in St. Louis, Mo. pic.twitter.com/dia9FHtIDi
— Illinois Men's Basketball (@IlliniMBB) December 23, 2025

What to know about Southern

The Jaguars are loaded with guards, including an excellent one in senior Michael Jacobs, who is averaging 20.9 points while hitting half his shots from the field. Jacobs aside, Southern has a balanced scoring attack fueled in part by a defense that is capable of creating a lot of churn, turning opponents over and transforming those takeaways into points.

But the splits between the Jaguars' results against Power 5 foes and everyone else is telling, and their lack of size has been exploited by the likes of Arkansas, Texas and Baylor – though Southern did manage to push Washington to two overtimes in Seattle despite a minus-7 margin on the boards. And yet the Jaguars have yet to face a team with Illinois' size and quality of weapons in the frontcourt. The Illini may not be invincible in this matchup (for more, check out our Illinois on SI First Look at Southern), but the Jaguars would need an epic hot streak in order to take down all of those stacks.