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SPORTS Archives for 2019-11

Illini Stats vs Northwestern and Picture of the Game

Here are the stats and picture of the game--

 

Passing-- 11-23, 146 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT 

Matt Robinson: 

8-17, 108 Yards, 0 TD’s 

 

Rushing: 26 ATT, 14 Yards, 1 TD 

Dre Brown:

5 carries, 17 yards 

 

Defense--

Nate Hobbs 1 pick 

Allowed 433 yards

 

Penalties--

Illini: 5 for 40

Northwestern: 3-23

 

Time of Poss-- 

Northwestern: 41:48 

Illinois: 18:12 

 

 Here is the best picture I took on the sidelines today: 


 

Illini Post Game vs Northwestern

The scoreboard said it all in Champaign. Northwestern 29, Illini 10. And it was just that, a very ugly loss. Here are the final thoughts of the game before the Illini figure out where they are headed for their bowl game. 

 

The Illini could not stop the run and it wasn’t from a lack of stacking the box(saw a lot of comments on Twitter about that). Andrew Marty had his way in the sloppy and slippery conditions on Zeppke Field. His numbers on the ground by himself were 123 yards on 30 attempts. The Northwestern run game was blazing this afternoon. Drake Anderson on 23 attempts for 87 yards. As a team, the Wildcats had 378 yards on the ground on 65 yards. 

 

Pat Fitzgerald came in with a game plan, and he executed it well. It was a pretty poor performance from the Illini defense which they looked like they somewhat reverted back to where they were earlier in the year. 

 

Moving off the defensive struggles, the Illini had two of their best starters on the bench with injury in Brandon Peters and Josh Imatorbhebhe. Matt Robinson got the nod for today’s game while Casey Washington filled in for Josh. Washington had a great game and a career-high in his first start for the Illini going 4 for 5 with 55 yards. Matt Robinson I felt didn’t do his job the way he should have, he made some very poor decisions but it isn’t all on Robinson. I felt Rod Smith did not set him up for success, there were some very questionable play calls such as calling a run between the tackles on a pivotal 3rd and 12. 

 

Moving off all the negative, the Illini are going bowling for the first time in a very long time. The Illini finished the season 6-6 beating expectations, including my own. I had the Illini only winning 5 games after the EMU loss at home in week three. We get about 15 important practices. We will learn more than likely Sunday what destination we are going for the bowl game. 

 

I will have a separate blog full of stats of the game as well as on-field pictures from today’s contest.

Halftime Illini Update-- STOP THE RUN


First half is over here on SR. day in Champaign. It took just about 57 minutes it felt, well it took longer but the feeling of how long it took was very short. It’s 10 to 7 in favor of Northwestern. 

 

The Illini are off to a very slow start. They have only had 5 drives in the first half to the Wildcats 5. Here are how the drives have gone for the Illini in the first half, 

Punt 

Punt 

TD 

Punt 

Half 

 

The Illini have to stop all of the rushing attempts that the Wildcats have. They are running the ball all over the field and it’s working. Stop the run in the second half and with how the field is drying out(the rain has stopped) we might see some more passes. But, as of right now, it’s a ground game. 

 

The only Illini TD came from a Dre Brown 6 yard TD run in the first quarter. I will have a more in-depth post after the game, as well as a pod that will be on the schedule for tonight. 

Illini vs Northwestern Pregame

PBL Boys Basketball vs Tri-Valley 11/26/19

 

Found this in my unposted section on my drive, it did not automatically post on the 26th so I am about three days late, but here is the original post. 

 

PBL Men’s Basketball took on Tri-Valley last night and took home the W 49-43. Trey VanWinkle lit up the scoring column with 20, and 10 of those game in the 4th quarter of the contest. The Panthers were down by 6 when they entered the quarter when VanWinkle rallied. Drake Schrodt and Alex Rueck scored 7 apiece in the contest.

PBL Men's Basketball W over Tri-Valley

PBL Boys Basketball vs Tri-Valley 11/26/19

 

Found this in my unposted section on my drive, it did not automatically post on the 26th so I am about three days late, but here is the original post. 

 

PBL Men’s Basketball took on Tri-Valley last night and took home the W 49-43. Trey VanWinkle lit up the scoring column with 20, and 10 of those game in the 4th quarter of the contest. The Panthers were down by 6 when they entered the quarter when VanWinkle rallied. Drake Schrodt and Alex Rueck scored 7 apiece in the contest.

MLB First Team and Chicago White Sox Signings

MLB First Team and Early Off-Season Moves

 

Hope everyone had a good Turkey Day yesterday, with that being said there was football on all day and you can’t beat that. Baseball has been neglected the past couple of weeks and there have been big moves made very early here in the off-season. I also will have my MLB First Team(including a DH) in this post as well. 

 

Notable Signings: 

 

Chicago White Sox- Yasmani Grandal, Jose Abreu 

 

The White Sox have a blank checkbook for this upcoming season since a majority of the roster are on rookie deals. With the likes of Eloy Jimenez, Tim Anderson, Yoan Moncada, and Nick Madrigal coming up from the minors, this season could be a big one for the White Sox. Grandal, for the Brewers last year hit a career-high 28 long balls which isn’t a surprise, most guys hit their career highs in homers last season, but the 31-year-old was very valuable at the plate. .246 BA, .468 SLG, .848 OPS. Those are numbers that will get you the 4 year $73 million dollar contract. Not only was Grandal valuable at the plate, but he was very valuable on the defense side for many reasons. He is statistically one of the best pitch framers in the MLB. Much like Yadi for the Cards, he is up there when it comes to pitch framing unlike James McCann who is their current catcher, and will be on the roster for a long while with how huge his bat is. Grandal’s framing will come in handy especially with the younger pitching core that the South Siders have with guys like Dylan Cease, Giolito, Kopech, and Covey. Grandal is the first of many Free Agent signings I see the White Sox having this off-season. 

 

The Sox also came to a deal or a qualifying offer with Jose Abreu for $18 million this upcoming season. The Sox get their first baseman back and a potential DH. 

 

MLB First Team-- 

I won’t go into much detail about it, I will rather just list them out, if someone disagrees, tweet me @calefleming10. 

 

1B- Pete Alonzo- New York Mets

2B- DJ Lemahieu- New York Yankees 

3B- Matt Chapman- Oakland A’s 

SS- Fernando Tatis Jr- San Diego Padres(this one is debatable but he’s a stud) 

C- J.T Realmuto- Philadelphia Phillies  

OF- Juan Soto- Washington Nationals 

OF- Mike Trout- LA Angels 

OF- Ronald Acuna JR- Atlanta Braves 

DH- J.D. Martinez- Boston Red Sox

Bears beat Lions on Thanksgiving 24-20

NFL

Mitchell Trubisky threw a go-ahead, 3-yard touchdown pass to David Montgomery with 2:17 left, lifting the Chicago Bears to a 24-20 win over the Detroit Lions.

 

IHSA Boys Basketball

Iroquois West vs GCMS at GCMS Turkey Tournament

Rantoul at Pekin

Fisher at GCMS Turkey Tournament

Milford vs  Bismarck Henning/ Rossville Alvin at Schlarman Holiday Tournament

Armstrong Potomac at GCMS Turkey Tournament

Mahomet Seymour at Lincoln Thanksgiving Tournament

 

IHSA Girls Basketball

Rantoul at Oakwood Comet Classic

 

Big Ten Football Friday

Iowa at Nebraska

 

Big Ten on Saturday

Ohio State at Michigan

Indiana at Purdue

Northwestern at Illinois

Maryland at Michigan St.

Rutgers at Penn St.

Wisconsin at Minnesota

 

NFL on Sunday

Green Bay Packers at NY Giants

Tennessee Titan at Indianapolis Colts

 

Saturday Morning its On the Sidelines from 7-8 Sponsored by Compass Insurance Partners, MATCO Fire Protection Services in Paxton and Moncial’s Pizza. 

 

Then it’s Fighting Illini Football as Illinois takes on Northwestern at Memorial Stadium. Pregame at 10am with kickoff at 11am.

 

Coverage of the Paxton Christmas Parade begins at 1:30.

 

WPXN Update

Update-

 

Once again I apologize for the delay in the posts on the website, as well as on Twitter. The end of the semester is starting to hit pretty hard and once that is somewhat wrapped up, I will be back up to normal. 

 

What happened throughout the week: 

 

Illini: 

Kofi Cockburn won Big Ten player of the week, as well as freshman of the week during the run the Illini went on in the past week with another blowout win against Lindenwood last night at the State Farm Center. 

 

In Illini football, I posted a blog after the 19-10 loss in Iowa City. I will be in attendance this Saturday for the Northwestern game. I will have more about that on the On the Sidelines program Saturday morning with Jay and myself. 

 

IHSA: 

PBL Lady Panther basketball finished second in the Falcon-Bunny tip-off classic. 

 

PBL SR Golfer Trey VanWinkle was named to the News-Gazette All-Area Boys Golf Team. 

 

Ayo Dosunmu scored 24 points as Illini romp Lindenwood 117-65

IHSA Boys Basketball

PBL def Tri Valley 49-43

Trey VanWinkle scored 20 points

 

Cissna Park def Illinois Lutheran 74-33

Ian Rogers scored 21 points

 

Watseka def Oakwood 50-40.

Drew Wittenborn had 13 points

 

GCMS Thanksgiving Tournament

Warrensburg Latham def GCMS 49-47

 

Iroquois West def Armstrong-Potomac 68-57

Ryan Tilstra led with 18 points

 

Prairie Central def Tri-Point 69-56

Trey Bazzell scored 17 points

 

Topper Classic

Milford def Fountain Central (Ind.) 41-38 

Trey Totheroh scored 17 points

 

Lincoln Thanksgiving Tournament

Mahomet-Seymour def Limestone 61-50

Grant Coleman led with 17 points

 

IHSA Girls Basketball

Iroquois West def St. Anne 50-35.

Shelby Johnson had 17 points

 

Paris def St. Joseph-Ogden 65-44

Big Ten

Ayo Dosunmu scored 24 points and four others scored in double digits and Illinois rolled over Division-II Lindenwood 117-65.

 

NHL

Corey Crawford made 32 saves for Chicago’s first shutout this season and the Blackhawks beat Dallas 3-0

 

NFL

Bears quarterback Mitchell Trubisky will likely be throwing to some new players as a result of concussions to wide receiver Taylor Gabriel and tight end Ben Braunecker when the Chicago Bears travel to Detroit to face the Lions on Thanksgiving Day.

 

NCAA Football

Ohio State jumped LSU to No. 1 in the College Football Playoff rankings with two weeks to go before selection Sunday. LSU slipped to two and Clemson remained No. 3 while Georgia held on at four. If playoff history holds form, three of those top four teams will reach the semifinals.

 

IHSA Girls Basketball tonight

Oakwood Comet Classic

Rantoul vs Oakwood

 

IHSA Boys Basketball tonight

Milford vs Donovan at Schlarman Holiday Tournament

Illini Kofi Cockburn named Big Ten Player and Big Ten Freshman of the Week

IHSA Girls Basketball

PBL def Pontiac 46-40

Mackenzie Bruns led with 13 points, Brooke Walder added 10

 

Ridgeview def Iroquois West 52-30

 

IHSA Boys Basketball

GCMS Thanksgiving Tournament

GCMS def Armstrong Potomac 68-40

Braden Roesch scored 25 points

 

Eureka def Fisher 74-61

 

Warrensburg Latham def Iroquois West 64-56

 

Lincoln Thanksgiving Tournament

Centennial def Mahomet Seymour 69-55

 

NBA

The Portland Trail Blazers beat the Chicago Bulls 117-94.

 

Illini Big man Kofi Cockburn has been named the Big Ten Player of the Week and Big Ten Freshman of the Week. Cockburn has 5 double doubles so far this season. 

 

IHSA Boys Basketball tonight

PBL vs Tri-Valley

Cissna Park vs Illinois Lutheran

Iroquois West vs Armstrong Potomac at GCMS Turkey Tournament

Watseka vs Oakwood

Rantoul at Morton

GCMS at GCMS Turkey Tournament

Fisher at GCMS Turkey Tournament

Milford vs Fountain Central at Schlarman Holiday Tournament

Mahomet Seymour at Lincoln Thanksgiving Tournament

 

IHSA Girls Basketball tonight

Cissna Park vs Illinois Lutheran

Iroquois West @ St. Anne

St. Joe Ogden vs Paris


 

Tonight on WPXN it’s Fighting Illini Basketball as Illinois hosts Lindenwood. Pregame at 6pm with tip at 7pm. Then it’s bonus coverage of IHSA Boys Basketball between PBL vs Tri Valley.

 

Bears Win, Packers Lose

NFL

Khalil Mack set up a touchdown with a strip-sack, Allen Robinson had a season-high 131 yards receiving and the Chicago Bears beat the struggling New York Giants 19-14. 

 

Jimmy Garoppolo (gah-RAH’-pah-loh) threw two long touchdown passes and the 49ers began a difficult three-game stretch of division-leading opponents by blasting the Packers, 37-8.

 

NCAA

The latest Associated Press football poll still has LSU at No. 1 following the Tigers’ rout of Arkansas, but second-ranked Ohio State picked up ground by beating previous No. 9 Penn State on Saturday. Clemson is third, followed by Georgia.

 

 

 

Tonight on WPXN it’s Fast Talk. Get the latest news in NASCAR from 6-7.

 

Illini Halftime Update

Illini Basketball Half time update: 

 

The Illini are off to a hot start in the opening frame tonight. In the keys to the game, I mentioned that Ayo needed to have a quick start and a higher game in the scoring column for the Illini tonight. He has hit two from deep thus far tonight. Ayo is 5-9 from the field, 2-4 from 3, with a total of 12 points. Alan Griffen has been the star at least for the last 6 minutes of the half. Griff has tallied 17 while going 7-10 from the field including 3-6 from the field. 

 

Stats and Highs for the first half: 

Griffen- 17, 4 and 1

Kofi- 14, 8, 1

Ayo- 12, 0, 1 

 

Keep your foot on the gas and close this game out and win it by 30 like it should be done, if not more. I will have my post-game reactions up on the website later tonight.

Illini Basketball Pregame vs Hampton

Illini Basketball vs Hampton: 

 

It’s that time of night again and yes I am talking about Illini basketball! I took Wednesday night off, against The Citadel, but I am back at the SFC to watch the Illini take on Hampton. Here’s what we know: 

 

Hampton University Pirates are located in Hampton VA. Hampton has had two NIT appearances (2014, 2017) and three NCAA tournament appearances (2011, 2015, 2016)  and Hampton is 3-1 on the year with wins coming against Mid-Atl. Chir. (112-52), Apprentice(95-63), and Regent(93-50). Their only loss of the season was against William & Mary (65-78).  The Pirates last game looked like this: 

 

Ben Staley matched his career-high in points with 20 and paired that with 11 boards. He also had two blocks in that win over Regent University this past Thursday night. Hampton also broke off a 25-5 run in that game, something that the Illini have had tendencies this season to give up. 

 

Limit the scoring runs for the Pirates and score points, the Illini are in good shape to win the game, I could not find the KenPom rankings on Hampton and to put it into perspective, The Citadel was ranked #321.

 

Probable Starters for the Pirates tonight: 

Russell Dean(FR) 

Jermaine Marrow(SR)

Davion Warren(JR)

Greg Hecksall(JR)

Pierre Sow(FR) 

 

The Illini are back on the hardwood tonight for their third straight game at home. Last time out they beat The Citadel 85-57 in a televised game on BTN. Tonight’s game will be on BTN+. The Illini are ranked second in the nation in offensive rebound rate at 45.8% I wonder why? Kofi Cockburn is tied for the NCAA lead with double-doubles and is also the 5th best rebounder in the NCAA, and the best among freshman thus far with 12.6 per game. 

 

Probable Starters for the Illini: 

Ayo Dosunmu(SO)

Andres Feliz(SR)

Trent Frazier(JR)

Giorgi Bezhanishvili(SO)

Kofi Cockburn(FR) 

 

Cale’s Keys to the Game: 

 

Get Ayo Hot: Ayo is still looking for that breakout scoring game for this season, something tells me it will be tonight. Feed Ayo and let him take over. 

 

3PT Production: Trent also needs to heat up beyond the arc. If he hits one or two early in the contest, feed him. Trent is the type of player that when he’s on he’s on. 

 

I will be live-tweeting the game since I am in attendance and will be back at halftime with an update. You can follow me on @calefleming10 

Illini Football Halftime Update

Illini Football Halftime Update: 

 

The Illini trail the Hawkeyes 13-7 at the end of the first half. The Illini defense has done a great job containing Iowa QB Stanley, forcing him to make some high throws. Sydney Brown has a pick on top of that, and the defense is keeping them to only FG’s as of right now. 

 

The Illini get the ball back to start the second half. Here are some first-half stats: 

 

Offense: 

Peters- 10-20 96 yards, 1 TD 1 INT. 

Brown- 7 carries 20 yards, 

Imatorbhebhe- 4 catches 36 yards 

 

ICYMI- Adam Miller commitment to Illini

ICYMI--

 

Last night the U of I Fighting Illini were all on the watch of the commitment of Adam Miller. Miller, a blue-chipper originally from the Peoria area, but has played his high school career in Morgan Park where he has won a state title with Ayo Dosunmu, and both he and Miller played AAU ball with the Mac Irvin Fire. 

 

Miller gave Illinois a verbal commitment last night at the Jordan Brand Store in Chicago, where Dosunmu signed his letter of intent to play with the Illini. The Illini beat Arizona and Louisville. 

 

Miller although he verbally committed, has not signed a letter of intent to play with any college yet. Miller would bring scoring to the Illini, and much needed scoring. Miller has averaged 51 PPG for the Mac Irvin Fire AAU team during his tenure. Miller has also played for Team USA, and left his mark there as well. 

 

Adam Miller is a massive get for the Illini and Brad Underwood, which if signed, would bring next seasons recruiting class to 11th in he nation with the signing of Andre Curbelo. I will follow Miller closely and see if he does sign that letter of intent with the Illini.

Weekend Outlook at WPXN

Sorry for the inactivity-

School is in its final two weeks of the fall semester and I have been neglecting the Twitter page, and I haven’t posted a blog all week. My apologies, here is a quick update as to what is going on around the station tonight and tomorrow. 

 

Friday Night-

8 man football at 7 pm 

Joel Cluver and Cale Fleming will have a pregame show in the studio, then it’s over to Milford were Jay and Rocky will have the call. Pregame starts at 6:05 with kickoff at 7. 

 

Saturday-

 

At 7:05 Jay and Cale will be in studio for the On The Sidelines program, that will take you up to the 8 o’clock hour. 

At 8 we have the live-action auction with Joel Cluver. Bid, Buy and Save on Christmas Items! 

10 will bring us Illini Football on the WPXN airwaves as the Fighting Illini travel out to take on the Iowa Hawkeyes. Kickoff at 11 

And if that isn’t enough sports for you, we have Illini basketball at 6, with an opening tip at 7 in Champaign as the Illini take on Hampton. 

Milford/CP looking to repeat as 8 Man Football Champions

IHSA Girls Basketball

Falcon /Bunnie Tipoff Classic

PBL def GCMS 55-38

Mackenzie Bruns (13), Hannah Schwarz (12) and Baylee Cosgrove (10) all scored in double digits

 

Unity def Monticello 52-49

 

St. Joe Ogden def Villa Grove/Heritage 46-43

Katie Cramer led with 14 points

 

Fisher def Iroquois West 43-25

Kylee Bishop had 16 points 

 

Timberwolf Tipoff

Milford def Cissna Park 60-29

Kaylee Warren had 17 points

 

Bismarck Henning/Rossville Alvin def Herscher 42-22

 

Watseka def Armstrong Potomac 47-20

Natalie Schroeder led with 16 points

 

Prairie Central Thanksgiving Tournament

Mahomet Seymour def Pontiac 42-27

Nichole Taylor led with 10 points


 

NFL

The Texans beat the Colts 20-17


IHSA Girls Basketball tonight

Falcon Bunnie Tipoff

Championship Game

PBL vs St. Joe Ogden

 

3rd Place Game

Monticello vs Heritage/Villa Grove

 

5th Place game 

Unity vs Fisher

 

7th Place Game

GCMS vs Iroquois West

 

 

 

Big Ten Football

Penn St. at Ohio St.

Michigan St. at Rutgers

Illinois at Iowa

Minnesota at Northwestern

Michigan at Indiana

Nebraska at Maryland

Purdue at Wisconsin

 

NFL on Sunday

New York Giants at the Chicago Bears

Green Bay Packers at the San Francisco 49ers



 

Tonight on WPXN it’s 8 Man football as Milford/Cissna Park takes on Polo at Monmouth College for the Championship. Our pregame begins at 6pm with kickoff at 7pm.

 

Saturday it’s On the Sidelines from 7-8 brought to you by Compass Insurance Partners in Paxton and Cissna Park, MATCO Fire Protection Services in Paxton and Monical’s Pizza in Paxton. Then it’s our Live Action Auction from 8-10. Bid Buy and Save on gift certificates and items from area businesses.

 

Saturday night it’s Fighting Illini Basketball as Illinois hosts Hampton. Pregame at 6pm with tipoff at 7pm.


 

Kofi Cockburn sets Freshman single Game Rebound Record in Illini's win over The Citadel

IHSA Girls Basketball

Cissna Park Tipoff Classic

Herscher def Cissna Park 48-32

 

Armstrong Potomac def Momence 50-39

Emma Jameson and Maddie Hudson each had 13 points

 

Watseka def Tri Point 54-29

Natalie Schroeder had 14 points


 

Big Ten

Kofi Cockburn scored 18 points and grabbed 17 rebounds to lead Illinois past The Citadel 85-57. It was the fourth double-double for Cockburn.

 

NBA

Lauri Markkanen scored 24 points to bust out of a slump, Wendell Carter Jr. had 12 points and 15 rebounds, and the Chicago Bulls beat the Detroit Pistons 109-89.

 

NFL

Chicago Bears quarterback Mitchell Trubisky says his right hip is improving and he expects to play Sunday against the New York Giants if it continues to get better. That’s a big “if.” Trubisky is day to day after suffering a hip pointer in the loss at the Los Angeles Rams on a sack near the end of the second quarter. He said he is feeling “day and night” better than he was following the game.



NASCAR

Seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson says 2020 will be his final season of full-time racing. The winningest driver of his era will have a 19th season in the No. 48 Chevrolet and once again chase a record eighth championship. Johnson has 83 career victories, tied with Cale Yarborough for sixth all-time. His seven titles are tied with Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt for most in the Cup Series.




 

Illini look to get another win at home against The Citadel tonight

IHSA Girls Basketball

Falcon/Bunnie Tipoff

Monticello def PBL 33-30

 

Unity def GCMS 51-31

 

St. Joe Ogden def Iroquois West 49-16

Ashlyn Lannert led with 15 points

 

Villa Grove/Heritage def Fisher 66-36

 

Timberwolf Tipofff Classic

Bismarck Henning/Rossville Alvin def Milford 48-35

 

Tri Point def Armstrong Potomac 39-26

 

Watseka def Momence 45-28

Natalie Schroeder had 13 points



 

Tonight on WPXN it’s Fighting Illini Basketball as Illinois take on The Citadel at the State Farm Center. Pregame at 7pm with tip at 8pm

 

Official Illini Postgame Review

Here is the official post-game blog from yesterday’s Illini game in Champaign:

 

The first half as I mentioned in the short post yesterday evening was bad, really bad. Let’s look at some of the numbers for the Illini in the first half.

 

Going into halftime, it was 26-26, a deadlock of sloppy offensive possessions for both teams. The Illini had ten turnovers in the opening frame(on pace for 20 at this point) which I said in the keys to the game is limit the turnovers. I know I am a broken record but it can’t go unnoticed. I’m more than certain that head coach Brad Underwood was infuriated with the turns in the locker room at the half. Coupled on top of ten first-half turnovers, the scoring was abysmal both ways. Going into the first media timeout, there were nine total points scored, yes, I said that right. UH would bring the ball up, chuck a three, the Illini would push it to the opposite end and turn it over. This happened for over seven minutes. As I stated last night, that might have been the worst first half of basketball I have witnessed in person. Hawaii came to play, and they played well in the first half. The Illini, on the other hand, did a great job of holding Stansberry to only four at the half. When they shut him down, that eliminated a vast majority of the Rainbow Warriors scoring. 

 

Second half: 

The Illini came out with a little more intensity and specifically Alan Griffen. He didn’t get into the scoring column until late in the last half, but it was the intangibles that I liked. He was tracking down offensive boards, using that vertical that has risen out of nowhere to get over guys and battle on the offensive glass. Kofi was able to notch the third double-double of his career(4th game) with 10:43 left in the contest. He was 10 and 11 before pulled the rest of the game with under six minutes reaming in the game. Trent and Ayo lit up a couple three’s from the parking lot back-to-back, and that sent a little murmur around the SFC. The second half was much better for the Illini than the first, but they still didn’t gain a large enough lead for my liking. I seriously think that having a week off after traveling to the desert was detrimental to the flow of the team. The Illini have another game on Wednesday night at home against The Citadel.

 

Scoring/Team Highs:

Kofi- 15

Trent- 13

Giorgi B- 10

Ayo/Kipper- 9

 

Rebounding

Kofi- 14

Giorgi B- 9

Andres- 8

Alan- 5

 

I will have another pregame podcast and blog up tomorrow night before the game!

Illinois wins at Home over Hawaii 66-53

IHSA Girls Basketball

Falcon/Bunnie Tipoff Tourney

PBL def Unity 58-46

Hannah Schwartz had 17 points

 

Monticello def GCMS 48-34

 

Villa Grove/Heritage def Iroquois West 59-21

 

St. Joe Ogden def Fisher 39-22

Alyssa Hamilton led with 9 points

 

Cissna Park Tipoff Tournament

Herscher def Milford 45-38

Bismarck Henning/Rossville Alvin def Cissna Park 54-13

 

Prairie Central Thanksgiving Tournament

Prairie Central def Mahomet Seymour 48-40

Elly Haberkorn had 21 points

 

NCAA

Kofi Cockburn scored a double-double with 15 points and 14 rebounds and Trent Frazier added 13 points as Illinois won at home against Hawaii 66-53.

 

NBA

Milwaukee Bucks def Chicago Bulls 115-101


 

Tonight on WPXN it’s NASCAR Live. Get the latest news in NASCAR from 6-7.

 

Illini Post Game pre game film

I’m going to open the postgame blog like this: I have mixed emotions, the first half was was a train wreck. Up to the first media timeout(under 15), there were nine total points scored in the entire game. The first seven minutes were filled with sloppy offensive possessions both ways, turnover after turnover. The Illini still can’t shake the turnover plague. They were on pace for 20 turnovers at the halfway point in the game. 

 

But the second half was a lot better. Head Coach Brad Underwood must have gave a pretty good pump-up speech(or a screaming match) however you want to look at it, but it worked. The final o this game was 66-53. A moral victory in a sense. I will break down the film and post a better blog along with a podcast tomorrow afternoon.

Illini Halftime Update

First Half Update: 

A stagnant offense for both teams in the opening half to start the contest tonight. At the first media timeout, there were only 11 combined points. The Illini are still turning the ball over(10) on pace for 20 (avg 20.7) and the “week off the rust” was really prominent to start. Back-to-back treys from Ayo and Trent helped push the lead a little more, but scoring was still absent. Illini stats thus far: 

8-24 FG 

2-6 3PT

8-11 FT 

20 Reb. 

10 TO

 

Player highs for the first half: 

Reb- Kofi (8)

Points- Ayo(7)

Ast.- Trent(1) 

 

This might be the worst half of basketball that the Illini have played this season. They are force-feeding Kofi down low who is 1-7 with three turnovers in the first half. He is having a rough night with a decent opponent in Casper defending him. Hopefully, the Illini come out of the locker room for the second half firing on all cylinders. I will have a post-game blog and podcast up on the website after the game. 

Illini Men's Basketball Preview VS Hawaii

There is an Illini basketball tonight! That’s it, that’s the blog. Just kidding, after having a week off to get into Ubben and work out some kinks in the first three games of the season, the Illini are back to take the court at the State Farm Center in Champaign. Coming into tonight, the Illini are 2-1 on the season with the only loss coming to #21 Arizona. If you had a way of getting the Pac-12 Network, or you listened to the game on WPXNs airwaves, the first half of that game was great. Trent got hot early in the contest and the spacing was great early. The Illini only trailed by one going coming out of the half. The Illini ended up losing the game 90-69. 

 

With a recap of the last game, let’s focus on the task at hand, beating Hawaii at home tonight. Hawaii looks like this: 

3-1 on the year thus far, 0-0 in the Big West. They are averaging 73.8 PPG to the Illini 76.7. The Rainbow Warrior’s are long, quick, and athletic much like the rest of the Illini opponents this season. This is the first road game for UH this season, while the Illini are returning from a two-game trip in the desert with a week off. This matchup tonight is the first of two non-conference road games for the Rainbow Warriors. Another important nugget for the Rainbow Warriors is their head coach Eran Ganot is on medical leave to start the season, Chris Gerlufsen is filling in until he returns to the team. After the game tonight UH, will go back home for three straight games at home beginning on the 24th. 

 

Who to Watch: 

Senior PG Eddie Stansbury has three straight games of 20+ that includes a career-high with 28 in UH’s win over Portland this past Friday. 

 

For the Illini to win tonight, with how close the PPG average is, they need to limit turnovers, not only do they need limit turnovers, the Illini need to limit the scoring runs that they give up. Other Illini stats:

After the full week off last week, the Illini have a five-game homestand beginning tonight, they play seven of their next eight at home, this is really a chance to take a leap into the win column before Big Ten play opens up on January 5. Illinois also leads the nation in offensive rebound rate(44.4%) and ranks fourth in the NCAA in rebound margin at +17. 

Notable: Kofi Cockburn won the honors of Big Ten Freshman of the Week week before last, after averaging 14.0 PPG and 10.7 RPG. If the Illini get that production night in and night out, that is a tough stat to beat. 

 

Cale’s Keys: 

  1. Smash the Turnover bug- Get rid of that little pest and limit the opponent’s scoring runs throughout the game.

  2. Feed Trent: If Trent trey’s a couple early, keep feeding him unlike what happened against Arizona. If he’s hot early, feed him. 

  3. Space the floor: If Girogi B can start hitting 15 feet extended like he has shown that he can do this season that limits the amount of traffic that is clogging the lane on the offensive end. 

 

I will be back after the game with a post-game blog, and a post-game pod, You can find the pregame podcast under the “Podcast” tab on the website linked here: https://wpxnradio.com/podcasts/wpxn-intro-pod

As always be sure to follow along with us on our social media. Our website: https://wpxnradio.com/ on Twitter at 1049WPXN, on Facebook at 104.9 WPXN and download our app in the Google Play or Apple App stores. 

Kyle Busch Wins Monster Energy NASCAR Championship

Congratulations to the Milford     Cissna Park Bearcats. The 8man football team is in the state championship game again for the 2nd year in a row. The Bearcats beat Flanagan Cornell Woodland on Saturday in Milford. They will take on the Polo High School Marcos on Friday night at Monmouth  College. WPXN sports will be there. The Friday night preview show starts at 6-05. The pre game is set for 6-35 and the kick off at 7pm

 

Also congratulations to the St Joe Ogden Lady Spartans. They  finished with a victory on Saturday in the 2-A State tournament Volleyball finals in Bloomington and brought home the 3rd Place trophy.

 

The Paxton Buckley Loda Football Panthers fell to Princeton High School in our broadcast game on Saturday.  The Panthers finished the season at 9 and 3 under first year head coach Josh Pritchard.

 

The Rams grind out a 17-7 victory over the Bears. 

 

The Colts coasted to a 33-13 win over the Jaguars as Jacoby Brissett threw one touchdown pass and ran for another score.

 

Kyle Busch has emerged from the Joe Gibbs Racing juggernaut as NASCAR’s latest champion, winning his second title after teammates Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. were slowed by pit-road gaffes.

Busch won the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway to snap a 21-race losing streak and beat Hamlin, Truex and rival Kevin Harvick for the Cup. Busch joined seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson as the only active drivers with multiple titles.




 

IHSA Girls Basketball

Lady Falcon/Bunnie Tip Off Classic 

PBL vs Unity at GCMS

GCMS vs Monticello at GCMS

Iroquois West vs Villa Grove at Fisher

St. Joe Ogden vs Fisher at Fisher

 

Prairie Central Thanksgiving Tournament

Mahomet Seymour vs Prairie Central 

 

Other 

Rantoul @ Urbana


 

Tonight on WPXN it’s Fighting Illini Basketball as Illinois hosts Hawaii pregame at 6pm with tip at 7pm

 

WPXN Updates

As promised all of the games that were played today are up in podcast format on the website! The games that are there are the PBL vs Princeton quarterfinal matchup that happened Saturday afternoon, and the two SJO games that took place at Red Bird Arena in Bloomington. Also as a little bonus, I will be starting a podcast for all things sports, that will be local IHSA events, as well as all things professional. There will also be a recap of all things Fighting Illini in the podcast tab, as well as the daily blogs. Big updates coming to the website! I will keep everybody updated!

Bulls' Coby White becomes youngest player is NBA History with Five 3-pointers in consecutive games

NBA

The Milwaukee Bucks countered another historic night by Chicago rookie Coby White to beat the Bulls 124-115. White shot 5 of 8 from 3-point range in the first half, becoming the youngest player in NBA history to hit five 3-pointers in consecutive games. 

 

IHSA Football Saturday

1A Arcola at Central A&M 1:30pm

2A Clifton Central at Fieldcrest 3:30pm

3A PBL at Princeton 1pm

4A Prairie Central vs Effingham 2pm

 

8 Man Milford/Cissna Park vs Flanagan Cornell Woodland

 

NCAA Football

Michigan St. at Michigan

Indiana at Penn St.

Wisconsin at Nebraska

Massachusetts at Northwestern

Ohio St. at Rutgers

Minnesota at Iowa

 

NFL 

Chicago Bears at LA Rams

Indianapolis Colts vs Jacksonville Jaguars

Green Bay Packers have a bye

 

Today on WPXN it’s IHSA Class 2A State Volleyball action as the St. Joe Ogden Spartans take on Breese Mater Dei at Noon.

 

Saturday on WPXN it’s On the Sidelines from 7-8 brought to you by Compass Insurance Partners in Paxton and Cissna Park, MATCO Fire Protection Services in Paxton and Monical’s Pizza in Paxton.

 

Then it’s IHSA Class 3A Football playoff action as the PBL Panthers travel to take on the Princeton Tigers.

 

You can hear the Milford/Cissna Park 8 Man Football Game against Flanagan Cornell Woodland on 100.9 WHPO around 1:30. 

 

On Sunday it’s the final Race to the Chase with the Monster Energy Ford EcoBoost 400 NASCAR Race at Homestead Florida with a 1pm broadcast time.

 

MLB Cy Young and MVP Winners

The MLB awards season is finally among us. I was waiting to post this to the site until the MVPs of both leagues were named, and they were named just hours ago. I’m going to go over both the Cy Young winners and the MVPs of both the National and American Leagues. 

 

American League: 

Cy Young award winner: Just Verlander of the Houston Astros.

Not much surprise with this one, Verlander dominated almost every start this season, including the postseason. Verlander’s numbers this year look like this: 

W/L: 21-6

ERA: 2.58 

WAR: 7.8

I could throw in more advanced sabermetrics but those are the most important, at least the import metrics that will win you your second Cy Young of your career. There would only be one pitcher in the AL that I would see giving him a run for his money, Gerrit Cole, who was traded from the Pirates before the deadline in mid-July, Cole just didn’t have enough starts in an AL uniform that could compete with Verlander. Verlander, on the other hand, let up more home runs(30) this season than he has than any other in his career. He called out the MLB around the All-Star break in early July about “juiced balls” which seemed to disappear during the postseason. Add that to another era of MLB baseball. 

 

MVP: Mike Trout

Mike Trout is a no-doubter. Trout is the best baseball player that I have ever seen, and the best that I will more than likely see in my lifetime. Trout plays the game the way you want to see the game played. Busting it out of the box down the line, always chasing down fly balls, and setting up his team for wins day in and day out. Here are Trouts numbers for this season: 

BA: .291

WAR: 8.3

SLG: .645

HR: 45 

Another stellar year to add to his already historic eight-year career. This is Trout’s second MVP, but I can tell you right now he will win a lot more. 

 

National League: 

Cy Young Winner: Jacob deGrom 

deGrom is the best part about the New York Mets franchise second would be rookie Pete Alonso who also won NL ROY(Rookie of the Year). deGrom’s numbers this season:

W/L: 11-8

ERA: 2.43

WAR: 7.9

deGrom lost eight games this season, but that can all be blamed on zero offensive production. If you look at those eight that he lost, they are all by two or fewer runs. This is deGrom’s second Cy Young and he won them in back to back years. 

 

MVP: Cody Bellinger

We all saw the commercials that aired during the second half of this season, yes I’m talking about the game of MVP that Bellinger and Yelich played. Bellinger won. With the knee injury that Yelich suffered late in the Brewers postseason run(missed 19 games), I feel like it would have been a different story. Yelich may not have won back to back MVPs but he at least would have been in contention. Bellinger’s numbers this season:

BA: .305

WAR: 9.0

SLG: .629

HR: 47 

If you’re a fan of the long ball, Bellinger is your guy. He was three away from joining the “50 club” Bellinger also had an OPS of 1.035 this season. This is Bellingers first MVP of his career, and he is the first Dodger since 2014 to claim the honor. 

Whitman Extension

Josh Whitman gets pay raise and contract extension approved by the board of trustees this morning. Whitman was hired in 2016 with starting pay at $600,000 per year. The three-year extension(original contract due to expire in 2021) will now run through the end of 2024 and will raise his salary to $750,000 per year. With that, his salary will rise to $850,000 by 2024. 

 

The extension comes with the success of coach Lovie Smith’s continued success in Big Ten play in recent weeks. As most of you know, Whitman extended Smith’s contracts another three seasons prior to the start of this season. With the faith in his guys that Whitman has hired, he earned the payday himself. 

 

As the cool kids are saying these days, “bag secured.”

Senate Halts College Athlete Bill

The Illinois Senate has held up the bill that flew through the House, the bill that would allow collegiate athletes in the state to get paid for their name, likeness, has been halted in the Senate.

 

 This bill would allow all collegiate athletes in the state of Illinois to get paid for using their name(behold the used car dealership commercials) but not directly from their college or university. I think there is a lot misconstrued in the bill, meaning that some people might think that they are receiving a paycheck on top of already being on a full scholarship. That is not true. All the bill would permit is to allow college athletes to profit off their name. If the bill were to make it through, Illinois would become the second state in the country with a bill of this style since California passed it earlier in the fall.

Updates To The Website!

Check out the new changes to the website! When you pull it up, you will see the new logo right underneath the “download our app” slot. Make sure you click on that tab if you are on the website! Also, we are going to now start posting all audio for any game that is going to be broadcast on WPXN’s airwaves. Youll be able to find that under the “podcast” tab on the website! The St. Joe-Ogden VS Chicago Christian from last Friday is under that tab in its entirety. As always make sure you give us a like on Facebook, give us a follow on Twiter, and become a member on of our email list!

IHSA State Volleyball Friday at Redbird Arena in Normal

NHL

Erik Gustafsson scored his first goal of the season, Corey Crawford made 39 saves and the Chicago Blackhawks beat Vegas 5-3

 

IHSA State Volleyball Friday

2A at Redbird Arena in Normal

St. Joe Ogden vs Breese Mater Dei noon 

 

GCMS Senior Madi Eberle has signed on to continue her softball career at Southern Illinois University. Madi is a two-time News-gazette All Area Softball First Team pick.

 

Cardinals manage Mike Shildt Named National League Manager of the Year

NBA

Coby White made a franchise-record seven 3-pointers in the fourth quarter, and the Chicago Bulls pulled away from the slumping New York Knicks for a 120-102 victory.

 

NCAA

LSU, Ohio State, Clemson and Georgia, are the top four teams in the playoff selection committee's second top 25. LSU replaced Ohio State as No. 1 after the Tigers won at Alabama on Saturday.

 

MLB

Mike Shildt was honored for piloting the St. Louis Cardinals back into the playoffs, narrowly beating Craig Counsell of the Milwaukee Brewers to win NL Manager of the Year.

 

College Football Playoff Thoughts

ESPN came out with the updated College Football Playoff ranks, and I think they need to put extra thought into it. 

 

  1. LSU

  2. Ohio State

  3. Clemson

  4. Georgia

  5. Alabama

  6. Oregon

Let’s stick with the top six teams of the week. 1 through 3 I don’t have an issue with. LSU dogwalked Alabama on the road this past Saturday and Ohio State is the best team in the Big Ten. Clemson got off to a slow start earlier in the year or not beating teams in a weak ACC conference like they should have. Georgia being 8-1 on the year and being in the fourth spot is jaw dropping. Everybody that reads this will tell me that “they beat Notre Dame and Florida.” Yes, I agree but they also lost to NC State, at home no less. 

 

In my brain, there should be a different order. There is one team in the Big Ten that we are forgetting about since they are in the weaker half of it. Minnesota. The Golden Gophers are 9-0 on the season and beat a Penn State team that was also undefeated last Saturday, and we will figure out this weekend if Penn State is the real deal or not when they head to Iowa City this Saturday. Minnesota should be in that fourth playoff spot. Strength of schedule gets looked at, and Georgia has beaten two quality teams like I stated earlier, but Minnesota is 9-0 and took down at the time 8-0 Penn State.

Look Into Illini Basketball

The Fighting Illini went on the road this past weekend to take on Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, and later #21 Arizona(Nico Mannion is a stud) and the trip was not a total loss. Here some thoughts from the first three games this season to get you prepared for what is to come. 

 

What we need:

Scoring- We need more production out of our top tier talent. Guys like Ayo and Trent. Trent in the first game of the season went 0-9 from the field to start the season against Nicholls State. According to Sports Refernece.com Ayo is only averaging 15.0 PPG. That should be at minimum 20, especially if you are looking to become a lottery pick in the NBA draft, scoring is a must in modern basketball. 

 

Stop Turning The Ball Over: The turn over bug has bit the Illini bad, it’s an infection that won’t wont go away, at least through the first 3 games of the season. The Illini have turned the ball over 62 times this season. Limit the amount of turnovers you commit and it’s amazing how much easier it is to score the ball. 

 

Get Girogi Involved: With the addition to Kofi Cockburn, who will punish opposing players in the low-post, the Illini offense needs to figure out how to get Giorgi B offensive opportunities. He on the other hand has a big transition period to get through, going from the “go too” big man down low to playing the four. Giorgi has shot the three ball pretty well on limited attempts(.750 on 1.3 attempts per game) which will in turn space the floor out. The lane is clogged as we know it, Kofi takes up half, Ayo and Feliz are dominant slashers and make their living creating opportunities at the rim, there is too much happening under the basket. If Giorgi can keep shooting at a high clip or maintain it, it will spread the floor for more offensive opportunities. 

 

Overall the road trip was successful. The Illini played a great first half against the Wildcats, but the second showed their weaknesses. Starting 2-1 on the year is about what I expected from our Illini. Now it’s time to get back to Ubben, enjoy the week off and get back to business as we have three games in seven days starting with Hawaii next week.

Update for PBL Football

Quick update for Saturday football this week! PBL will kick off Saturday afternoon at 1pm in Princeton. If you can’t make the game, we will have it on WPXN airwaves.

Denny Hamlin Advances to NASCAR's title Race

NCAA

Nico Mannion scored 23 points, Josh Green added 20 and No. 21 Arizona's freshmen dominated in a 90-69 victory over Illinois. 

 

NFL

Mitchell Trubisky tied a season high with three touchdown passes, and the Chicago Bears withstood a late charge by Detroit, beating the Lions 20-13 to snap a four-game losing streak.

 

Aaron Jones scored three rushing touchdowns and the Packers used a goal-line stand to beat the Panthers, 24-16. 

 

NHL

Patrick Kane had two goals and an assist, Robin Lehner made 53 saves and the Chicago Blackhawks struck early and then held off the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-4

 

NASCAR

Denny Hamlin saved his season by winning at ISM Raceway near Phoenix to advance into NASCAR's title-deciding race. Hamlin will race Gibbs teammates Busch and Martin Truex Jr., as well as Kevin Harvick of Stewart-Haas Racing, for the championship. Of the four, Hamlin is the only one without a previous championship. Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson, Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano were eliminated.

 

Tonight on WPXN it’s Fast Talk. Get the latest news in NASCAR from 6-7.

 

Illini at Arizona First Half

The Illini are taking on the Arizona Wildcats tonight on the PAC-12 Network. Here are some quick first half thoughts:

 

Scoring is coming in runs for both teams. The Illini came right off the tip hot in the scoring column but sort of fell off the bandwagon in that area. Once again the turnover bug is still biting them committing 11 to the Wildcat 7. 

 

Kofi needs to get more touches in the low post. I said this yesterday on the pregame show on the PXN airwaves yesterday with JC, the more offense that is ran through Kofi, will spread the floor and create more shots for either Giorgi B, or Trent at the top of the key. 

 

If the Illini can come out of the gate scoring hot like they did in the first ten minutes of the game, we are in good shape. Halftime score is 39-38 in favor of the Wildcats. 

 

First Half highs and scoring totals: 

Trent- 12 points, 4-6 FG, 3-3 3PT, 

Feliz- 5 rebounds, 

Ayo- 3 asst. 

 

I will break down the game and get a post up as quick as I can(might be tomorrow afternoon). GO ILLINI!

I-L-L

I-L-L! 

 

That’s it. That’s the title. What a game, what a comeback, what a win. Coach Lovie Smith has the UIUC campus rocking these last couple weeks, mainly yesterday. 

 

Our Fighting Illini traveled to East Lansing yesterday to take on the Spartans of Michigan State. Illinois was riddled with injuries including, Jake Hansen(did not travel), Bitikou Jr. Ricky Smalling, and Travon Sydney. The linebacker core for the Illini got even weaker when Milo Eifler was kicked out of the game in the first quarter because he threw a punch in the endzone when MSU scored in the first quarter. 

 

Onto halftime we go, the Ilini were down 28 to 10 at half, coming right out of the gate in the third quarter being down 31-10 after a MSU field goal.

 

Then the fourth quarter started. The Illini outscored Sparty 27-3 in the quarter with scores coming from Josh Imatorbhebhe who caught an 83 yard touchdown pass to start it off, Reggie Corbin with a 6 yard run, Sydney Brown with a 76 yard pick six, and in the final seconds of the game, Peters threw a 5 yard pass to Daniel Barker to make the game 37-34. Brining it our final. 

 

With the Illini being down by over 25 and coming back and winning the game, that is the largest comeback victory in school history. This is the first time under Coach Lovie Smith that the Illini have been bowl eligible with a record of 6 and 4 with two games left against Iowa on the road on the 23rd and Northwestern at home on the 30th to cap the Big Ten season. The ride isn’t over yet, but there is still a lot of work to be done. Let’s enjoy the ride.

Panthers Advance!

The PBL Panthers secured a victory yesterday evening over Farmington to head to the IHSA quarterfinals for the first time since 1998. After a small delay due to the Panther bus having a mechanical issue on Towanda-Barnes Road, the game was kicked off at 5:45 originally scheduled for 5. 

 

It was all PBL in the contest, the first score came from a 2 yard run by Drake Schrodt with the two-point conversion attempt no good making the score 6-0 PBL early in the first quarter. Later on in the first half another score came for the Panthers. Gunner Belt competed a 10 yard pass to Drake Schrodt and the 2 point conversion was successful to Gavin Coplea making it a 14-0 Panther lead. 

 

Those two PBL touchdowns coming in the first half were the only scores for the half. The second half however was a different story, especially in the third quarter. 

 

Hunter Anderson started the scoring in the second half with a 37 yard touchdown run with the PAT good from Wilson making the score 21-0 PBL. Farmington was able to get on the board after that score by Anderson, with a Blake Springer 11 yard TD run and a succssfeul PAT made it a 21-7 game halfway through the third quarter. PBL’s special teams also had to get in on the scoring action. Hunter Anderson blocked a punt and scooped and scored. The PAT was blocked making it a 27-7 game. 

 

There was no scoring in the 4 quarter of play but there was no need. PBL was able to secure the victory and move on to the quarterfinals. Next week’s game in Princeton will be broadcast on WPXN as well as the SJO WVB contest on Friday from Red Bird Arena in Bloomington.

Area IHSA WVB

Area IHSA WVB 

 

SJO took on Chicago Christen in Palos Heights this evening in Chicago. JC was on the call for tonight's Elite 8 IHSA volleyball action. SJO dropped the first set 15-25, but battled back to win the next two, 25-23 and 25-16 to secure a spot at Red Bird Arena in Bloomington in the Final Four next Friday at 12pm. They will take on Breese Mater Dei and tickers are only $8. 

 

Meanwhile, Milford took on Glasford this evening. They were eliminated from the playoffs in 2 sets scores resulting, 25-22 and 25-20. Congratulations to both teams for all their hard work and dedication on the court and most importantly in the classroom!

ILLINI at GCU Halftime Thoughts.

The Illini travel West to Arizona for a two game stint with Grand Canyon and Arizona Universities. In my eyes, this will be a “tell all” road trip for the Illini for the upcoming season. The Illini need to take these two on the road in a loud, and proud GCU stadium, and if all possible(which it is) stealing a W against Sean Miller’s squad. Post game blog soon to follow.

Area High School Athletes Participating in Cross Country, Volleyball, and Football State Series this Weekend

IHSA Class 1A, 2A, & 3A State Cross Country Meet at Detweiller Park, Peoria. 9am today

Boys 

1A Individual-Ryder James-PBL

                       Connor Price-Iroquois West

1A  Team-St. Joe Ogden

                  

2A Team-Mahomet Seymour

 

Girls 

1A Team-St. Joe Ogden

2A Team-Mahomet Seymour

 

 

AREA HIGH SCHOOL 2ND ROUND PLAYOFF TIMES AND DATES

CLASS 1A

#8 Fisher (8-2) at #1 Central A & M (10-0), Sat., Nov. 9, 1:00 pm

 

#5 Greenfield [G.-Northwestern Coop] (8-2) at #4 Arcola (8-2), Sat., Nov. 9, 2:00 pm

 

CLASS 2A

#8 Watseka (7-3) at #1 Knoxville (10-0), Sat., Nov. 9, 1:00 pm

 

#5 Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley (9-1) at #4 Sterling (Newman Central Catholic) (9-1), Sat., Nov. 9, 6:00 pm

 

#6 Aledo (Mercer County) (7-3) at #3 Clifton Central (10-0), Sat., Nov. 9, 3:00 pm

 

#8 Oakwood (8-2) at #1 Pana (9-1), Sat., Nov. 9, 1:00 pm

 

#5 Nashville (9-1) at #4 Bismarck-Henning-Rossville-Alvin (9-1), Sat., Nov. 9, 2:00 pm

 

#2 Maroa-Forsyth (9-1) at #10 Auburn (7-3), Sat., Nov. 9, 1:30 pm

 

#6 Tuscola (8-2) at #3 St. Teresa (9-1), Sat., Nov. 9, 1:00 pm

 

CLASS 3A

#5 Paxton-Buckley-Loda (8-2) at #4 Farmington (8-2), Sat., Nov. 9, 5:00 pm

 

CLASS 4A

#4 Unity (9-1) at #12 Kankakee (McNamara) (7-3), Sat., Nov. 9, 1:30 pm

 

IHSA Volleyball

1A Super Sectional at Verna Midland

Milford vs Illini Bluffs 6pm

 

2A Super Sectional at Palos Heights

St. Joe Ogden vs Chicago Chistian 6:30pm

 

Big Ten Football

Maryland at Ohio St.

Penn St. at Minnesota

Purdue at Northwestern

Illinois at Michigan St.

Iowa at Wisconsin

 

NFL

Detroit Lions at Chicago Bears

Carolina Panthers at Green Bay Packers

Miami Dolphins at Indianapolis Colts


 

Tonight on WPXN it’s IHSA Elite 8 Volleyball as the St. Joe Ogden Spartans are on the road at Palos Heights to take on Chicago Chistian. Pre game at 6:15.

Then its Fighting Illini Basketball as the Fighting Illini are on the road at Grand Canyon University in Arizona. 

 

Saturday on WPXN it’s On the Sidelines from 7-8 brought to you by Compass Insurance Partners in Paxton and Cissna Park, MATCO Fire Protection in Paxton and Monical’s Pizza in Paxton. 

 

Then it’s the WPXN Annual Ag Auction. Bid Buy and Save on items for the farm, the home and even a few Christmas Gifts. 

 

Saturday afternoon it’s 8man Football Playoff Coverage as the Milford/Cissna Park Bearcats take on Bunker Hill at Sam Fanning Field in Milford. Scott Hudson and Joel Cluver will have the call of the game. Our pregame begins at 1pm with kickoff at 2pm. 

 

Then it’s IHSA Class 3A Football as the PBL Panthers travel to take on the Farmington Farmers. Jay Eshleman and Rocky Marron have the call of the game. Pregame to follow the conclusion of the Milford/Cissna Park Contest. Kickoff at 5pm. 

 

On Sunday it’s the Monster Energy Blue Green Vacations 500 NASCAR Race from Avondale Arizona with a 12:30 broadcast time.

Milford and St. Joe Ogden advance to Super Sectional

IHSA Volleyball

1A Sectional Final

Milford def Illinois Lutheran

25-14, 25-13

Caley Mowery had 12 kills

 

Milford Volleyball Coach Christy Duis talks about the historic win

 

 

Milford Volleyball Coach Christy Duis

 

2A Sectional Final

St. Joe Ogden def Herscher 25-19, 12-25, 25-23

Payton Vallee had 11 kills

 

NBA

Chicago Bulls def Atlanta Hawks 113-93 

 

 

(Phoenix--jc)  Two races remain in the Nascar Monster Energy series for 20-19. I-S-M racetrack in Arizona is the destination for racers on Sunday. Nascar Driver  Joey Logano reacts to the reconfiguration of the racetrack and crazy racing…

 

 

Nascar Driver Joey Logano.

You can hear the race live on Sunday starting at 12-30 with the BlueGreens Vacation 500.

 

(Paxton--jc) — The Paxton Buckley Loda football Panthers head on the road in the second round of the 3-A Football playoffs on Saturday afternoon. After a running clock win this past Saturday, the Panthers take on Farmington. First year P-B-L Football Coach Josh Pritchard says his Senior Class is one with great kids and coachable kids…

 

 

P-B-L Football Coach Josh Pritchard.

You can hear the game live on saturday afternoon starting at 4pm with the preview show. We will join Jay Eshleman and Rocky Marron for their pre-game at 4-30 with the kick off from Farmington High School at 5pm

 

 

 

 

 

SJO WVB Heads to Elite Eight

Watseka Il,

 

The SJO and Herscher IHSA playoff volleyball game took place this evening and JC had the call. Both teams looking to advance to the sectional final, and move on in the playoffs at Chicago Christin High School in Palos Heights. 

 

SJO was able to secure set one, 25 to 19 over Herscher. SJO led the entrity of the first set, including a 7-2 lead in set one forcing an early timeout by Herscher. Herscher was able to put together a late run to bring it back within 5 late in the first set but SJO had built to large of a lead. 

 

In set number two Hercher came out playing a lot more aggressive forcing SJO into an early timeout. Herscher has been able to control most of the second set with a lead of at least 6, huge plays coming from the Lady Tigers in the middle. The Lady Tigers, were stuck on the set point for a long time. After letting up 5 unanswered points, Herscher was able to close it out and 25-12 to tie it up at one set each.

 

Set three started off with all Lady Tigers. They started off with a 3-0 lead which forced a Herscher timeout. SJO on the other hand rallied back to tie the game back up at 6 all. Ties were the name of the game in set number three. The Lady Spartans and the Lady Tigers both wanted to punch their ticket to the Elite Eight. Due to a couple miscues from Herscher, SJO was able to keep a 4 point lead and force another timeout. The Lady Spartans found some momentum in set three, and built a 21-15 lead late. The Lady Tigers found a 24-21 disadvantage looking down on them and they had to be perfect on their final three serves. 

 

SJO was able to keep the momentum rolling, and was able to win set three 25-23. SJO has punched their ticket to Elite Eight in Palos Heights this Friday.

Wong Wins First GG

I want it to be known that I am not a St. Louis Cardinals fan. I am obviously a fan of the North Siders. But I have to give credit where credit is due. The MLB is going through all of the defensive winners for each position that is airing live on the MLB network, and they just released the best defensive second basemen.

 

Kolten Wong this season as a Cub fan was impressive to watch on defense. He is an absolute vacuum on defense. Not very impressive at the plate but his athletic ability is off the charts. He is able to range to his left, right, and he can track down those tricky bloop pop flys in no mans land behind the first base bag. 

 

In 147 games this season, Wong had 250 putouts, 412 assists, turned 103 double plays, and only committed 9 errors. Wong had an impressive season on the defensive end, and he won a Gold Glove, the first of his career.

 

Hats off to Kolten Wong on his stellar performance this season at second and for winning his first(of many) gold gloves in his young career. 

Weekend Sports Outlook

We have a full slate of sports coming up on WPXN’s airwaves, starting tonight. JC will be on the call for the SJO vs Herscher IHSA playoff volleyball game. We will have the pregame at 5:45 with opening volley at 6. 

 

Coming up on Saturday, we will be covering most of the IHSA football playoffs. PBL takes on Farmington Saturday at 5pm, as Jay and Rocky will have the call for that. We will have a pregame blog Friday night or Saturday morning as we look into that game. 

 

As always don’t forget to follow along with all our socials, and become a member of our website so you can get up to date news, and keep up with your sports beat!

Illinois wins Opener in OT

NCAA

Andres Feliz scored 23 points and grabbed 11 rebounds and Illinois beat Nicholls State 78-70 in overtime in a season opener for both teams. Ayo Dosunmu scored 21, Giorgi Bezhanishvili added 11 points, and freshman big man Kofi Cockburn had 10 points and 11 rebounds for the Fighting Illini.

 

Tyrese Maxey, Kentucky's latest freshman star, scored 26 points and the second-ranked Wildcats opened the season with a 69-62 victory against No. 1 Michigan State in the Champions Classic at Madison Square Garden. 

 

NBA

Lakers def Bulls 118-112 

 

NHL

San Jose Sharks def Blackhawks 4-2

 

Ohio State, LSU, Alabama and Penn State are the top four in the College Football Playoff selection committee's first rankings of the season. Next up were defending national champion Clemson, Georgia and Oregon. The 13-member committee will produce four more sets of rankings each Tuesday before the only ones that really count come out on selection Sunday, Dec. 8.

 

IHSA Volleyball tonight

1A

Milford vs Illinois Lutheran 6pm

2A

St. Joe Ogden vs Herscher 6pm

 

Tonight on WPXN it’s IHSA Class 2A Volleyball Sectional Championship from Watseka with St. Joe Ogden and Herscher. Our pregame begins at 5:45 with open volley at 6pm.

 

Illini Give Us A Scare

The first game of the season is now over after a thriller against Nicholls State. The Illini are now 1-0 on the year as they head out for a stint in the West Coast starting with Arizona on Friday night. The Illini held the lead by 8 or more throughout the game, and looked dominate other than the turnover bug. Most of the story starts in the second half. With about 8 minutes remaining in the game, the Illini let up a 14 point run. When Nicholls went on that run, they cut the lead down from 13 to a tie with under three minutes to play. Trent Frazier had the play of the game getting the steal, and forcing a travel in crunch time, following with sinking two free throws, the Illini tied the game and forced OT. Andres Feliz took over at this point and sealed the game with the Illini coming out on top 78-70. 

 

The Illini might be 1-0 to start the year, but there was a lot of mistakes and miscues that came with it. Let's start off with scoring:

 

The Illini where 27-61 from the field as a whole in the win against Nicholls, who came to play. In my keys to the game I said one of the things that needed to happen was that Ayo Dosunmu needed to turn up the scoring from the exhibition played in Champaign last Friday, which he did. Ayo had 21 total points, went 8-11 from the field, 1-1 from deep, and racked up 7 rebounds. When it comes to the statistics, he looked like a top ten draft pick. Not only did Ayo have a great game, Kofi Cockburn tallied a double-double in his Illini debut going 4-6 from the field, with 10 points and 11 rebounds. We can’t forget about Andres Feliz. He was the most impactful throughout the night. Feliz had 23 on the night, went 7-14 from the field, 1-4 from deep, 8-10 from the line, and tallied 11 rebounds. But, the Illini missed a lot of open shots, and more often than not, passed on open looks. Offensive possessions are going to have to be cleaned up before Big Ten play opens up in January. One of the things that needs that “touch up paint” first is turnovers. 

 

The Illini had 23 turnovers in the game. That is far to many. And it about came back to haunt them. The first half was filled with sloppy offensive possessions that resulted in turnovers. You can’t win games turning the ball over 23 times. I’m sure this won’t happen again, there wasn’t much offensive rhythm(first half) when most of them occurred. 

 

My player of the game of course has to go to Andres Feliz(statline listed above) for taking over in OT and shutting the game down. 

 

Like I stated the Illini have a real test this upcoming Friday when they travel out to Arizona to take on the Wildcats. I’m curious to see how they respond on Friday.

Illini vs Nicholls State Preview.

Preview for tonight’s Illini Men’s Basketball against Nicholls State:

 

We are a little under a half hour from opening tip here in Champaign. Let’s take a look at Nicholls State. 

 

Projected Starters: 

 

D’Angelo Hunter-

Kevin Johnson

Dexter McClanahan 

Elvis Harvey Jr

Warith Alatishe 


 

Illini Probables:

Ayo Dosunmu

Trent Frazier

Andres Feliz 

Giorgi Bezhanishvili

Kofi Cockburn 

 

Pregame Thoughts:

 

After coming off a W against D-II Lewis last Friday night in Champaign, the Illini are looking to start the season 1-0. During warmups, Nicholls looks long, athletic, and fast. They are lacking size down in the paint which should create opportunities in the low-post for Kofi and Giorgi B. 

 

Cale’s Keys:

Post presence- Get Kofi and Giorgi B rolling early 

“Jets up”- prove it year for Ayo, meaning that he has to be the faciliter we are needing him to be. 

Opening Sports Blog

Welcome to the very first blog ever posted by WPXN! Under the sports tab on our website we have been able to start posting daily blogs, if not daily the weekly. Under this tab, you will find all the sports information that you can consume. We will be posting everything from professional sports to high school. We will cover all the area high schools, as well as local(Chicago sports teams, and the Cardinals) and you're Fighting Illini. There will be more to consume shortly.

 

 

-Cale Fleming 

Area Volleyball teams, Milford and St. Joe Ogden advance to 1A and 2A Sectional Championships

IHSA Volleyball

1A Milford def Deland Weldon 25-16, 25-18

Caley Mowrey had 16 kills and Kaylee Warren had 32 assists

 

Illinois Lutheran def Blue Ridge 28-26, 25-23

 

2A

St. Joe Ogden def Seneca 25-17, 25-11

Kennedi Bennett had 12 kills

 

Herscher def Unity 27-25, 25-21

 

3A

Rochester def St. Thomas More 25-18, 25-23

U-High def Mahomet Seymour 25-23, 25-16

 

Defensive Player of the Week

Dele Harding, Illinois

Sr., LB, Elkton, Md./Eastern Christian

  • Had a hand in two Illinois defensive touchdowns, returning an interception 54 yards for touchdown and forcing a fumble that was returned 36 yards for a score

  • Recorded 12 tackles and 2.0 tackles for loss, making him the second player in the nation in the last 20 years to have at least 12 tackles, 2.0 tackles for loss, one forced fumble, and interception and a touchdown in a single game

  • Leads the Big Ten with 11.7 tackles per game, nearly two full tackles more than the next highest person on the list

  • Receives his first career Defensive Player of the Week honor

  • Last Illinois Defensive Player of the Week: Jake Hansen (Oct. 21, 2019)

Tonight on WPXN its Illini Basketball as the U of I plays host to Nichols State. The broadcast begins at 6 tonight.

 

Harvick Wins at Texas to earn 1 of Title Contending Spots

NFL

The Eagles earned a 22-14 victory over the Bears.

 

The San Diego Chargers ended the Green Bay Packers’ four-game winning streak with a 26-11 win.

 

The Steelers won over the Colts 26-24.

 

Kevin Harvick has won the fall Cup race at Texas for the third year in a row while taking one of the championship-contending spots at NASCAR's season finale in two weeks.Playoff contender Joey Logano finished fourth at the 1 1/2-mile Texas track to stay in title contention. Playoff contenders Denny Hamlin and Chase Elliott, had accidents that put them deep in the field.

 

IHSA Volleyball Sectionals

1A at Milford

Milford vs DeLand Weldon 5:30

Blue Ridge vs Illinois Lutheran

 

2A at Watseka

St. Joe Ogden vs Seneca 6pm

Unity vs Herscher

 

3A at Mahomet Seymour

St. Thomas More vs Rochester 5:30

Mahomet Seymour vs Normal U-High 6:30

 

Tonight on WPXN it’s Fast Talk. Get the latest news in NASCAR from 6-7.

Then it’s the Lovie Smith Show from 7-8.

 

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