Welcome to basketball season!

Sansom Sports Media’s Gameday coverage will include a live blog for all Bearcat games this year!

1ST HALF LIVE THREAD:

Illinois wins the tip and find an open layup off of some defensive rotation to open the game. Ivisic follows it up with a corner three and Illinois is out to a 5-0 lead. Calhoun calls a timeout 45 seconds into the game.

Elamin and Ivisic trade 3’s out of the timeout.

Bearcats get out on the run after a missed shot from Illinois and Collins shows off some fancy handles to get to the rim and draw a foul. He goes 1-1 from the stripe and it’s 8-6 Illinois

First subs for the Illini: Vaaks and Jakstys come in.

Tejada comes in and immediately hits a 3 for the Bearcats. Illinois leads 13-9.

1H U16 TV Timeout: Illinois 13, Cincinnati 9

Out of the media timeout, things have been a bit sloppy. Just one point, Illinois hitting a free throw.

Allenspach, Mahafffey, and Colvin are in for UC.

For the illini, Big Z enters the game and gets called for a goaltend on a Colvin layup attempt.

The size of the Ivisic brothers has impacted practically every shot the Bearcats have taken tonight.

Since subbing in, Mahaffey has brought a ton of energy. On top of his 5 points, his defense has been solid and he grabbed a tough board on defense. Illinois leads 21-16 after a three from Z. Ivisic. 12;26 remaining 1H and they’re heading to timeout to review a foul on Cincinnati for potential upgrade. No upgrade. That was the U12 Media timeout.

Riley with a nice contested 3 followed by a missed layup and then a breakaway layup from Collins gets this game back to 23-21.

For the Illini, Stojakovic goes to the FT line and makes both. 10:23 remaining in the first.

MJ Collins then passes up an open corner 3 to take a dribble and then settle for a 17 footer which he misses. Illinois goes down and Vaaks gets a layup and the foul, pushing it back to 28-21.

Riley and Hastings got into a pick and roll where they were able to move T. Ivisic around and Hastings got open for a dunk. That’s the first true set i’ve seen where the Bearcats have been able to negate the bigs at all tonight. They need more of that.

Very next posession results in an Illinois turnoer and then a flagrant foul on Ivisic stopping the break. Riley made both and this game is back to 28-25.

A missed free throw from L. Williams for Illinois allowed UC to get on the break where Hastings got loose and put down a thunderous slam.

Bearcats lead 29-28 with 8:43 remaining.

U8 TV Timeout 1st Half: Illinois 33, Cincinnati 31.

Out of the TV timeout, Mahaffey with a steal that leads to a tough Tejada layup and gives UC a 34-33 lead.

Collins (Cincy) and Davis (Illinois) trade 3s. UC follows it up with a turnover and two missed buckets, Illinois with a QUICK 7-0 run after Brown hits a 3. 43-37 Illinois.

Illinois 12-0 run and Cincinnati calls a timeout! 45-37 Illinois.

Freshman Landon Davis might have been an absolute gem for Illinois this year. He’s holding his own here. Just blocked and Elamin 3 point attempt.

U4 Media Timeout: Illinois 45, Cincinnati 39

Illinois has hit two layups over the last 2 minutes to expand their lead to 49-39. 2:09 remaining in the first.

Hastings with a big dunk is a phrase I have a feeling Bearcat fans are going to hear a lot this season. He has 4 dunks tonight and is up to 8 points.

Stojakovic looks even more polished than last season, and he’s been incredibly efficient so far. He’ s 5-7 from the field, and is 6-6 from the line. He had a really nice jump stop, pivot and floater in the paint during this sequence. He has 16 points.

HALFTIME

First half takeaways:

• Illinois was a preseason 1 seed. Exhibitions don’t change that, but their length and athleticism reaffirmed my thoughts today.
• Stojakovic is a star for the Illini.
• Collins looks like he is trying to get back up to game speed a bit, but hasn’t been forcing shots for the Bearcats
• I’ve been extremely impressed with Tylen Riley over the 30 minutes of game action I’ve seen this year, he had 16 in the first half and was 6-9 from the field. That efficiency from the field and not relying on the stripe is something I wanted to see him consistently do this season.
• Hastings is going to try to break the backboard at every single opportunity this season.
• Illinois has done a great job of not fouling, while the Bearcats have fouled like crazy. The free throw difference cannot be 15 to 6 as it was in the first half.

2ND HALF LIVE THREAD:

The second half has started very similar to the end of the first. Illinois has started 2-4 from the field, while Cincinnati is 3-4. Collins, Carson and Elamin have scored for the Bearcats, while Coleman and Brown opened the scoring for the Illini. 59-55 17:43 remaining.

Stojakovic gets 2 free throws off a foul call that UC fans didn’t love when Hastings went up to block a dunk attempt. He’s up to 20 points.

Riley hits a 3 to bring it to 65-60 before Jake Davis gets a loose rebound to go up 7 again.

2H U16 Media Timeout: Illinois 67, Cincinnati 60

12:57 remaining, Illinois 69, Cincinnati 64. The game continues to be back and forth.

Rebounding has become a massive concern for the Bearcats. They trail 12-4 in the 2nd half on the glass. The final possession before the u12 timeout, Illinois grabbed 2 offensive boards and then drew a foul.

U12 Media Timeout 2H: Illinois 73, Cincinnati 63. 11:53 remaining | Illinois to the line for 2 out of the timeout.

Illinois made both, but has been stuck on 75 points since. Cincinnati has clamped down and it’s 75-68. Illinois has gotten very sloppy the the ball. T. Ivisic stepped inbounds before throwing the ball after a UC bucket, and overall they appear rushed.

A Riley Allenspach 3 brings the game to 75-71 before Illinois turns it over again. Illinois is up to 14 turnovers on the night.

Off a timeout for an injured official (Breeding), Riley forces another turnover from Illinois and gets fouled. He makes both and this is a 1 possession game!

Tylen Riley is special. He hits a tough fadeaway bucket at the shot clock buzzer and is up to 25 points. Illinois leads 77-75.

Jake Davis hits a huge 3 at the top of the key to get it back to 5 points, however, Riley answers.

Vaaks steps up on the next Illinois possession and hits a 3 from the wing. An Elamin layup and then a Coleman 3 puts Illinois up 86-79.

Illinois gets another offensive board and they are able to turn that into a 3 from Coleman. Illinois leads 89-79 with 4:51 remaining in the game. They’re on an 8-0 run and have every bit of the momentum right now.

Illinis grabs 2 offensive rebounds, including one off of a free throw attempt. That turns into a UC foul as they are fighing for a rebound. Coleman goes to the stripe and makes both.

David Iweze had a really nice sequence with 3:20 remaining. He went straight up on defense and did a great job getting back, grabbing an offensive rebound and putting it back in. Illinis leads 96-89 with 2:10 remaining after a Tyler Tejada three.

Illinois hits yet another three, this one from Brown. Elamin answers and it is 101-92 with 1:02 remaining. Underwood calls a timeout to set up defense and close out this game.

FINAL:

Illinois 105

Cincinnati 96

Starting 5 Cincinnati:

• Tylen Riley
• MJ Collins Jr
• Trevian Carson
• Adlan Elamin
• Jayden Hastings

Starting 5 Illinois:

• Stojakovic
• Coleman
• Ivisic
• Davis
• Brown