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TheIllinois–Iowa rivalry is a college multi-sport rivalry between theUniversity of IllinoisFighting Illini and theUniversity of IowaHawkeyes. While the bordering-state schools compete against each other in many different sports, the rivalry is most prominent in men'sbasketball andfootball.[1][2][3][4] Both schools have been long-time members of theBig Ten Conference, with Illinois serving as a founding member of the conference in 1896 and Iowa joining in 1900.[5]
| Sport | College basketball |
|---|---|
| First meeting | February 14, 1908 Iowa 46 – Illinois 36 |
| Latest meeting | March 13, 2025 Illinois 106 – Iowa 94 |
| Stadiums | State Farm Center,Carver–Hawkeye Arena |
| Statistics | |
| Meetings total | 171 |
| All-time series | Illinois leads, 94–77 |
| Largest victory | Illinois, 118–85 (1990) |
| Longest win streak | Illinois, 7 (2008–2012) |
| Current win streak | Illinois, 4 (2024–present) |
TheIllinois–Iowa men's basketball rivalry is an intra-Big Ten Conference, college basketballrivalry between theIllinois Fighting Illini andIowa Hawkeyes. Multiple factors have played into the creation of the games between the two schools; Illinois and Iowa share a state border and are located about 242 miles (389 km) apart, and they share recruiting ground. The rivalry has been evidenced both on the court and off the court. Among the off the court elements of the rivalry, recruiting of basketball talent has resulted in battles for specific athletes. The most notable battle turned into thePearl/Thomas Incident which began when both schools sought the services ofDeon Thomas and resulted in recruiting restrictions and a one-year post-season ban for Illinois.[6]
Illinois and Iowa first met on February 14, 1908 with an Iowa victory, 46–36. The teams would not meet again until 1913 inUrbana, Illinois, however, after 1924 the teams would play every year with the exception of six seasons. Since the two teams are both in theBig Ten Conference, they meet at least once per season. The location of the game alternates betweenState Farm Center, formerly Assembly Hall, inChampaign, and inIowa City atCarver-Hawkeye Arena. There have been a total of six neutral site games in this series. Illinois leads the series 94-77.
In 1986 head coachTom Davis took over an Iowa team fromGeorge Raveling that included two key forwards,Ed Horton andKevin Gamble, each fromLanphier High School inSpringfield, Illinois. Utilizing the success of those players,Bruce Pearl, assistant coach and key recruiter for Iowa, was working the state ofIllinois to acquireDeon Thomas, a highly talentedChicago Public League player fromSimeon High School. Simultaneously,Jimmy Collins, assistant coach toLou Henson and the Fighting Illini, was also attempting to acquire Thomas. Pearl brought allegations to theNCAA that Illinois assistant coaches had acted improperly in the recruitment of Thomas, including secretly tape-recorded phone conversations with Thomas that were used in the investigation. While the allegations of improper conduct were unfounded by the NCAA, the investigation did uncover other violations that cost the University of Illinois with restrictions in football and basketball in the manner of limiting scholarships, recruiting and tournament participation.[7][8][9]
In a game played in Iowa City on February 2, 2020, after an intensely physical game which saw 14 lead-changes and 8 ties, the Hawkeyes would come out on top with a final score of 72–65.[10] During the closing seconds of the game, with Illinois' defense willing to let the final 12 seconds expire, sophomore guardJoe Wieskamp dunked to extend the Iowa lead to 10 points. This appeared to agitate the Illini players and, after a 3-point field goal by Illinois guardAyo Dosunmu, with four seconds left, the Hawkeyes in-bounded the ball toCJ Fredrick and it appeared that Illinois was trying to intentionally foul. Fredrick kicked it out toConnor McCaffery, who was hugged by Dosunmu.Mike Eades, an official for the game, elected not to call the foul as the clock expired. The exchanges between both teams spilled over into the post-game handshake line when Illinois assistant coachRon Coleman took exception to Joe Wieskamp's dunk with 12 seconds left to give the Hawkeyes a double-digit lead. Coleman shouted profanities in the direction of coach McCaffery, leading the coach to shout back at Coleman and instruct his Hawkeyes to head to the locker room, skipping the handshake line. The Illini staff eventually held their players near the scorer's table to let the Iowa players get to the tunnel to the locker room and off the court.[11][12]
On February 1, 2023, a student spirit group known as"Orange Krush" from the University of Illinois, had 200 tickets to the game taking place on February 4, 2023 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, rescinded with the $5,400 purchase price returned to the organization. The reason for the denial was due to the leader of theOrange Krush claiming they were being purchased for theBoys and Girls Club of Champaign, a non-profit organization who would get a discounted rate for the 200 tickets. The Iowa Athletic Department deemed this purchase to be under false pretenses, allowing them the right to deny theOrange Krush the opportunity to enter the game and barcodes for the tickets blocked, thus denying them the attempt to make the 20th annual road trip for the group. Because the order was made in September 2022, theOrange Krush had procured donations that could be utilized for charter bus transportation from Champaign to Iowa City. The denial of entry cost theOrange Krush $6,000 that had been paid towards the prearranged transportation. As for the 200 tickets retained by the Iowa Athletic Department, those were donated to the Boys and Girls Club of Cedar Rapids.[13]
Occasional feuds and incidents between the schools' programs have fueled the competition over the years. Neither team has the advantage in the history of theBig Ten tournament. Of the 20+ years the conference tournament has been held, Illinois and Iowa have played a total of six times, with each team winning three games. In the2016 Big Ten tournament the Hawkeyes were the fifth seed and the Illini, who were seeded twelfth, faced each other in the second round with Illinois upsetting Iowa 68–66.[14] Illinois and Iowa squared off in the2021 Big Ten tournament semi-final where Illinois would win and later go on to win their third tournament title.
The following summarizes the accomplishments of the two programs.
| Team | Illinois | Iowa |
|---|---|---|
| National titles[15][16] | 0 | 0 |
| Final Four appearances[17][18] | 5 | 3 |
| NCAA Tournament appearances[17][18] | 34 | 29 |
| NCAA Tournament record[17][18] | 45-35 | 31-31 |
| Big Ten tournament titles[19] | 4 | 3 |
| Big Ten regular season titles[20] | 18 | 8 |
| Consensus First Team All-Americans[21] | 16 | 4 |
| Naismith Players of the Year[22] | 0 | 1 |
| Big Ten Players of the Year[23] | 3 | 1 |
| Big Ten Medal of Honor Recipients[24] | 19 | 18 |
| All-time program record[17][18] | 1876-1054 | 1740-1217-1 |
| All-time winning percentage[17][18] | .640 | .588 |
(Rankings are fromAP Poll)[19]
Winning team is shown. Ranking of the team at the time of the game by the AP poll is shown under the team name.
| Date | Illinois rank | Iowa rank | Winner | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| February 9, 1952 | 3 | 9 | Iowa | 73–68 |
| February 23, 1952 | 5 | 4 | Illinois | 78–62 |
| January 17, 1955 | 7 | 19 | Iowa | 92–80 |
| February 21, 1955 | 14 | 15 | Iowa | 85–77 |
| March 3, 1956 | 2 | 10 | Iowa | 96–72 |
| January 3, 1980 | 20 | 10 | Iowa | 72–71 |
| February 7, 1981 | 18 | 15 | Iowa | 72–66 |
| January 14, 1987 | 8 | 2 | Iowa | 91–88OT |
| February 14, 1987 | 11 | 4 | Iowa | 66–61 |
| January 21, 1988 | 13 | 19 | Iowa | 93–79 |
| February 5, 1989 | 2 | 9 | Iowa | 86–82 |
| March 8, 1989 | 4 | 15 | Illinois | 118–94 |
| January 15, 2002 | 11 | 17 | Illinois | 77–66 |
| January 20, 2005 | 1 | 23 | Illinois | 73–68OT |
| February 25, 2006 | 8 | 20 | Illinois | 71–59 |
| February 2, 2020 | 19 | 18 | Iowa | 72–65 |
| March 8, 2020 | 23 | 18 | Illinois | 78–76 |
| January 29, 2021 | 19 | 7 | Illinois | 80–75 |
| March 13, 2021 | 3 | 5 | Illinois | 82–71 |
| March 6, 2022 | 20 | 24 | Illinois | 74–72 |
Winning team is shown. Ranking of the team at the time of the game by the AP poll is shown by the team name.
| Illinois victories | Iowa victories | Tie games |
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| Sport | American football |
|---|---|
| First meeting | November 30, 1899 Iowa, 58–0 |
| Latest meeting | November 18, 2023 Iowa, 15–13 |
| Next meeting | 2026 |
| Trophy | None |
| Statistics | |
| Meetings total | 79 |
| All-time series | Illinois leads, 39–38–2 |
| Largest victory | Illinois, 80–0 (1902) |
| Longest win streak | Illinois, 12 (1942–67) |
| Current win streak | Iowa, 1 (2023–present) |
TheIllinois–Iowa football rivalry is an Americancollege football rivalry game between theIllinois Fighting Illini andIowa Hawkeyes.[27][28][29] The series dates back to the first meeting in 1899 and has been played 79 times.[30][31] When the Big Ten split into non-geographical "Leaders" and "Legends" divisions in 2011,[32] The Illini and Hawkeyes were placed in opposite divisions and weren't designated as protected annual cross-divisional so the series became intermittent again.[33] However, in 2014, the conference scrapped that divisional format in favor of a more geographically friendly "East" and West" divisional arrangement.[34] In so doing, the Big Ten placed both Illinois and Iowa in the West division which revived the annual rivalry once again.[35][36]
Perhaps the 1952 game is the most notable matchup in the history of the football rivalry.[37] Illinois won 33–13, but the game is more known for egregious Hawkeye penalties, angry Iowa fans throwing apples at Illini football players and a punch thrown between players on both teams that lead to the Big Ten suspending the series indefinitely.[38] The conference would not lift the indefinite suspension until 1967, the longest break in the history of the football rivalry.[39][40]
| Illinois victories | Iowa victories | Tie games |
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Game results sources:[41][42][43]
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