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Sports Editor Matt Daniels with a look at what’s going on around the area:
Barry Houser and the Marching Illini will appear Monday night at the Esquire in downtown Champaign for ‘Monday Night SportsTalk,’ from 5-6 p.m. on WDWS 1400-AM and 93.9-FM.
Three reasons we love sports today
➜ 1. Marching Illini director Barry Houser and 40 members of the Illinois band will stop by the Esquire in downtown Champaign for ‘Monday Night SportsTalk,’ from 5-6 p.m. Should be a festive, entertaining night, so come on out and join us. If you can’t make it, tune in on WDWS 1400-AM and 93.9-FM.
➜ 2. After watching the Marching Illini in action Monday night, head to State Farm Center. The Illinois women’s basketball team (14-5, 4-4 Big Ten) hosts Purdue (7-12, 0-8) at 7:30 p.m. in the Illini’s last home game until Feb. 6.
➜ 3. The Bismarck-Henning/Rossville-Alvin boys’ basketball team is still unbeaten at 22-0 following its Vermilion County Tournament title on Saturday night.
After moving past Verdell Jones III on Saturday night, Chris Bush now just trails Ted Beach, Ted Finke and Clyde Turner among the Champaign Central boys’ basketball all-time leading scorers.
Numbers game: 1,388
career points Champaign Central senior forward Chris Bush has going into the Maroons’ game on Tuesday night at Decatur MacArthur. The total ranks fourth in Central’s history, with Bush only trailing Clyde Turner (1,805 points from 1966-69), Tim Finke (1,698 points from 2015-18) and Ted Beach (1,551 points from 1944-47). Bush surpassed Verdell Jones III and his 1,382 career points on Saturday night during Central’s 54-51 overtime loss against Teutopolis in the third-place game of the Salem Invitational.
Evan Piercy and the rest of his Centennial boys’ swimming teammates will try to win a Twin City title on Tuesday night in Urbana.
Crowd control
Three events I’m paying attention to
➜ 1. Twin City boys’ swimming and diving meet. Centennial, Champaign Central and Urbana will vie for C-U bragging rights in the pool when the annual event takes place Tuesday evening at the Urbana Indoor Aquatic Center. The diving portion begins at 4 p.m., followed by the swimming at 6 p.m.
➜ 2. Bloomington Central Catholic at Unity boys’ basketball. Unity (16-6) tries to extend its win streak to nine games when it hosts the Saints (11-10) on Tuesday night during an intriguing Illini Prairie Conference game at the Rocket Center in Tolono.
➜ 3. Illinois at Rutgers women’s basketball. A chance for Illinois to pad its win column this week against some of the bottom teams in the Big Ten. Like Rutgers on Thursday night. The Scarlet Knights are just 9-12 on the season and 1-9 in the Big Ten, with their first Big Ten win happening Sunday against Penn State.
Fisher golf coach Ben Gearman
Coach’s corner
Three questions with Fisher golf coach Ben Gearman:
âžœ 1. My favorite sports team is … the Chicago Bears.
âžœ 2. Three coaches I’d like to have dinner with are … Mike Ditka, Ozzie Guillen and Joel Queenville. All three were successful and natural leaders.
âžœ 3. My biggest pet peeve is … 4-foot putts. I always go in with too much confidence and leave disappointed.