Top of the Morning, Oct. 22, 2026
Oct. 22—Notes from the newsroom — Voice of the Illini Brian Barnhart's 25th season on the men's basketball beat tips off Friday night when Brad Underwood's third-ranked team hosts Baylor in what is shaping up to be a sold-out exhibition at State Farm Center. Former Illini Deon Thomas, Doug Altenberger and Trent Meacham will join Barnhart on the radio call this season. At News-Gazette Facebook ...
Brian Barnhart embarks on his 25th season covering the men's basketball team of the Illini on Friday night. The third-ranked team will host Baylor, with the game expected to draw a packed house at State Farm Center. This season, Deon Thomas, Doug Altenberger, and Trent Meacham will join Barnhart on the radio broadcast.
News-Gazette's Facebook page will once again prompt fans to share their location, so their voices can be shared during the game. The audience's involvement in previous seasons has been commendable. Scott Richey has been covering the Illini for The News-Gazette for a decade. Since 2019, he has enriched his print work with a daily show, "Good Morning, Illini Nation," published at 6 a.m. on the website.
Overcoming a streak of 2,676 consecutive days of writing about college basketball, Richey's popular "Inside Illini Basketball" podcast has been a Monday tradition since 2018. In addition, he will now share preview and review videos from each Illini game on Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, and TikTok.
Written by urgent.news from Yahoo Sports's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
