About two weeks ago, Illinois was fresh off a bounce-back win over then-No. 20 Wisconsin and sitting at 7-2 (1-1 Big Ten).

Even considering the previous Friday’s overtime loss to Northwestern – which hadn’t won a high-major game at that point – and the fact that Illinois had dropped out of the AP Top 25 poll, the Illini were still well-respected by the metrics, landing at No. 15 in the KenPom rankings.

Fast forward to present day, after the Illini have played two more games. A heart-breaking two-point home loss to No. 1 Tennessee and a commendable 80-77 neutral-site win over a 10-2 Missouri squad in St. Louis.

Naturally, one would think 40 competitive minutes against the top team in the country and a victory over a high-quality SEC team (especially in a rivalry game) would boost not only Illinois’ reputation but also its standing in metrics such as KenPom.

Actually, the opposite was the case.

In fact, Illinois dropped all the way to No. 23 – no longer even among the top five in the Big Ten (Maryland, Oregon, Michigan State, UCLA, and Michigan are all ranked above).

Even more surprising, this came during a time when the Illini’s defensive efficiency actually climbed, from 17th all the way up to 11th over the past two weeks.

The issue, as has been the case all season, lies on the other end of the floor.

Over that two-week stretch, Illinois’ offensive efficiency has fallen from 25th to 37th. Given that KenPom’s metrics use a combination of data from the box score and play-by-play, it’s likely that Illinois’ KenPom offensive efficiency has continued to falter due to its combined 40-for-108 shooting (37.0 percent) against Tennessee and Missouri.

It’s important to note that it is only late December and Illinois has played just two conference games, which means two things: 1) KenPom isn’t working with a great deal of data just yet, and 2) the Illini will get a boatload of opportunities to prove themselves moving forward.

And those opportunities are coming sooner rather than later, as Illinois gets its last tune-up game of the season against Chicago State on Sunday before diving head-first into conference play and kicking the New Year off with a matchup against No. 9 Oregon in Eugene on January 2.

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A 1,710-square-foot two-unit house built in 1969 has changed hands. The property located at 57 East Bay Path Terrace in Springfield was sold on Dec. 6, 2024. The $1,100,000 purchase price works out to $643 per square foot. This two-story duplex presents a total of four bedrooms and two bathrooms. The interior features just one fireplace. The property sits on a 5,022-square-foot lot.

Additional houses have recently been sold nearby:

• In December 2023, a 1,710-square-foot home on Humbert Street in Springfield sold for $318,000, a price per square foot of $186. The home has 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.
• On Cloran Street, Springfield, in December 2021, a 1,710-square-foot home was sold for $310,000, a price per square foot of $181. The home has 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.
• A 1,920-square-foot home at 37-39 Nathaniel Street in Springfield sold in January 2023, for $249,900, a price per square foot of $130. The home has 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.

Real Estate Newswire is a service provided by United Robots, which uses machine learning to generate analysis of data from Propmix, an aggregator of national real-estate data. See more Real Estate News

SPRINGFIELD — Edwin DeJesus was showing his holiday spirit on his sleeve, and his pants, as he and his mom tucked into a roast beef dinner at the High School of Commerce Christmas Day.

“It is a blessing,” DeJesus said, wearing a green shirt showing Snoopy’s doghouse decorated with Christmas lights, green Dr. Seuss’ Grinch pants and a bright red hat.