The women’s Illinois basketball team continued to impress on Friday night with another big win.

Coming into the game, the Illini were 4-0 and had already beaten a top-25 program in Florida State and a good team in Marquette. We were on top of the world.

It would be understandable for a letdown game to happen. Illinois didn’t let it happen, though. We came out of the gates firing, and Oregon State didn’t have answers.

Illinois played well in both halves. We took a 10-point lead into the halftime locker room and quickly expanded on that lead in the third quarter. By the game’s end, Illinois managed to secure an 85-66 win over Oregon State.

Coming into the game on Friday night, Illinois has been able to hold their own when it comes to the rebounding department. But this wasn’t an easy matchup, as Oregon State is a good rebounding team as well.

Despite Oregon State having some great size, the Illini were tough on the boards. We were able to pull down rebounds at a rate that I was impressed with considering the opposing team had a 6-foot-7 center starting.

Illinois finished the game pulling down 36 rebounds compared to Oregon State’s 34 rebounds. Five of the 36 rebounds were on the offensive glass too, but we didn’t have a ton of opportunities considering the team shot 54.7% from the field.

The thing that impressed me the most about Illinois’ rebounding ability on Friday night was the size differential. Oregon State trotted out a 6-foot-7 center and a 6-foot-5 forward. We limited those two players to just 12 rebounds in 42 minutes of game action.

I think a big part of the great rebounding effort on the part of Illinois is the fact our frontcourt is strong and athletic. It is hard to move Kendall Bostic off her spot, and she does a great job boxing out. The same can be said for Brynn Shoup-Hill. Both players were quicker than anything Oregon State had in the frontcourt too.

Gainesville, Fla., – The No. 21 Florida Gators men’s basketball team cruised to a 93-68 win over Southern Illinois on Friday to stay undefeated in the 2024-25 season. They used a hot night offensively from senior Alijah Martin and Thomas Haugh to help ease to the finish line in this one. 

Florida started this game positively compared to their previous outings. They came out the gates easily putting the ball through the net, resulting in an early 9-2 lead over Southern Illinois by the 16-minute mark. 

However, things began to unravel over the next five to six minutes of the game. During this span, the Gators shot just 2-for-11 from the field, which allowed their opponents to cut the Gators’ lead to just one point. 

Fortunately, they began to find their rhythm and they did it in a very loud way. 

With around eight minutes left in the half until about the last two minutes, the Gators went on a 22-2 run with some crowd-pleasing plays from Martin and Alex Condon along the way. The first one came from a steal by Martin that was dished off to Denzel Aberdeen who then lobbed it to Condon for the easy slam in transition.

Then, on the next possession for Southern Illinois, the Gators came up with another steal that quickly made its way into Martin’s hands for a high-flying slam that got the crowd on its feet. 

After this big run, the Gators found themselves leading 41-17 over their opponents. 

This run really blew it wide open for Florida and by the final whistle of the first half, they were leading 46-25 over Southern Illinois. 

The Gators were led in this half by Martin and Thomas Haugh. Martin contributed 18 points, six rebounds, two assists and two steals. He was also 4-for-7 from 3. Haugh – the more surprising standout from the first half – was having his way offensively as well. The sophomore was 4-for-7 overall and 3-for-4 from 3. He also made both of his free throw attempts in the half, which gave him 13 first-half points.

The beginning of the half was dull for the Gators. The offense didn’t make its first basket until the 18-minute mark and it was a layup from Walter Clayton Jr. This stagnant play was short lived though. 

That is because Martin came alive for the Gators once again. The senior went unconscious from deep, hitting four consecutive 3’s for the Gators that included one from the logo with the shot clock expiring. By the end of his scoring tirade, the Gators led 67-38 over their opposition. 

Then, not too long after this, the Gator fans got their next highlight play. This time, it came from Haugh. The wing came flying in over the defense and got big for a putback slam to extend the Gators’ lead to 30. 

From here, the Gators were on cruise control. Southern Illinois had some stretches offensively, but never really threatened to come back in this one. In the end, Florida won 93-68 over Southern Illinois.

Alijah Martin was unstoppable in this one. He ended the game with 32 points on 11-for-19 shooting and 8-for-13 from behind the arc. He also brought down 8 rebounds and dished out five assists in this one. 

Also, Martin’s eight 3’s gave him a new career high in this category. Any time he let it fly, it felt like it was going in, he said after the game. 

“I just felt like every one of them was going in,” Martin said. 

Haugh, on the other hand, actually set a career-high in scoring against Southern Illinois. He poured in 19 points, shooting 6-for-10 overall and 3-for-5 from 3. He also was perfect from the line, hitting all four of his free throw attempts. 

His performance from behind the arc and at the charity stripe was great on the night and these were something he worked all summer on he said. 

“I worked on (3-point shooting) a lot,” Haugh said. “I didn’t shoot the ball the greatest at the beginning of the year, but teammates still trusted me. And just like starting to hopefully get into a rhythm here cause all the work hopefully going to show soon.”

It’s a long break until the Gators return to action. Their next game isn’t until next Thursday when they take on Wake Forest at the ESPN Events Invitational. That game is slated for a 2:30 p.m. tipoff in Orlando and will be televised on ESPN. 

A new report calls for making state standardized tests more useful for teachers and students and for the state to help school districts pay to repair and renovate school buildings, among other sweeping recommendations.

Officials from several state education associations, including the Illinois Association of School Boards and the Illinois Association of Principals, came together to develop Vision 2030. It tackles four areas: keeping students safe, getting high-quality educators into the classroom, enhancing postsecondary success and improving how the state evaluates schools.

The report offers up specific suggestions the authors hope will help shape policy for years to come.

It builds on its predecessor, Vision 2020, which was the first report of its kind. That laid the groundwork for the state to reform the way it distributes money to schools — from an outdated formula to one of the most equitable in the country, said Kristopher Monn, executive director of the Illinois Association of Business Officials.

Vision 2030 says the state should continue pumping an additional $350 million into the “evidence-based” funding formula, as it has since 2018. The report asserts school districts need that kind of predicability when it comes to funding for building repairs.

“We have not made significant investments, year over year, in establishing equitable statewide funding for capital and safety needs,” Monn said. “Some of the suggestions are increasing access to state maintenance grants and perhaps exploring a statewide sales tax, similar to some county sales taxes.”

The officials also recommend a host of changes to the state’s assessment and school rating system. Currently, students only take one set of tests at the end of the year; ratings, such as exemplary or commendable, are based heavily on the results of those exams. While students take the tests in the spring, schools don’t get the results until the fall.

The delay in getting the scores “really impacts the utility of those results and makes it difficult for us to make any real, quality decisions about improving our schools and the potential outcomes for our kids,” said Jason Leahy, executive director of the Illinois Principals Association.

The report calls for teachers to get the results more quickly, perhaps in real time, even if they are preliminary.

Leahy said the officials would like some flexibility in school ratings, so they are not weighted so heavily on test results and can factor in other features that communities believe are important.

The officials also want to make sure the state standards used to determine if students are proficient in reading and math are in line with national norms. A study found that Illinois’ proficiency standards are some of the highest in the nation. Leahy said that is important to him as a parent.

The education leaders also said state mandates need to be streamlined. The school code has doubled in size since 2000, and many new rules come with associated costs. Leahy said every new mandate takes away from something else the school district is focused on or paying for, so lawmakers need to be careful.

Sarah Karp covers education for WBEZ. Follow her on X @WBEZeducation and @sskedreporter.