Welcome to “Good Morning, Illini Nation,” your daily dose of college basketball news from Illini beat writer and AP Top 25 voter Scott Richey. He’ll offer up insights every morning on Brad Underwood’s team and college basketball at large:
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Illinois doesn’t have much of a connection to the Olympics. At least when it comes to basketball. Deron Williams is the only former Illini to play in the summer games, which just wrapped their 33rd iteration Sunday in Paris.
But at least Williams was successful. The one-time Illinois guard turned first-round draft pick and three-time all-star won gold with Team USA at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics. The closest any other former Illini got was at the FIBA World Championship with Tal Brody playing for Team USA in 1967 and 1970, Rick Schmidt winning bronze in 1974 and Kiwane Garris also winning bronze in 1998 (which came during the NBA lockout).
The future of Illinois basketball and the Olympics might play out in 2028 in Los Angeles. Of course, it’s doubtful the Illini will have anyone on Team USA. Ayo Dosunmu and Terrence Shannon Jr., at least as things stand now, don’t project to be on that roster.
Will Riley? Kasparas Jakucionis? Tomislav Ivisic? That could be a different story.
Canada has a growing wealth of talent to pull from, but a 22-year-old Riley might have a chance to be the “young guy” on that team. That is if he follows the five-star path he’s currently on.
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Jakucionis is already considered one of the best young guards in Europe and has played for Lithuanian at every other level. It doesn’t seem like a stretch to think he could play for “The Boogeyman from the East” should Lithuania qualify (they didn’t this Olympics).
The same is true for Ivisic with Croatia. He already got some senior national team experience in the FIBA EuroBasket 2025 Pre-Qualifiers last year. He’ll also be 24, turning 25, when the 2028 games happen and perhaps ready to assume a bigger role alongside his twin brother, Zvonimir.
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Tuesday rebuffed the Trump administration over its plan to deploy National Guard troops in Illinois over the strenuous objections of local officials.
The court in an unsigned order turned away an emergency request made by the administration, which said the troops are needed to protect federal agents involved in immigration enforcement in the Chicago area.
Although the decision is a preliminary one involving only Chicago, it will likely bolster similar challenges made to National Guard deployments in other cities, with the opinion setting significant new limits on the president’s ability to do so.
The decision marked a rare defeat for President Donald Trump at the Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, after the administration secured a series of high-profile wins this year.
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In doing so, the court at least provisionally rejected the Trump administration’s view that the situation on the ground is so chaotic that it justifies invoking a federal law that allows the president to call National Guard troops into federal service in extreme situations.
Those circumstances can include when “there is a rebellion or danger of a rebellion” or “the president is unable with the regular forces to execute the laws of the United States.”
The court ruled against the administration on a threshold question, finding that the law’s reference to the “regular forces” only allows for the National Guard to be called up if regular military forces are unable to restore order.
The court order said that Trump could only call up the military where they could “legally execute the laws” and that power is limited under another law called the Posse Comitatus Act.
“At this preliminary stage, the Government has failed to identify a source of authority that would allow the military to execute the laws in Illinois,” the court said.
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As a result, the Trump administration has failed to show that the National Guard law “permits the President to federalize the Guard in the exercise of inherent authority to protect federal personnel and property in Illinois,” the court added.
The decision saw the court’s six conservative justices split, with three in the majority and three in dissent. The court’s three liberals were in the majority.
The dissenters were Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch.
“I have serious doubts about the correctness of the court’s views. And I strongly disagree with the manner in which the court has disposed of this application,” Alito wrote in a dissenting opinion.
“There is no basis for rejecting the President’s determination that he was unable to execute the federal immigration laws using the civilian law enforcement resources at his command,” he added.
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Trump’s unusual move to deploy the National Guard, characteristic of his aggressive and unprecedented use of executive power, was based on his administration’s stated assessment that the Chicago area was descending into lawless chaos.
That view of protests against surging immigration enforcement actions in Chicago is rejected by local officials as well as judges who have ruled against the administration.
The deployment was challenged in court by the Democratic-led state of Illinois and the city of Chicago, with their lawyers saying Trump had an ulterior motive for the deployment: to punish his political opponents.
They argued in court papers that Trump’s invocation of the federal law was not justified and that his actions also violated the Constitution’s 10th Amendment, which places limits on federal power, as well as the Posse Comitatus Act, which generally bars the military from conducting law enforcement duties.
U.S. District Judge April Perry said she “found no credible evidence that there is a danger of rebellion” and issued a temporary restraining order in favor of the state.
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The Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals largely reached the same conclusion, saying “the facts do not justify the president’s actions.”
The court did narrow Perry’s order, saying that Trump could federalize the troops, but could not deploy them.
The Supreme Court has frequently ruled in Trump’s favor in recent months as the administration has rushed to the justices when policies are blocked by lower courts.
Trump’s efforts to impose federal control over cities led by Democrats who vociferously oppose his presidency are not just limited to Chicago. He has also sought to deploy the National Guard in the District of Columbia, Los Angeles and Portland, Oregon.
Most recently, hundreds of National Guard troops deployed in Illinois and Oregon were set to return to their home states.
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The deployment in the District of Columbia, which is a federal enclave with less local control, has been challenged in court, but there has been no ruling yet.
A federal appeals court allowed the Los Angeles deployment, and a different panel of judges on Oct. 20 ruled similarly in relation to Portland.
ST. LOUIS — Dennis Gates’ eyebrows raised when he heard the word choice of “struggles” in a question regarding a recent drop off in perimeter offense for Missouri that was evident in a loss to Illinois.
“You said ‘struggles’?” Gates asked.
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“You know, I can’t wait to get healthy as a team,” Gates said to answer the question.
With three of its players injured, Missouri suffered a 91-48 loss to No. 20 Illinois on Monday. It’s the lowest-scoring performance in any game in the Gates era. It’s the lowest-scoring output for Missouri in the series since a matchup in the 1943-44 season.
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There’s no way to sugarcoat how poor of a performance it was for the Tigers. The cracks in the foundation that have been popping since the season opener at Howard are continuing to break through even more.
But Gates believes returning those thee players will begin to patch up those cracks and get Missouri closer to its full potential.
“It’s like pieces of puzzles,” Gates said. “Our entire team has been put together a certain way. … So we have guys playing playing well, but playing out of position due to our injuries, and ultimately, I’m excited about getting healthy. You cannot ask our players to do more than what they’ve done. I take it on my shoulders, as the leader, as the head coach, it’s on me. This game is on me.”
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The most impactful of the absences has been guard Jayden Stone, who has now missed each of the last seven games with a hand injury. He provided a scoring spark off the bench, including from the perimeter, when he was healthy. His initial timeline for return set him to return to the court for SEC play at the latest.
Meanwhile, forward Trent Pierce has missed the entirety of his junior season so far with an undisclosed injury. No specific timeline has been given for his return.
Additionally, Missouri faced another surprising hit against the Fighting Illini with forward Jevon Porter missing the game with a leg injury.
Between Stone and Porter, Missouri is missing a combined average of 19.2 points and 8.5 rebounds per game. Plus the length of Pierce, who started in 19 games last season.
Gates believes Missouri is hurting not only from the absence of those three players alone, but also from the domino effect it is having on the lineups. Specifically with the offensive spacing that Stone brings that creates opportunities for other players on the offense.
“When you lose a guy (Pierce) that has not played this season and he’s a starter in the SEC, that’s a (missing) advantage with length, shooting ability,” Gates said. “Jayden Stone, the same way, look at his percentage. You have to have both Stone and (Jacob) Crews in the game to open up things.”
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Dec22, 2025; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; Missouri Tigers forward Jacob Crews (35) high fives guard T.O. Barrett (35) during the first half of a game against the Illinois Fighting Illini at the Enterprise Center. | Sam Simon/MissouriOnSi
The injuries have forced other players into roles not originally expected, stretching the roster thin.
“But in the meantime, in the process of getting healthy, we got to have guys fill in the blanks and be utility guys and do something that we may not have planned for you to do,” Gates said. “Some may take the opportunity as a way to get on the court, some may not.”
Gates specifically highlighted wanting the guys who were being asked to do more to do a better job of defending the 3-point line, where Illinois shot 45% from. He also highlighted wanting center Luke Northweather to be more agressive offensively in Porter’s absence.
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Monday night’s absence for Porter meant more opportunities for true freshman forward Nicholas Randall, who appeared in 13 minutes. He grabbed two rebounds in that time.
But Porter and Pierce’s absence was still painfully obvious on the glass. Missouri was out-rebounded 43-24 and gave up 29 second-chance points while only scoring five of their own, a key disparity in the loss. The dominance on the glass for Illinois was crucial to the Fighting Illini going on a 14-5 run to end the first half. Gates attributed the second-chance points to Illinois being able to execute consistently on the opportunities and Missouri getting out of rotation too often.
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“The second-chance points that we gave up, they executed on every single one of them, and that’s what hurt us,” Gates said. “That’s what ignited their run. And I just thought our guys at that point, hit a wall.”
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Gates isn’t letting the injuries, nor Monday’s blowout loss affect his perception of what the team is capable of. With optimism that at least Stone and Porter could return at the start of SEC play, he’s hoping his team will look closer to the original picture he had in mind.
“I think our team is a good team, man,” Gates said. “We can win games as we have, without certain guys, and we’ll continue to piece it together.”
That piecing together will need to come quick. In non-conference play, Missouri did not earn any sort of notch for a possible bid in the NCAA Tournament. Though the Tigers finish the slate 10-3, Missouri went 1-3 against high-major opponents in that. The loss to Illinois was one that draws even more questions on what the Tigers are truly capable of this season.
