Illinois hosting Kansas in charity exhibition for Maui relief

Illinois and Kansas men’s basketball teams will come together for a charity exhibition game for Maui, Hawaii, wildfire relief efforts on Oct. 29, the programs announced Friday. Here’s what you need to know:

• All proceeds from the game will be donated to the Hawai’i Community Foundation Maui Strong Fund.
• The Illini and Jayhawks will tip off from State Farm Center at 6 p.m. ET.
• The game will be streamed on Big Ten Network.

The Athletic’s instant analysis:

Public preseason play for a good cause

Love seeing this. More teams have started to embrace playing a legit opponent during the preseason and doing so in public.

During the Michael Porter Jr. year at Missouri, it was Mizzou-Kansas in Kansas City. Last preseason it was Gonzaga-Tennessee playing in Texas. This is even better since it’s in an actual college arena. The charity part is great too.

Forget about secret scrimmages. Play these games in front of fans and raise money for a good cause.

Familiar faces to watch for

This gives a fun sneak peek at what should be the preseason No. 1 team in Kansas and an Illinois squad that will likely be somewhere in the teens in the preseason Top 25. These two teams played last year in a secret scrimmage and word was it was pretty even.

One other fun wrinkle besides the obvious return of Bill Self to the State Farm Center: Last time Hunter Dickinson was in Champaign it was a double-overtime thriller the Illini won and Dickinson went for 31. We also get to see the Illini’s Terrence Shannon against KU’s Kevin McCullar.

Both were teammates at Texas Tech and both were expected to spend just one year at their transfer destinations. They both surprisingly returned and should be two of the best wings in college hoops this year.

Required reading

(Photo: Michael Allio/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)