Illinois
Why did Greg Gard wear a blonde wig to celebrate Wisconsin’s win?
Wisconsin coach Greg Gard comments on Badgers’ upset win over Illinois
Wisconsin coach Greg Gard said that Illinois is a ‘heck of a team,’ and the Badgers are ‘growing into a heck of a team, too.’
“The hair goes home sad. The Badgers go home happy.”
That was the message posted to the University of Wisconsin men’s basketball X account, along with a video showing coach Greg Gard donning a blonde wig as he ran into the postgame locker room Feb. 10.
The celebration came moments after UW upset No. 8 Illinois, 92-90, in Champaign, Illinois.
While Gard has a history of similar locker-room entrances after big wins, you may be wondering about the wig in this one — although, if you watched the game broadcast, you saw that wig plenty of times.
Gard was stealing a bit from Illinois student fans, many of whom were adorned in blonde wigs at the game as part of a “Jake Davis Wig Giveaway.”
Davis, a junior starter who’s seen his role increase considerably in past weeks, happens to have flowing blonde locks for real. He averages 5.5 points and 2.0 rebounds per game.
Leading up the game, Illinois coach Brad Underwood was among those donning a wig to promote the night.
Illinois was missing two of its top scorers in the game, pushing Davis to a season-high 37 minutes against Wisconsin, and he finished with 11 points and five boards.
His presence on the floor gave wigged-out Illinois fans lots to cheer about during the game, but Wisconsin’s rally to win in overtime soured the mood.
(This story was updated to add a photo gallery.)
PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD) — Multiple rounds of severe storms impacted central Illinois on Wednesday bringing damaging wind gusts and very heavy rain. Our area was sparred from the worst of the tornadoes, but areas south of I-72 were not so fortunate with damage to homes and injuries reported.
An outflow boundary from our morning storms struggled to get any further north than highway 136, which was about 30 miles south of what was anticipated early this morning. This kept the risk of strong tornadoes just south of our local region, though we still had plenty of rain and instances of large hail and gusty winds roll through central Illinois.
The worst of the wind came with the storms in the morning. As the severe storms moved through the area they produced measured gust of 60-70 mph with localized gusts estimated to be around 80 mph. The winds resulted in tree, powerline, and structural damage from Knox through McLean County.
Storm Reports
Galesburg – Tree and power line damage
Williamsfield – Roof partially torn off building
Princeville – Tree damage
Dunlap – 60 mph wind gust
Bellevue – 60 mph wind gust
Germantown Hills – Trees down
Roanoke – 60 mph wind gust
El Paso – Power poles snapped
El Paso – Multiple semis and campers rolled on I-39
Gidley – 70 mph wind gust
Chenoa – Semi rolled on I-55
Dunlap – 1.0″ size hail
Metamora – 1.0″ size hail
Armington – 1.0″ size hail
Rain reports
West Peoria – 4.37″
Lexington – 4.00″
West Peoria – 3.98″
Washington – 3.97″
East Peoria – 3.47″
Dunlap – 3.40″
Goodfield – 2.47″
Towanda – 2.43″
Peoria (PIA) – 2.24″
Lewistown – 2.20″
Galesburg – 1.84″
Chillicothe – 1.52″
Pontiac – 1.27″
Historic tree dating back to Abraham Lincoln damaged in Springfield
It may be the last living tree standing when Abraham Lincoln and his family lived in the Springfield neighborhood from 1844 to 1861.
More than 30,000 Illinois residents reported power outages Wednesday morning amid severe storms and destructive winds.
The National Weather Service forecast two rounds of severe weather throughout the day, issuing a tornado watch early Wednesday morning across central Illinois.
Where were power outages reported in Illinois?
More than 35,000 of the more than 5.8 million customers tracked on PowerOutage.com reported outages Wednesday, as of noon.
The majority of these outages were concentrated in west-central Illinois in Warren, Henderson and Woodford counties.
More than 93% of the customers tracked in Henderson County and nearly 60% of those in Warren County were impacted by outages.
Less widespread outages were also reported in DeKalb, Mercer, Knox, Menard, Jefferson and Gallatin counties.
Electric service company Amaren was by far the most impacted utility provider, followed Commonwealth Edison Company and Corn Belt Energy Corporation.
Illinois power outage map
Report power outages in Illinois
Illinois residents can report power outages in their area at PowerOutage.com.
Illinois power outage tracker
To track where power outages have been reported and where they have been restored, follow the USA Today power outage tracker.
Chicago weather radar
Central Illinois weather radar
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