Green Street: Nonconference schedule hints

Welcome to "Green Street," your dose of women's college basketball news from Illini beat writer and AP Top 25 voter Joe Vozzelli. He'll offer up insight on Shauna Green's Illini team and the women's game at large every week on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

The Illinois women's basketball team's nonconference schedule is close to be finalized, Shauna Green said earlier this month. But the third-year Illini coach dropped a major hint about one of the marquee games her team will play this winter during a recent appearance on "Illini Pella Saturday SportsTalk" on WDWS.

Green said Illinois will play its home opener against an ACC team.

"That's going to be an important game to start out the year," Green said without offering any other specifics on the opponent. "It's at home and to have them come in here we could really set the tone for the year if we get the win there."

Florida State's website lists the Seminoles as playing the Illini on Nov. 7 at State Farm Center in Champaign. Florida State is coming off a 23-11 season last winter with a 12-6 mark in the ACC. The Seminoles have consistently made the NCAA tournament with 11 straight appearances (taking into the account the 2020 NCAA didn't take place amid the COVID-19 pandemic).

That game with an ACC opponent is one of "three really solid, fun home games that I think our fans are going to like," Green added.

The Illini have tipped off the first two seasons of the Green era against mid-major and low-major opponents, including an 81-61 home victory against Morehead State (Ohio Valley Conference) last year and a 75-40 rout of LIU (Northeast Conference) at State Farm Center in 2022.

Illinois has faced two ACC teams during Green's tenure. The Illini won 92-71 at Pittsburgh in Green's first season as part of the now-defunct Big Ten/ACC Challenge and followed that up with a 79-68 loss to then-No. 16 Notre Dame during last year's Citi Shamrock Classic in Washington, D.C.

Green said she expected Illinois' nonconference schedule to be announced "in the next couple weeks."

"I think that it's a good mix," Green said of the soon-to-be-released schedule, which will also see the Illini play another Power Five school during a tournament.

"Some challenging games but also you know with the Big Ten expanding (to 18 teams), on the women's side, the teams we're adding we have two top-five teams coming in to our conference in USC and UCLA," the Illini coach continued. "So we're going to have plenty of opportunities just in the Big Ten alone to have high-caliber games and opportunities for big wins. So I think you have to have a good mixture of not overscheduling nonconference but also preparing yourself and especially in a year like this where we're a veteran team we have to schedule right."