LIVE BLOG: 7:44 left - Illinois 78, North Carolina A&T 52

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Welcome once again to the State Farm Center where Illinois (8-4) will host North Carolina A&T (3-10) in the non-conference finale before the Illini jump back into Big Ten Conference play after we switch the calendar to 2020.

I'm LOOKING LIVE...at the State Farm Center media room in Champaign, Ill., as we're about a few minutes from the opening tip.

NOTE: Please join us as we live-blog and discuss the Illini game here in our weekly Illini Gameday Open Thread. Dive into the conversation — it's easy — by simply going to the top right of the redesigned site and click the follow button.

You can log in with Facebook or Google and either way, it's free. That's right...IT'S FREE. From there, sound off in the comment section and share your reactions and observations with our staff and fellow members of the Illini Maven/Sports Illustrated community as we keep you up to date of the game in real-time.

------------------

Before every game of the 2019-20 season, we’ll take a look a quick looks at things before the tip.

Game 13: North Carolina A&T at Illinois

Date/Time/Place: Saturday, Dec. 14, 2019: 5 p.m. CST, State Farm Center in Champaign, Ill.

Capacity: 16,618

Records: Old Dominion 3-10, 0-0 in Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference; 19-13, ‎13-3 in MEAC in 2018-19. Illinois 8-4, 1-1 in Big Ten; 12-21, 7-13 in Big Ten in 2018-19.

Line: Illinois by 24.5

Series notes: First meeting between the two schools.

TV: ESPNU – Alex Perlman (PBP), David Padgett (Analyst)

Radio (Illinois): Scott Beatty (Play-By-Play), Doug Altenberger (Analyst) . The broadcast can be heard live on TuneIn online radio, Sirius/XM 974 and at FightingIllini.com.

-----------------

Here is the league's lineup of games for tonight:

Bryant at No. 13 Maryland - IN PROGRESS

Cornell at Penn State - IN PROGRESS

No. 22 West Virginia at No. 2 Ohio State - IN PROGRESS

Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at Nebraska - 1 p.m.

UMass-Lowell at No. 11 Michigan - 1 p.m.

Kennesaw State at Iowa - 3 p.m.

Hartford at Northwestern - 3 p.m.

Arkansas at Indiana - 5 p.m.

Western Michigan at No. 14 Michigan State - 7 p.m.

-------------------

----------------

UPDATE: With the entire Illini band in California today, the Monticello High School band will be the interim pep band today for this basketball game vs. North Carolina A&T.

--------

MEDIA TIMEOUT: 14:52 left in 1st - Illinois 8, North Carolina A&T 7 - Ball is still sticking for Illini as North Carolina A&T has switched zone defenses in this first segment.

---------

MEDIA TIMEOUT: 11:56 left in 1st - Illinois 16, North Carolina A&T 8 - Illinois has held A&T without a field goal for four minutes. Ayo Dosunmu has five points and seems to be the only guard interested in moving the ball.

----------

MEDIA TIMEOUT: 7:51 left in 1st - Illinois 27, North Carolina A&T 19 - Illinois with 14 points in the paint. Underwood frustrated with his team's lack of talking (he's had to yell out sets and call out screens) - too many soft speakers on this team.

------------

A&T TIMEOUT: 6:01 left in 1st - Illinois 34, North Carolina A&T 21 - Everything looks better when shots are falling. Illini are 5 of 11 from 3-point range and already have seven points from the bench.

---------

MEDIA TIMEOUT: 3:43 left in 1st - Illinois 41, North Carolina A&T 23 - After being shut out in St. Louis, Feliz with seven points already today. Illini with 14 points off turnovers.

--------

ILLINI TIMEOUT: 41. 7 left in 1st - Illinois 48, North Carolina A&T 34 - Kofi Cockburn dominating down low. If Illinois rotates the ball and Cockburn gets the proper seal, the possession should be easy.

-----------

HALFTIME: Illinois 50, North Carolina A&T 34 - Illini are 6 of 14 from 3-point range and Kofi Cockburn has 14 points in 16 minutes. North Carolina A&T killing itself with turnovers as nine of them has resulted in 16 Illini points.

--------------

MEDIA TIMEOUT: 15:34 left - Illinois 63, North Carolina A&T 43 - Kofi Cockburn gets 22 points and seven rebounds today. Points off turnovers: Illini 18, A&T 1.

------------

MEDIA TIMEOUT: 12:28 left - Illinois 70, North Carolina A&T 43 - North Carolina A&T has scored for the last 3:20 of this game and Illinois is 8 of 19 from 3-point range.

------------

ILLINI TIMEOUT: 7:44 left - Illinois 78, North Carolina A&T 52 - Illini has 44 points in the paint and have forced 17 turnovers today.

Add us as a preferred source on Google