Riley Minix Has Full Confidence In His Team Ahead Of Matchup Against Illinois

Morehead State star Riley Minix believes in his team's chances to take down No. 3 seed Illinois on Thursday

Star Riley Minix and the Morehead State Eagles are facing off with the Illinois Fighting Illini on Thursday with full confidence in their chances of walking away victorious.

Despite the Eagles' unlikely odds of winning as a No. 14 seed, Minix has complete faith in his team.

"I just feel like going into every game when we're playing together, we're having fun, we trust each other," Minix said on Wednesday. "We feel like we were made for this, and we're all older guys. We've been here before. We've played basketball a long time, and we know how we play. We play off of each other, and we feel like going out there that we have a chance to win every game."

The senior forward averaged 20.8 points, 9.8 rebounds, and 1.3 steals on 54.6 percent shooting in 34 games with the Eagles this season. Minix led Morehead St. to a program-record 26 wins while winning Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year.

Meanwhile, star guard Terrence Shannon and the Illini battled through the Big Ten Tournament with victories over Ohio State, Nebraska, and Wisconsin on consecutive days in Minneapolis. These wins required comebacks in the second half, but the team is hoping to prevail more convincingly against the Eagles.

The victor of the matchup will face the winner of the game between No. 6 seeded BYU and No. 11 seeded Duquesne. 

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Anthony Pasciolla is a contributing writer for Illini Now. He can be reached at ampasciolla@gmail.com or followed on X @anthonypasci.