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First Look at Illinois Basketball's Game 13 Opponent: Southern University Jaguars

The Illini will close non-conference play with a tune-up vs. Southern, aiming to build momentum before the Big Ten grind begins
Pranav Hegde|
Dec 21, 2025; Waco, Texas, USA; Southern University Jaguars head coach Kevin Johnson speaks with his team during timeout during the first half against the Baylor Bears at Paul and Alejandra Foster Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: Chris Jones-Imagn Images
Dec 21, 2025; Waco, Texas, USA; Southern University Jaguars head coach Kevin Johnson speaks with his team during timeout during the first half against the Baylor Bears at Paul and Alejandra Foster Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: Chris Jones-Imagn Images | Chris Jones-Imagn Images

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Illinois Fighting IlliniSouthern University Jaguars

Illinois (9-3, 1-1 Big Ten) wraps up 2025 with one last non-conference pit stop before Big Ten play slams the accelerator to the floor. A visit from the Southern University Jaguars (4-8) comes at a pretty convenient time for an Illini team fresh off its best performance of the season – a blowout win over Missouri that looked less like a rivalry game and more like a public announcement that things are finally clicking.

With a favorable stretch ahead for head coach Brad Underwood's squad, this game is about stacking good habits. Rotations need reps, chemistry needs minutes, and momentum needs to be treated like a fragile houseplant – watered often and never neglected. Consider this the final confidence boost before the schedule turns mean and the Illini men's basketball officially enter Big Ten survival mode.

Southern at a glance

The Jaguars are led by third-year head coach Kevin Johnson, who has quietly done a strong job of dragging the program from afterthought to competitive. A season ago, Southern won 20 games, went 15-3 in league play, and had a very real NCAA Tournament resume before getting tripped up in the chaos of the SWAC Tournament. That core is largely back, which explains why the Jaguars were picked second in the conference preseason poll.

The record this year doesn’t jump off the page, but context matters. Johnson loaded up the non-conference schedule with trips to Arkansas , Marquette, Texas and Baylor, among others – essentially a gauntlet designed to toughen his group, not pad the win column. The result was a 4-8 start – but also a team that’s battle-tested, cohesive and far more dangerous than its record suggests.

The Jaguars on the court

Key players

Johnson has talent across the roster, but everything starts – and usually ends – with senior guard Michael Jacobs. An Atlanta native, Jacobs was a preseason first team SWAC pick and has played like he took it as a directive. Jacobs is pouring in 20.9 points per game while shooting an ultra-clean 50.0 percent from the field and 42.9 percent from deep, making him the kind of scorer who only needs a sliver of daylight to cause problems. That likely earns him an extended stay in the presence of Illinois’ best perimeter stopper, Kylan Boswell, in what could quietly be one of the more interesting chess matches of the night.

Jacobs isn’t doing it alone, either. The Jaguars have solid complementary pieces, particularly senior forwards Malek Abdelgowad and Damariee Jones, who bring size, experience and enough production to punish teams that overreact to Jacobs. They’re not household names, but they’re reliable, physical and very capable of making Illinois pay if defensive attention drifts. This is a Jaguars group with a clear focal point – and just enough help around him to keep things uncomfortable if the Illini lose focus.

Offense

Offensively, the Jaguars are firmly in the modern era. Johnson’s group spaces the floor, spreads defenders thin and trusts its players to make reads rather than running the shot clock into the ground. A steady diet of high ball screens gets the offense moving, with plenty of pick-and-roll action designed to force switches, create driving lanes and generate clean looks on the perimeter. When defenses over-help, the ball doesn’t stick – it finds shooters.

Defense

On the other end, Johnson isn’t shy about emptying the defensive junk drawer. When talent gaps show up – as they often did in a brutal non-conference slate – the Jaguars respond by throwing every look imaginable at opponents. Against Baylor, Southern unveiled man-to-man, zone and a full-court press within the first 10 minutes, basically daring the Bears to solve a pop quiz with no study guide. The goal is simple: disrupt rhythm, steal possessions and hope confusion does what athleticism sometimes can’t.

To their credit, the Jaguars play hard and are well-coached, but there’s only so much that schematic creativity can cover. At some point, talent tends to win out – especially against an Illinois team that can score at a high level and punish hesitation with spacing, shooting and depth.

Illinois vs. Southern matchup

For Illinois, this is the final dress rehearsal before Big Ten play turns every mistake into a crime punishable by a 12-0 run. There are no off nights once conference play hits – bad spacing, lazy closeouts or casual possessions get exposed immediately – so this is the last chance to iron out any remaining quirks before the league schedule shows up with a clipboard and zero sympathy. The Illini should treat this as a habits game: defend with purpose, move the ball and keep building the confidence and chemistry that showed up in full force against Missouri.

That said, Christmas break and a couple days off have a long history of turning “easy wins” into mild adventures. Still, the talent gap is real, the offense is rolling, and if Illinois plays anywhere close to its standard, this should look more like a tune-up than a test – exactly what you want before the Big Ten grind fully takes over.

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Pranav Hegde
PRANAV HEGDE

Primarily covers Illinois football, basketball and golf, with an emphasis on news, analysis and features. Hegde, an electrical engineering student at Illinois with an affinity for sports writing, has been writing for On SI since April 2025. He can be followed and reached on Instagram @pranavhegde__.

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