How to Watch No. 10 Illinois vs. No. 3 Michigan: TV, Tip-Off Time, More

It's the granddaddy of them all – or at least the 2025-26 regular season – for Illinois men's basketball: Friday's game against Big Ten leader and No. 3 Michigan (7 p.m. CT, FOX). For weeks, the Illini (22-6, 13-4 Big Ten) have crept agonizingly close to peak performance – but without achieving the timing or consistency to begin routinely putting away top opponents in order to take their own place among college basketball's upper crust.

Meanwhile, the Wolverines (26-2, 16-1) have appeared nearly unbeatable – and would be in conference play, if not for a three-point loss to Wisconsin back in January. Like the 10th-ranked Illini, they are big, athletic, skilled and versatile, but they have brought it night and night out in a way that Illinois has yet to manifest. Is Michigan better? That's what we aim to find out Friday.

Here’s more information about the Illini's last regular-season opportunity to prove its mettle (and lock down one more Quad 1 win ahead of the NCAA Tournament):

How to watch No. 10 Illinois Fighting Illini vs. No. 3 Michigan Wolverines

Reset and refocus.

📅 Feb. 27
🆚 Michigan
⏰ 7 p.m. CT
📍State Farm Center
📺 FOX
🎟️ https://t.co/dwu8T8dTsa pic.twitter.com/4JyTIEH298
— Illinois Men's Basketball (@IlliniMBB) February 26, 2026

Who: Illinois Fighting Illini (22-6, 13-4 Big Ten) vs. Michigan Wolverines (26-2, 16-1)
What: Big Ten matchup
When: Friday, Feb. 27 at 7 p.m. CT
Where: State Farm Center, Champaign, Illinois
TV/streaming: FOX
Radio/audio: Busey Bank Illini Sports Network (Champaign: WDWS 93.9 FM or 1400 AM; Chicago: WLS 890 AM); Fighting Illini Productions; Varsity Network App
Last week: Coming off a 36-point obliteration of USC, Illinois hoped to make it a perfect West Coast trip against a reeling UCLA team but instead blew a 23-point lead to fall 95-94 in overtime. Michigan followed one of its best wins of the season – a 91-80 triumph over Purdue in West Lafayette – with a disappointing (though well-contested) 68-63 loss to then-No. 3 Duke in a neutral-site matchup in Washington, D.C.
Series history: The Illini lead the all-time series 96-85 and have won nine in a row against the Wolverines, including most recently a 93-73 thumping in Ann Arbor last March. Michigan hasn't taken one off Illinois since the 2018-19 season, which was the last in a streak of four Wolverines wins in a row.

Highlights of our 101-65 Big Ten road win at USC at the Galen Center in Los Angeles, Calif. pic.twitter.com/3GfUQr50wp
— Illinois Men's Basketball (@IlliniMBB) February 19, 2026

What to know about Michigan

Dusty May all but remade Michigan's roster in his first full offseason as Wolverines coach, wooing transfers Yaxel Lendeborg (the Big Ten Player of the Year frontrunner), Aday Mara (a 7-foot-3 matchup nightmare) and, of course, Morez Johnson Jr. – the former Illini enforcer and super glue guy, who has only elevated his game since his freshman year of 2024-25.

We could spend a thousand words breaking down this fascinating matchup – and we did; check out our Illinois on SI First Look at Michigan – but there's a simple way to look at Michigan-Illinois: Which Illini defense will show up to the party? If it's the same one that smothered Northwestern and Indiana in recent weeks, Illinois has more than just a shot. (Indeed, ESPN considers the Illini the favorite going into Friday.) But if they lack intensity on the boards, are slow to pick up the ball and aren't sharp and purposeful in communicating and rotating when defending screen-and-roll actions, they'll get no quarter from the Wolverines, who are undoubtedly eager to put to bed their current nine-game losing streak to Illinois.