WCIA — Before the next time Illinois football gets back on the gridiron, basketball season will be underway for Brad Underwood and his Fighting Illini.

The Illini return to the State Farm Center for an exhibition game with Quincy on Friday. This season, Illinois opted for the one exhibition game with a D-II opponent and a scrimmage with DI opposition. The Illini cannot talk about it per NCAA rules, but it has been widely reported that they played defending champs Kansas behind closed doors. That seemed to be confirmed when Jayhawks transfer Kevin McCullar Jr. posted photos from the scrimmage at Lindenwood University in St. Louis, Mo. with former Texas Tech teammate and current Illini Terrence Shannon Jr.

“The scrimmage is great because you can get in there against really good competition and you can really dial in on high level competition, which is what we’re going to do,” Underwood said. “You can work on situations, scenarios, all those things that maybe aren’t as easy to do against yourself. You can create those scenarios and you can do that against really good competition.”

Illinois and Quincy tip-off Oct. 28 at 7 p.m.