Illinois basketball to host Kansas, coach Bill Self in fundraising exhibition
Illinois basketball is preparing to welcome head coach Bill Self back to Champaign for a special exhibition.
The program announced Friday that Brad Underwood and the Illini will welcome Self and his Kansas squad to Champaign for an exhibition on Oct. 29 at 5 pm. That exhibition will be a charity event with all proceeds from the game donated to the Hawai’i Community Foundation Maui Strong Fund after devastating wildfires rocked Maui recently.
The exhibition will be aired on the Big Ten Network. Self — on the eve of his 21st season at Kansas — returns to Illinois where he coached for 3 seasons from 2000-03.
We’ve got an addition to the schedule!
Coach Self returns to Champaign on October 29th as Illinois hosts Kansas in a charity exhibition game.
More info: https://t.co/qdmxuQ5yeA#Illini | #HTTO | #EveryDayGuys pic.twitter.com/nyKfH2cuDt
— Illinois Men’s Basketball (@IlliniMBB) August 18, 2023
“It is heartbreaking to see the loss of life and devastation from the fires that have ravaged Lahaina,” said Underwood. “The Maui Invitational is an integral part of college basketball, and we are thinking of everyone on the island of Maui who have felt the impact of this tragedy. Bill and I talked immediately about how we could come together to help, and turning our closed scrimmage into a charity exhibition is a way we can use our sport to make an impact.
“The spotlight of this game, heightened by Bill’s return to Champaign, should raise meaningful dollars that will go directly to help the community of Lahaina.”
The status of this year’s Maui Jim Maui Invitational is still up in the air after the widespread devastation on Maui. Nothing has been officially canceled or relocated but the situation will be closely monitored moving forward.