Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images Consensus All-American Kofi Cockburn looks to lead Illinois on a deep NCAA Tournament run this March.
The Big Ten co-regular season champion Illinois Fighting Illini take on the Southern Conference champion Chattanooga Mocs in a 4 vs. 13 matchup in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday night at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The game (6:50 p.m. ET) will be televised on TNT. But if you don’t have cable, here are some different ways you can watch a live stream of Illinois vs Chattanooga online:
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DirecTV Stream
DirecTV Stream has four different channel packages: “Entertainment,” “Choice,” “Ultimate” and “Premier.” TNT, TBS, TruTV and CBS are all included in every one, but you can pick any package and any add-on you want with your free five-day trial:
Once signed up for DirecTV Stream, you can watch Illinois vs Chattanooga live on the DirecTV Stream app, which is available on your Roku, Roku TV, Amazon Fire TV or Fire Stick, Apple TV, Chromecast, Samsung TV, any device with Android TV (such as a Sony TV or Nvidia Shield), iPhone, Android phone, iPad or Android tablet. Or you can watch on your computer via the DirecTV Stream website.
You can also watch the game live on the March Madness app or on the NCAA website. You’ll need to sign in to a cable or streaming service provider to watch this way, but you can do that with your DirecTV Stream credentials.
Sling TV
TNT, TBS and TruTV are all included in Sling TV’s “Sling Blue” bundle, which comes with a free three-day trial:
Once signed up for Sling TV, you can watch Illinois vs Chattanooga live on the Sling TV app, which is available on your Roku, Roku TV, Amazon Fire TV or Fire Stick, Apple TV, Chromecast, Xbox One or Series X/S, Samsung TV, LG TV, any device with Android TV (such as a Sony TV or Nvidia Shield), airTV Mini, Oculus, Portal, iPhone, Android phone, iPad or Android tablet. Or you can watch on your computer via the Sling TV website.
You can also watch the game live on the March Madness app or on the NCAA website. You’ll need to sign in to a cable or streaming service provider to watch this way, but you can do that with your Sling credentials.
Hulu With Live TV
You can watch a live stream of TNT, TBS, TruTV, CBS and 65+ other TV channels via Hulu With Live TV, which now also includes both ESPN+ and Disney+ as part of their bundle:
Once signed up for Hulu With Live TV, you can watch Illinois vs Chattanooga live on the Hulu app, which is available on your Roku, Roku TV, Amazon Fire TV or Fire Stick, Apple TV, Chromecast, Xbox One or Series X/S, PlayStation 4 or 5, Nintendo Switch, Samsung TV, LG TV, any device with Android TV (such as a Sony TV or Nvidia Shield), iPhone, Android phone, iPad or Android tablet. Or you can watch on your computer via the Hulu website.
You can also watch the game live on the March Madness app or on the NCAA website. You’ll need to sign in to a cable or streaming service provider to watch this way, but you can do that with your Hulu credentials.
Illinois vs Chattanooga Preview
The fourth-seeded Illinois Fighting Illini are looking to avenge an early exit they suffered in last year’s NCAA Tournament when they begin their road to the Final Four on Friday night with a South Regional first-round matchup with the 13th-seeded Chattanooga Mocs in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Illinois shared the Big Ten regular-season title this season with Wisconsin but were tripped up in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament by Indiana. Similarly, the Fighting Illini had high hopes going into the 2021 NCAA Tournament as a No. 1 seed but were upset by Loyola Chicago in the second round.
Chattanooga won both the Southern Conference’s regular-season and tournament titles en route to punching their ticket to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2016.
Here’s a look at the breakdown for each team as they head into Friday’s first-round matchup:
No. 4 Illinois Fighting Illini (22-9, 15-5 Big 10)
Illinois is making its 32nd NCAA Tournament appearance this season and will be looking to advance out of the first weekend for the first time since 2005 when they made it to the national championship game.
The Fighting Illini feature a potent offense that is ranked 42nd in the nation in scoring at 75.8 points per game.
Led by the dominant force of 7-foot center Kofi Cockburn, Illinois comes into the tournament ranked 28th in two-point field-goal defense and 35th in offensive rebounding rate.
Cockburn is a consensus All-American and one of the best big men in the game. The junior is the only player in Division I averaging both 20 points and 10 rebounds per game (21.1 ppg, 10.6 rpg).
The Illini’s second-leading scorer is Utah transfer Alfonso Plummer, who is averaging 14.8 points per game and connecting on 41.3 percent from three-point range.
Senior guard Trent Frazier runs the offense and leads the team in assists at 4.1 per game while averaging 12.1 points per contest.
The players that returned this season for the Illini, including Cockburn, are determined to achieve a different result this March.
“Yeah, our loss last year was a huge lesson for us,” said Cockburn at a pre-tournament press conference on Thursday. “Coming back especially with the vets that had been through the NCAA Tournament, that we could basically show the younger guys how important it is to come out here and give it your all because you never know when the season could end.”
It might end like that and it’s a hard feeling. We cried, and it was like a bad locker room, everybody was so emotional inside. We’re trying to prevent that right now, so we’re more eager, we’re more locked in and we’re more focused.”
No. 13 Chattanooga Mocs (27-7, 14-4 Southern Conference)
Chattanooga comes into the Big Dance winners of five in a row and nine of its last 11 games. They ran off three wins in the SoCon Tournament over The Citadel, Wofford, and Furman which locked up their 12th NCAA Tournament berth in program history.
The Mocs are an experienced group that start four upperclassmen and they possess the 57th ranked offense in the nation in terms of efficiency, per KenPom.
Sophomore guard Malachi Smith leads the team in scoring at 20.1 points per game, which is 18th-best in the country. The do-everything guard is also averaging 6.7 rebounds, 3.1 assists, and 1.7 steals per game and is shooting 41.5 percent from three-point range.
The hero of the SoCon championship game was graduate student point guard David Jean-Baptiste, who is averaging 14.6 points per game on the season. Baptiste cemented his place in Chattanooga history when he drilled a 30-foot jumper in the final seconds of overtime to propel the Mocs to an epic win over Furman that punched their ticket to the NCAA Tournament.
“It was surreal,” Jean-Baptiste said regarding his game-winning shot. “I knew I had four seconds left, tried to put myself in the best position possible just to get the shot up, and it felt like it took forever for the ball to reach the basket, but once I saw it hit the net, I couldn’t feel no more after that. It was unbelievable.”
Chattanooga and Illinois have a history in the NCAA Tournament that favors the Mocs. In 1997, Chattanooga pulled an upset in the second round as a No. 14 seed over sixth-seeded Illinois en route to a Sweet 16 appearance.