Starting 5: No. 16 Illinois 81, Rutgers 55 | Sports

CHAMPAIGN — Terrance Taylor has been cueing up music at State Farm Center since 2022.

But the playlists that the Illinois game day D.J. have used to become a fan-favorite have expanded in his fourth season on the job, in large part thanks to the international presence on the Illini’s roster.

“Watching them play as aggressive as they’ve been playing and dominant, everyone on the team is fairly young and it’s just been a great vibe,” Taylor said. “They’re super approachable and they’ve been giving me a bunch of song requests internationally.

“I’m expanding my DJ repertoire because we’ve got a lot of international players.”

A big part of Taylor’s job is to keep the crowd engaged from the time they arrive through the balance of the game.

That wasn’t a problem on Thursday as the No. 19 Illini cruised past Rutgers 81-55 to notch their third Big Ten win of the year.

“We’ve definitely got to get the crowd hyped,” Taylor said. “It’s great that we have Mylas (Copeland) here as the emcee, that’s new this year … that’s been phenomenal. It makes my job easier.”

Taylor — who works as D.J. TAT — also gets plenty of help from Illinois sophomore Luca Zepeda-Flores — or D.J. Luca — as he curates music from his post opposite the visiting team bench.

Zepeda-Flores’ focus is on logistics, including layering music beneath public address announcements, making sure the starting lineups are on track and filling dead space during breaks in the action.

“My role is a lot more logistical than TAT’s,” Zepeda-Flores said. “TAT’s is more kind of free, he gets to have more creative freedom over what music he plays, I get a list of songs that we have to play at certain times throughout the game.”

Zepeda-Flores is pursuing a communication degree at the U of I with a minor in business.

“I’m kind of trying to go for a sports marketing path if that’s what opens up for me, ” Zepeda-Flores said. “I’m very fortunate to have the opportunity and I love the work that I do.”

Sitting a few hundred feet down the sideline from Taylor and Zepeda-Flores was Shon Morris, who provided color commentary alongside play-by-play announcer Kevin Kugler on Big Ten Network.

Morris entered Thursday’s game impressed with the Illini, who were paced by 17 points from Keaton Wagler, 14 points from Tomislav Ivisic and 12 points from Andrej Stojakovic.

“They’re a fun team to watch,” Morris said. “They share the ball, they’ve got four guys I think averaging right around 13 points per ballgame … they’re going to have a deep run in the NCAA tournament.”

Wagler — who now averages 15.4 points per game and entered Thursday’s game ranked 16th among Big Ten scorers — has stood out to Morris as one of the nation’s top freshmen.

“Everyone talks about the influx of foreign talent and they should, but I think Wagler is a great scorer. They found him and he’s just had such a wonderful year. He’s even maybe a little skinnier than (Will) Riley was, but his game is really fun to watch to get up and down the floor.”

Morris and Kugler didn’t have a chance to look across the court and see Orange Krush with Illinois students in the midst of their winter break.

But the 13,190 fans that were there had plenty to cheer for.

“Every team that comes in here will tell you that if it’s not the most difficult place to play in the conference, it’s certainly in the top two or three,” Morris said.

“Fan support has been great and then their style of play, you don’t really appreciate their size and how well they move the ball until you see it up close.”

Wagler and college basketball reporter C.J. Moore are both from Shawnee, Kan.

So Moore — a staff writer for The Athletic — had an idea that his fellow Shawnee Mission Northwest High School alum would be a force to be reckoned with in the college ranks.

“I’ve known about him for a while,” Moore said. “Thought he would be a really good college player but I’m not sure I expected it this quickly.”

“Just as far as what you expect out of the Illini this year, and what he’s been able to give them, I think he’s elevated that to another level and also really made them better.”

He also likes what he’s seen from the rest of Illinois’ roster, which extended its winning streak to four games on Thursday night ahead of a road tilt at No. 19 Iowa.

“Really, really fun team to watch offensively,” Moore said. “Offensively, I think the pieces really fit together really well.”

Illinois is among several Big Ten teams that have stood out to Moore in the opening two months of the season.

“I think it’s between the Big 12 and the Big Ten as the best conference in college basketball this year,” Moore said.

“I think the top is really, really strong with teams like Purdue, Michigan, Illinois, Michigan State, Nebraska, Iowa … could this be the year they finally end that streak of not winning national championships? I think it could be.”

Illinois cheerleaders Jason Hlabacek and Ashley Duda are in the midst of their senior year at the U of I.

Thursday’s game marked their first men’s basketball home game since a trip to the Music City Bowl on Dec. 30, which was an easy highlight of the season in Nashville, Tenn.

“I really enjoyed the bowl game the most,” Duda said. “It was a really close game the entire time and I think we all just had fun with it.”

Traveling is always something Hlabacek and Duda look forward to, whether for bowl games or Big Ten and NCAA tournament trips.

“The bus rides and the flights, we all bond really well,” Duda said. “This team just feels like a big family to be honest. We all are just really close this year.”

“Going to these tournaments and bowl games is so much fun because our fans travel so well everywhere we go,” Hlabacek added. “It’s electric in every stadium we play.”

Being at home is tough to beat, though.

“We’ve got the best seats in the house,” Hlabacek said. “This place gets electric every single time we have a home game, and you really feel it when you’re court side.”

State Farm Center is one of a few venues that Smith Burger Co. can call home locally.

The popular restaurant is a staple of the arena’s upper concourse, and can also be found at Gies Memorial Stadium and locations in Champaign and Urbana.

“I’m born and raised in the area, so when I started this business my number one goal was to be part of U of I athletics,” Smith said. “So to be here and to be working side-by-side with them has been great.”

Smith Burger’s arena menu includes a few of its standard burgers plus a chicken sandwich, fries and pretzel bites.

And while Smith says business has been good, he also cited Illini games as a solid boost during the food service industry’s typically slower months of January and February.

“The stadium games obviously help keep some money coming in the doors but it’s been good overall,” Smith said.