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Sports Editor Matt Daniels with a look at what’s going on around the area:
Players on the Illinois women’s basketball team, from left, Irene Noya Catoira, Gisela Segura, Jasmine Brown-Hagger, Berry Wallace, Cearah Parchment, Naomi Benson and Maddie Webber react as the Illini hear their name called as an NCAA tournament team during the 2026 Selection Show watch party at the Traditions Club inside State Farm Center in Champaign.
Illinois athletics
Three reasons we love sports today
➜ 1. Illinois women’s basketball player Irene Noya Catoira will represent Spain at the upcoming FIBA U20 World Cup. The tournament starts Saturday and runs through July 12 in Altus and Klaipeda, Lithuania. Noya Catoira, a 6-foot-3 forward, played in 17 games at Illinois last season.
➜ 2. Illinois men’s golfer Max Herendeen will spend his Fourth of July weekend playing for the United States at the Arnold Palmer Cup. The three-day event uses a Ryder Cup style format between the U.S. against Great Britain and Ireland and is taking place in Tralee, County Kerry, Ireland.
➜ 3. Former Illini Aleks Kovacevic and Thanasi Kokkinakis are slated to play Robert Cash and JJ Tracy in the second round of men’s doubles at Wimbledon on Saturday.
Former Illini Keaton Wagler inside the Los Angeles Clippers’ home venue, the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, Calif., on June 25 after the Clippers selected him with the fifth overall pick on June 23 at the NBA draft.
Los Angeles Clippers/X
Numbers game: 6
days until former Illini Keaton Wagler will likely play in his first game with the Los Angeles Clippers. Albeit an NBA Summer League game. Wagler, the first-round draft choice by the Clippers and the No. 5 pick in this year’s draft, and his new Clippers teammates are set to take on the Sacramento Kings at 10 p.m. next Thursday at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.
Champaign Central graduate Tanner Gordon is set to start for the Rockies on Sunday afternoon against the San Francisco Giants at Coors Field in Denver.
Justin Edmonds/Getty Images
Crowd control
Three events I’m paying attention to
➜ 1. John Deere Classic. Reigning champion and former Illini Brian Campbell has some ground to make up after opening with a 1-under 70 on Thursday in Silvis. That’s seven shots back of co-leaders Lucas Glover and Zac Blair.
➜ 2. San Francisco Giants at Colorado Rockies. Champaign Central graduate Tanner Gordon is set to start for the Rockies at 3 p.m. on Sunday from Coors Field. He took the loss after giving up five runs in five innings on Tuesday against the Marlins.
➜ 3. Cedar Rapids Kernels at Quad Cities River Bandits. Mahomet-Seymour graduate Blake Wolters gets the start for the River Bandits on Friday evening in this high-Class A game in Davenport, Iowa.
Mahomet-Seymour’s Paislee Welge at the girls’ soccer All-Area photoshoot at The News-Gazette on Friday, June 19.
Ask an athlete
Three questions with recent Mahomet-Seymour graduate Paislee Welge, The News-Gazette 2026 All-Area girls’ soccer Player of the Year:
➜ 1. Three athletes I’d like to have dinner with are … Trinity Rodman, Michael Jordan and Jake Lietz.
➜ 2. The TV show I most like to binge-watch is ... “Off Campus.”
➜ 3. My biggest pet peeve is … when people lie.
Matt Daniels is sports editor at The News-Gazette. His email is mdaniels@news-gazette.com, and you can follow him on Twitter (@mdaniels_NG).
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