Jan. 1 -- Nothing about the way Illinois defended on Tuesday afternoon will win you games consistently in the Big Ten. The Illini not only saw Washington make 11 three-pointers in the Huskies' 84-75 New Year's Eve victory at State Farm Center but the Illini were outrebounded for only the second time this season (Kentucky was the only other opponent to do that against Illinois, a 76-53 loss to the Wildcats in Nashville, Tenn.). That overshaddowed a big game from , who tied a career-high with 32 points while playing the full 40 minutes.

A 13-game home winning streak for the Illini is no longer. You had to go back to last February for the last Illinois home loss. Until Tuesday. More importantly, the Illini couldn't take full advantage of back-to-back Big Ten home games against the conference's Pacific Northwest newcomers. A win against Oregon was important, but with how much Illini coach has put a priority on Big Ten home games, Illinois allowed a winnable conference game to get away from them against Washington and is now under .500 in league play overall.

The Illini will ring in the new year with their 2025 opener against Minnesota at 2 p.m. on Sunday at historic Williams Arena in Minneapolis. The Gophers spent New Year's Eve picking up a 59-50 win at Wisconsin to improve to 14-1. is back to her old self for Minnesota, and second-year coach has also benefited from the emergence of freshman as part of another Gophers team built around home-grown talent.

"I don't believe in (New Year's resolutions). I'm just ending the year in a bad mood, because we lost, so it's not going to be a fun New Year's Eve for me. But you know what, I guess it's a new year tomorrow, right, so it's time to be positive and to just start fresh and that's what I'm going to try to do. ... We're going to keep fighting. We're going to get better. It's what we do. It's who we are, and that's the only way."