Illinois Fighting Illini basketball celebrated the 50th anniversary of Assembly Hall (the REAL Assembly Hall, unlike the one where the Hoosiers play, which came second, Champaign’s Assembly Hall came first) by squeaking by Big Ten doormat Nebraska 72-65 and unveiling the Assembly Hall renovation plans during the final Illini home game . A video showed CGI visualizations of what the new Assembly Hall renovation will look like. And the senior day victory over the Cornhuskers is exactly 50 years from when the Assembly Hall first opened its doors on March 2, 1963.
The new website for Assembly Hall renovations was launched yesterday with the brand name “Illinois Renaissance.” Two big changes to Assembly Hall were revealed this past Friday at a press conference in Chicago: the building will finally have air conditioning, and Hall naming rights are now up for sale. I’ll have more on this when I publish my exclusive with Illinois Athletic Director Mike Thomas in the next couple days.
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