Episode
06/19/26 Hour 1: Illinois Basketball vs Texas Tech Home-and-Home Series Is A Go; Team USA Shuts Out Australia; Cardinals Crushed by Royals
- Podcast
- The Drive on ESPN 93.5
- Published
- Jun 19, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 3300
- Processing state
not_requested
Actions
POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-drive-on-espn-93-5-477079/episodes/06-19-26-hour-1-illinois-basketball-vs-texas-tech-home-and-home-series-is-a-go-team-usa-shuts-out-australia-cardinals-crushed-by-royals/transcription-requests
Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-drive-on-espn-93-5-477079/06-19-26-hour-1-illinois-basketball-vs-texas-tech-home-and-home-series-is-a-go-team-usa-shuts-out-australia-cardinals-crushed-by-royals.md
Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.
Summary
The Fighting Illini continue to build one of the nation's toughest non-conference schedules as Illinois and Texas Tech officially move forward with a marquee home-and-home basketball series. The grumbles of Big Ten schools NOT playing Texas Tech, post-Brendan Sorsby, amounts to nothing. Illinois hosted the first matchup in Champaign, with a return trip to Lubbock set for the 2026-27 season, giving Brad Underwood another high-profile test against a perennial Big 12 contender. On the international stage, Team USA delivered an impressive World Cup performance, defeating Australia 2-0 in Group D action. The Americans improved their position in the group standings with a dominant defensive effort and continued momentum after their strong tournament-opening victory over Paraguay. The win sets up a crucial stretch run as the United States looks to advance to the knockout stage. Meanwhile, the St. Louis Cardinals endured one of their roughest losses of the season, falling 14-6 to the Kansas City Royals. Matthew Liberatore struggled early, allowing the Royals to erupt for a six-run second inning. Kansas City finished with 17 hits and three home runs, while Bobby Witt Jr. homered before leaving with knee discomfort. Salvador Perez added a historic blast at Kauffman Stadium, and despite collecting 13 hits of their own, the Cardinals stranded 15 runners in the lopsided defeat.