- Joined
- May 8, 2002
- Posts
- 1,264,813
- Reaction score
- 59
Aug. 10—So much of the progress has made this summer with the Illinois women's basketball team has been framed through the lens of her teammates and coaches.
That's been the reality with the LSU transfer not yet made available to the media since arriving on campus in early June. But the 5-foot-11 guard has been a topic of conversation this summer. And rightfully so with the Davenport, Iowa, native and former five-star recruit one of the few newcomers on the Illini roster ahead of the 2026-27 season.
"It's a process," Illinois coach said of Bourrage's acclimation to a new team on July 21. "I think I said this last time, too. She's essentially a freshman, and it's a whole new system, whole new culture. So, it's going to take her time. I always give freshmen and transfers a little bit of grace in that adjustment, learning curve.
"She just has to continue to control the controllables with herself and everything else usually takes care of itself in that. When you work hard, when you come in and you're focused every day, then all of the pieces fall into place. Those are the things that we're continuing to get her to understand and everything else she'll be fine with."
Two weeks later, as the Illini were wrapping up eight weeks of summer workouts at Ubben Basketball Complex, Illinois associate head coach had a similar update on Bourrage.
"I think our team has done a tremendous job in wrapping their arms around Divine, as well as our staff," McEntire said. "We've known her for a long time. But it's just been good to be around her and spend time with her. She's still got some steps to take, but she's taken the right ones. She's got some growth that's taken place this summer.
"So, we're really excited for her to continue that. But it's awesome to have so many veterans back in place that they can help her along because they are more established now than they were a year ago. We remind her she's one of the few new ones. So, to also be patient with herself, because if she was here a year ago, everyone was going through the same thing. But with her being one of the few new ones as of right now, she's just got to continue to be patient with herself. She loves to play the game, and we're excited for her continued growth."
Bourrage is, of course, a player the Illini circled back to after the high-level recruit in the Class of 2025 ended up at LSU despite a strong push by Green and her coaching staff to bring her to C-U.
When Bourrage entered the transfer portal after the 2025-26 season, Illinois reignited that relationship with her.
Amid a deep backcourt for coach Kim Mulkey's Tigers last season, Bourrage played in 24 games as a freshman at LSU and averaged 2.1 points, 1.7 rebounds and 0.7 assists per game.
Now, she's part of an Illinois backcourt that is also loaded with talent. The Illini brought back all of their top guards from last season's 22-win that that reached the second round of the NCAA tournament with point guards and , combo guard and shooting guards and all returning.
Still, her Illini teammates are aware of what Bourrage can bring to the table. Even if she never truly had the chance to show it while at LSU.
"She's really fun to play with," Dolan said. "She's a great teammate. I think, like a lot of the rest of us, very versatile and on the offensive end I think her game flows really well. She's able to able to shoot the ball, she's able to drive. A three-level scorer.
"She knows how good she is, and we all know how good she is, but coming into a new program, it can be a little intimidating being a transfer when a lot of us are coming back. We tried to do a good job, of like you said, building her up. She's very confident and she's playing really well. I think just trying to take her in with open arms has been huge."
Continue reading...
That's been the reality with the LSU transfer not yet made available to the media since arriving on campus in early June. But the 5-foot-11 guard has been a topic of conversation this summer. And rightfully so with the Davenport, Iowa, native and former five-star recruit one of the few newcomers on the Illini roster ahead of the 2026-27 season.
"It's a process," Illinois coach said of Bourrage's acclimation to a new team on July 21. "I think I said this last time, too. She's essentially a freshman, and it's a whole new system, whole new culture. So, it's going to take her time. I always give freshmen and transfers a little bit of grace in that adjustment, learning curve.
"She just has to continue to control the controllables with herself and everything else usually takes care of itself in that. When you work hard, when you come in and you're focused every day, then all of the pieces fall into place. Those are the things that we're continuing to get her to understand and everything else she'll be fine with."
Two weeks later, as the Illini were wrapping up eight weeks of summer workouts at Ubben Basketball Complex, Illinois associate head coach had a similar update on Bourrage.
"I think our team has done a tremendous job in wrapping their arms around Divine, as well as our staff," McEntire said. "We've known her for a long time. But it's just been good to be around her and spend time with her. She's still got some steps to take, but she's taken the right ones. She's got some growth that's taken place this summer.
"So, we're really excited for her to continue that. But it's awesome to have so many veterans back in place that they can help her along because they are more established now than they were a year ago. We remind her she's one of the few new ones. So, to also be patient with herself, because if she was here a year ago, everyone was going through the same thing. But with her being one of the few new ones as of right now, she's just got to continue to be patient with herself. She loves to play the game, and we're excited for her continued growth."
Bourrage is, of course, a player the Illini circled back to after the high-level recruit in the Class of 2025 ended up at LSU despite a strong push by Green and her coaching staff to bring her to C-U.
When Bourrage entered the transfer portal after the 2025-26 season, Illinois reignited that relationship with her.
Amid a deep backcourt for coach Kim Mulkey's Tigers last season, Bourrage played in 24 games as a freshman at LSU and averaged 2.1 points, 1.7 rebounds and 0.7 assists per game.
Now, she's part of an Illinois backcourt that is also loaded with talent. The Illini brought back all of their top guards from last season's 22-win that that reached the second round of the NCAA tournament with point guards and , combo guard and shooting guards and all returning.
Still, her Illini teammates are aware of what Bourrage can bring to the table. Even if she never truly had the chance to show it while at LSU.
"She's really fun to play with," Dolan said. "She's a great teammate. I think, like a lot of the rest of us, very versatile and on the offensive end I think her game flows really well. She's able to able to shoot the ball, she's able to drive. A three-level scorer.
"She knows how good she is, and we all know how good she is, but coming into a new program, it can be a little intimidating being a transfer when a lot of us are coming back. We tried to do a good job, of like you said, building her up. She's very confident and she's playing really well. I think just trying to take her in with open arms has been huge."
Continue reading...
