Leonard fouled out with a double double last night; Photo by Cary Frye

Every year, there are one or two Illini games that for whatever reason I am unable to watch. I will always tape the game, but if it’s a loss the first task upon returning home is to delete it immediately.  Last night’s game was the one I’d have to miss this season, and it sounds like it was for the best.

I had committed to helping a friend by volunteering at a Bear Necessities Pediatric Cancer Foundation gala months ago, and it didn’t seem right to cancel just for a basketball game – even I have my limits, even if there is a slim margin. Luckily, I was able to volunteer for the task that involved sitting in front of a door that no one could enter but the staff and the foundation members. That allowed me to sit down for a good span of time with my phone in hand watching the game updates on ESPN while simultaneously checking out what people were saying on Twitter. Despite my attention to the game, not one person got through that door that wasn’t supposed to!

From what I saw on my phone, the game looked intense. Minnesota seemed to have it somewhat under control hanging on to a 5 to 7-point lead throughout most of the game. Then, Illinois tied up the game with 8 minutes to go. After that point, Illinois seemed to hold on to a small lead, which helped me to relax a bit. Two Brandon Paul free throws put the Illini up by 3 points with 12 seconds to go and I had the silly thought that maybe this game would go my way. My phone updated to show me that Austin Hollins made a layup with 5 seconds to go, leaving the Illini still up by a point. That was fine, .05 seconds left,, a 1-point lead, and the ball means the game is over and I can put the phone down and let someone else take the crucial job of sitting by that important door.

Then, Twitter informed me that Meyers Leonard had fouled Hollins, and a free throw was on the way. It was all I could do not to throw the phone across the room. Why did he foul?!!!! A layup is still going to leave the Illini with the lead and the ball. Even if Minnesota was gonna foul us, that would mean two free throws, and about two more seconds off the clock. The chances that Minneosta would run down and make a 3 pointer (which probably would be necessary whether or not both free throws would be made) was probably not going to happen. The. game. was. over. To make matters worse, that was the fifth foul from Leonard. BUT, Hollins made the free throw and then we headed into overtime.

I had to stop watching my phone at that point, because my efforts to support the team from way afar made no difference. They were overpowered in overtime, and despite late game heroics by Tracy Abrams and Paul, Minnesota got the win 77-72.

Looking at the stats, it doesn’t seem like an awful game for Illinois. Paul was close to a double double with 28 points and 9 rebounds, but its those 6 turnovers that are killing us. Leonard had another double double with 17 points and 13 rebounds, but he fouled out. The bench finally contributed some points with 9, but Minnesota had 39 bench points. 39! Illinois was also 19-29 on free throws, and had 16 total turnovers. Same problems as we always see every single game.

As I said, I didn’t see the game, so my judgments are sort of skewed. I read that Bruce Weber mentioned that the last foul on Leonard was questionable, but I’ve heard others say it was legit. Why on Earth was he even close to being in a position to foul? In my eyes, that game was won even if Hollins made that easy layup. What was Minnesota going to accomplish down by a point with 5 seconds left without the ball? It wasn’t a done deal, but it was pretty close. A road win last night would’ve put the Illini right back into the race for… I don’t know, at least a spot in the Tourney. Now they’ve lost three in a row – two of which (if not all) were entirely winable. They haven’t won a single game since that great win at home against OSU, and the schedule just gets tougher and tougher. I will never ever throw in the towel on my team, but like the football team, a miracle needs to happen for this season to turn back around in the right direction. That miracle didn’t happen for the football team, and it’s probably not going to happen for the basketball team either.

I’m just so tired of the seasons ending in this manner. What we did a month ago simply will not matter to the Tournament Committee, which puts tons more stock in what happens at the end of the season.Here we are for the third season in a row back on the bubble, without a lot of clear skies ahead.

Tuesday, Michigan State will head to Champaign, and hands down this is a must-win situation. Although, really every game moving forward is a must-win situation, so let’s see how the team steps up.

It is amazing how despite the positive anticipation Illini fans exude at the beginning of November, things always turn out the same as the season progresses. We were cautious this year, as the team lost four starters and has seven new players – six of which are freshmen. However, there was still an air of excitement as the season got underway, as perhaps a whole new roster would cause a significant shift in the program. Now that the season is more than half over, it seems like the Illini are simply singing the same ol’ tune.

Myke Henry and the rest of the bench need more PT;; Photo by Cary Frye

Before the season began, Coach Bruce Weber admitted to being unsure of what this year would bring, though he did proclaim excitement of the promise of a clean slate and praised the athletic ability oozing from the pores of each and every guy. He promised that he would be playing as many as 10 to 11 guys a game and that leadership wouldn’t be an issue, since Brandon Paul and DJ Richardson had matured immensely (nope and nope). He said we’d see significant improvement from some new guys (sort of true with Jo Bertrand and Meyers Leonard, not so much with Tyler Griffey) and he was confident that with the addition of Sam Maniscalco there wouldn’t be any issues at the point position, as long as he could remain healthy (nope, and he couldn’t).

In some ways, I feel like maybe Illinois should’ve just laid an egg at the beginning of the season. That would’ve given them a chance to improve over the course of the season and perhaps given us loyal fans hope for what would happen next year. As a Cubs fan, I’m tired of waiting until next year, and I feel this sentiment has been used for Illini fans ever since Deron Williams and Luther Head went on to bigger and better things.

As usual, Illinois started strong and is currently in the middle of a nose dive. Even if the downward trajectory has slowed slightly, they are still heading toward an uphill fight with upcoming games at Michigan, home and away vs. Michigan State, at Wisconsin, and now it looks like even Indiana is going to cause problems. Those cake walk non-conference games at the beginning of the year gave the Illini an 10-0 start, but it wasn’t an easy task. Strong road wins at Maryland and home against Gonzaga gave fans hope that maybe this team could be special. A loss at the United Center to UNLV and in St. Louis against Missouri were stumbles, but not the end of the world. The loss at Purdue sucked, but still not insurmountable. Then magic occurred and Paul scored 43 points in the home win against a No. 5 ranked Ohio State!!!

Since that blessed game, Illinois is on a 2-game losing streak and lost its first home game. They went from first all alone in the B1G conference down to fifth, and fell off the rankings once again. Maniscalco isn’t contributing anything, the starters are getting most of the minutes and doing all the scoring, and each game it’s unclear if Leonard is going to be a factor at all. The one thing that Weber was right about is that Paul and Richardson have matured, because they have played strong, consistent games across the board. Richardson did suffer a wrist injury, but he’s still skilled  on the defensive end, and Paul has gotten his turnovers sort of  in check.

On Saturday, Illinois will head to Minnesota in what is turning out to be a crucial game. The only road win they have under their belt in the conference is against Northwestern, and they blew it against the bottom of the B1G with a loss at Penn State. They need to snap this skid, and they need to remember what it feels like to win. Minnesota may be the last chance Illinois even has to get a win on the road, since they don’t play at Iowa and winning at Nebraska isn’t as easy as people originally thought. Weber felt a bit of relief after that win against OSU, because people are clearly to whispering about his status for next year. However, he is right back in the hot seat after that loss at Penn State and the home loss against Wisconsin – both entirely winnable games.

Here is what we should do:

• Stop jacking up 3’s and give the ball to Leonard: Even if the 3’s are falling, they won’t forever. There are plenty of times when Leonard is ready for action and no one gives him the ball.
• Play the bench: Just give everyone else a few more minutes and then the starters won’t be as tired in the home stretch. Also, maybe they’ll surprise you. If you put Myke Henry in for one second and he screws up, how can he make up for it if you immediately pull him? Give him a chance to get settled. And what on earth happened to Mike Shaw? When’s the last time he played?
• Sit Maniscalco: I don’t know if it’s the injury or what, but he is making a mess of things and I don’t want him in the game.
• Let Tracy Abrams shoot: I think this might just be Abrams’ own insecurity. He’s doing a serviceable job as point guard, so he should go ahead and try to get some points on the board. We know he can do it, he is just being a chicken. I do like the looks of his game and think he could be an asset in the future.
• Protect the ball: If I see one more crappy pass that easily ends up in the hands of the other team I’m going to lose it.
• Just win baby win: What they really need to do is relax, play the game they love, and win.

The Illini will head to Minnesota on Saturday night at 7pm.

Leonard was back to form with his 6th double double, but it didn't matter in the Wiscy loss;; Photo by Cary Frye

The most exiting thing that happened during today’s Illini game is that there was a Blackhacks player I’d never heard of in the bar where we were watching. Keep in mind that if I cared at all about hockey I would be a Red Wings fan. So, yeah, it wasn’t good.

Illinois looked pretty strong throughout the entire game, and Meyers Leonard even pulled off his 6th double double of the year, but Wisconsin still prevailed 67-63. This was the first time all season that Illinois has lost two in a row, and it was also the team’s first home loss. This is just another indication that the Ohio State win was a complete anomaly, or perhaps something we can’t understand occurred during that 9-day break that the team enjoyed after that great home win where Brandon Paul scored 43 points.

Today, Paul had just 10 points and 5 rebounds. That’s not so bad really,  and more importantly he only had 1 turnover.  In fact, Illinois only had 9 turnovers total, and Wisconsin actually had more with 10.  Bertrand also had a good game with 15 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists, while Leonard’s double double came from 16 points and 11 rebounds. Everyone had respectable numbers, except the guys that came off the bench. Just like in the OSU game, Illinois had zero bench points. Wisconsin, on the other hand, had 14.  The issue isn’t talent because they do have it, so is it coaching? Though Illinois may indeed have  more talented athletes right now, Bo Ryan is a coach that knows how to get things done – most of the time..

This was by no means a blowout, so I guess that’s something. With about 5 minutes left to go, Bertrand tied the game up 53-53, but after that Wisconsin took the lead and kept it. Wisconsin stayed calm and collected and made all of the necessary free throws and FGS to win the game.

I’m just not really sure what to say at this point. Losing at Penn State is one thing, but losing at home is another. There goes the ranking, and there goes any momentum the guys had going for them. The season is just going to get tougher, as they head to Minnesota next and then host Michigan State . Northwestern at home, should be easy, but if Illinois goes into that game with a four-game losing streak (which seems more and more possible), who knows what will happen. Then Illinois will have to go to Bloomington, and then Ann Arbor. While OSU was supposed to be a loss, the last two games were supposed to be wins, and the team has gone back to not making sense.

Anything positive that came from the OSU win has now been negated. I am not throwing in the towel for the season just yet (we could be 3-15 and I still probably wouldn’t throw in the towel), but the fans and the world are going to stop paying attention if things don’t turn back around. Illinois now needs to win the easy games, and a few more of the hard ones if they hope to get a Tourney bid. I would say that winning the Big Ten is pretty much out of the question, but a bid is still in reach for sure.

At the beginning of the week, Illinois was No. 1 in the conference, undefeated at home, and ranked. How far we’ve gone downhill in under 7 days.

The Illini will have almost a week off again to get back into the groove of winning before heading to Minnesota on Saturday night at 7. This might be the first game of the season I won’t be able to watch, as I’m volunteering at the Bear Necessities Pediatric Cancer Foundation’s Signature event. Maybe doing a good deed will give the Illini a boost?

Maniscalco went from Stud to Dudt; Photo by Cary Frye

Illinois went from being the No. 1 team in the B1G Conference to losing to the worst team, which of course comes as no surprise. After trailing for most of the game in Happy Valley, Illinois lost to Penn State 54-52.

Brandon Paul tried  his best to get the win for the team, but obviously the game against OSU was a rare occurrence and tonight he needed help and didn’t get it. Paul still had 20 points and 6 rebounds, but he also had 5 turnovers. Paul nailed a game-tying 3 pointer with just 48 seconds to go, shortly after Meyers Leonard fouled out. Then, Tim Frazier made a bucket and left the Illini down by 2 with 5 seconds to go. Bruce Weber called a timeout, and I have no idea what play he drew up, but I’m guessing it didn’t involved Sam Maniscalco getting a layup blocked at the last second to give Penn State the game.

Let’s be honest, Maniscalco really didn’t contribute much tonight, and every time he was in the game I sort of wanted him to get out. At the end of the night he had 2 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 turnovers and zero points; not exactly a stellar night. Look, Tracy Abrams wasn’t doing much, either, but things were working fine in the last few games without Maniscalco so why rock the boat? Just saying.

Overall, offense was rather ugly. Leonard contributed 15 points, but just 4 rebounds when he fouled out of the game. A lot of his fouls were just dumb looking and at least 2 could’ve been easily avoided. For Penn State, Cammeron Woodyard (why did he need 2 m’s?) had 17 points and 4 rebounds, while Frazier had 12 points and 9 assists.

You can’t blame a loss on one stupid call in the first half, but the game really went south when that flagrant foul was called on Joe Bertrand, who was merely just trying to get Frazier off of his back so that he could have the ball that rightfully belonged to him. Nothing was called until the refs watched the play over and over again. Each time it looked less and less like anything “flagrant” had happened, but that’s not what they decided. The momentum shifted, and never came back – not to mention the fact that Bertrand never really got back into the game either.

So now Illinois finally has a big man that can do stuff, but they don’t have a point guard. Maniscalco did the trick for a while, but he isn’t getting it done now – and he is gone next year. Kudos to Paul for doing the best he could, but after all those close games they were bound to lose one. Of course it had to be when the Illini were ranked and tops in the conference. Tonight they proved what we all suspected: OSU was a fluke and this team may not be different from what we originally thought.

Anyway- thanks to that OSU win this isn’t the end of the world, but now they’ve got to work harder to sneak out a few more unexpected wins. On Saturday, they will welcome Wisconsin to the Assembly Hall, and losing would be a really bad idea. I was excited to head to Champaign for the game, but now I”m just nervous.

Let's see if Brandon Paul can have another standout game in Pennsylvania; Photo by Cary Frye

It seems like forever and a day since Illinois last played a basketball game, luckily it was one to be remembered. On Tuesday of LAST week was when Brandon Paul dropped 43 points in that win against OSU, and now they’ve had a long time to think about how that happened and how to make it happen again. Oh, and now they’re ranked 22/25 and sitting pretty upon the top of the heap all by themselves in the Big Ten.

That’s right, for a week Illinois shared the top spot with Michigan State, but a loss to Michigan last night gave Illinois the bump. They are the only team in the entire conference who has only lost one game. And, the team they lost to is the only team in the Big Ten to lose to the worst team in the conference: Penn State. Since Penn State beat Purdue and Purdue beat Illinois then Illinois is going to lose tomorrow, right? Let’s hope not.

Even though they are No. 1 and they had that great win, I’m not convinced that Illinois is going to stay on top. Having a lengthy break can be good because they can reset and take a solid look at what they’ve done so far, but it also makes the guys a little rusty. And, now they have to travel to the furthest arena (actually, I had to check and make sure, but Penn State is further than Nebraska) in the conference. Luckily, the arena is sure to be empty and filled with the sound of crickets, and even more exciting is the fact that Talor Battle has finally graduated. There are plenty of other players on the team, I’m sure, but aside from Tim Frazier I can’t name any of them. And when Battle was there, no one else could name any of them, either. Battle had this amazing ability to knock down impossible 3′s (kind of like how Paul did last week), and beat the Illini regardless of which team was actually more talented.

On paper, this should be a cinch, if you ignore that whole beating Purdue by 15 points thing. Penn State has lost 5 of the last 6 games, and just to Minnesota by 14 points. Penn State has a new coach in Pat Chambers, who is bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, but young and inexperienced. Also, all that junk that happened with the football team last year has to trickle down.

Sadly, how things look on paper means nothing in the Big Ten, especially for Illinois. There was a fantastic article on Hail to the Orange this week on the legend of Battle vs. Illinois. He may be gone, but his spirit could live on. Last year, Illinois lost at PSU 57-55, but nabbed a solid win at home. In 2009-2010, they squeezed out a 1-point win on the road. In 2009, a 23-ranked Illini lost at Penn State. Then, when Penn State came to Champaign was that game that everyone would like to forget when the final score was 38-33 with the Illini winning out. Think about that – Paul scored 10 more points by himself last week than the entire Penn State team in 2009.

Anyway, this is going to be an interesting challenge for Illinois, and though they will be favored, this could be anyone’s game. My only wish is that their heads remain small and they go in with their eyes open ready to win. Penn State has nothing to lose, but Illinois would lose a ranking and the No. 1 spot. They shouldn’t feel pressure because I have no doubt that Illinois is a better team, it just depends on whether or not they act like it.

The game will be at 8pm tomorrow night on ESPN2.

Brandon Paul must be happy about being recognized; photo by Cary Frye

Finally, today the Illini got a little recognition for what happened last Tuesday, when Brandon Paul went nuts on Ohio State and scored 43 points in the unexpected 79-74 victory. Paul was honored as the B1G Player of the Week, and the Illini have popped back up onto the rankings at 22/25 in the AP/Coaches Polls.

It’s been a slow week for Illini basketball fans, as they haven’t played since that  OSU win, and won’t be playing again until Thursday night when they head to Penn State. I was worried that people would forget about that big win over Ohio State, considering since then Indiana fell to Minnesota, Northwestern beat Michigan State, and Iowa beat Michigan. While all of these are fantastic events, I have say that while Minneosta winning on the road was pretty exciting (or maybe it was the fact that Indiana lost at home), it’s important to note that Ohio State was the highest ranked team to fall. So there.

Despite Paul’s amazing heroics, no one seemed to have anything to say about that game last week. On ESPN College Gameday, there was nary a mention and somehow Paul was absent from the list of top 10 plays. Actually, he was missing from the top 10 plays that occurred that very night. I can see maybe they didn’t have time to get it together because it was a late game, but certainly he should’ve been recognized during Gameday! Perhaps there were so many wonderful moves they couldn’t pick one? My choice would happen in the first few seconds of this here clip below:

Luckily, the B1G Conference realized that no one came close to scoring 43 points, and thus Paul deserved to be named the Player of the Week. This was the first time he was named POTW, and it comes just a couple weeks after Meyers Leonard was named POTW on Jan. 2. Here are some more reasons he was recognized:

·         Had a career night against No. 5/5 Ohio State, scoring 43 points and adding eight rebounds and four blocks in the Fighting Illini’s 79-74 win

·         The 43 points marked a career high, the most by a Big Ten player since 1994 and the second most by any player in the country this season

·         Shot 73 percent from the field (11-15), including 80 percent from three-point range (8-10)

Though two Illini have earned B1G honors in January alone, Tom Dienhart doesn’t believe anyone on the team deserves to be on the list of top 15 players in the conference. Yeah, I’m a little salty today.

Since it seemed like everyone had forgotten that the game even occurred, I was surprised to discover this morning that Illinois earned a spot on both polls. In fact, I was a little shocked that the AP decided to launch them from nowhere to 22, when Ohio State just dropped one spot to No. 6. I am pleased with the recognition, but I don’t know that this is the recognition that was deserved. Paul had a historic game, but it could’ve been a fluke. My team could very well head up to Happy Valley and lose to one of the worst teams in the conference, or they could have a great game and finally win handily. While the game last week is now on my list of favorites, I can’t say that it is indicative of where Illinois will be at the end of the season.

Oh, and one last awesome thing that needs to be mentioned? Right now they are tied for first place in the Big Ten. This could end as soon as tomorrow when Michigan State heads to Ann Arbor, so let’s enjoy this seat at the top while we can.

Brandon Paul scored 43 points against OSU; Photo by Cary Frye

Wow. All I have to say is wow. Illinois dropped a 5-game losing game against Ohio State tonight with a completely unexpected 79-74 win in Champaign. While that news alone is HUGE, the real story is that Brandon Paul is now in the Illinois record books for scoring 43 points. He was 11-15 on FGs., 13-15 on free throws and had 8 3-pointers. This was the third highest score ever for an Illini, and beats his previous best of 24 by leaps and bounds. It also happens to be one-point shy of the highest score for anyone this year in college basketball.

In case 43 points isn’t enough to make you drop your jaw, he also had 8 rebounds, 4 blocks and 2 steals (and 7 turnovers but we’ll go ahead and let that slide tonight). Paul scored more than half of the Illini points, most of which came in the second half. He was everywhere and he just couldn’t miss. Well, he did miss the last free throw of the game which could’ve given him 44 points, but who’s counting? If he’s not the Big Ten Player of the Week then there is no justice in the world.

The only thing that would’ve made this win better is if I had been able to be there among the crowd screaming my lungs off as the Illini took over the game and got an incredible win. There were some other guys in the game, I think. However, an interesting note is that both teams had 0 points from the bench. Meyers Leonard, DJ Richardson and Joseph Bertrand were all in double digits (14, 10, 10)  but obviously the game belonged to Paul.

I’m still in shock. The Illini played like a team that wanted to win tonight, and that’s what they went ahead and did. They are about to go into a short break with the next game coming a week from Thursday at Penn State, but a win like this can turn the season around. And, they did it essentially without a point guard since Sam Maniscalco didn’t play at all. Yes, it was a home game, but it was a win against Ohio State, who was predicted to win the Big Ten. OSU wasn’t missing any players, and Jared Sullinger still did his thing with 21 points and 5 rebounds. Hey, if you can keep Sully from getting a double double then your job is done, and credit certainly goes to Leonard for keeping him somewhat in check.

If you look at my preview, I pretty much wrote this game off as a loss. Illinois has barely beaten much worse opponents in the last few weeks, and they have been unable to beat Ohio State in the last three years. Purdue beat Illinois by 15 points, and then went ahead and lost to Penn State. Now that they’ve shown what they can really do, I expect to see it for the rest of the season as well. So far, Illinois has beaten who they were supposed to beat and lost when they were supposed to lose, but this changes things completely.

No one thought a win over the No. 5 team in the country was really possible, but tonight Paul was taken over by a Tebow-esque force and completely took over the game in an awesome and awe-inspiring manner capped off by scoring the last 15 points of the game for the Illini.

My favorite moment might have been when Paul made a 3 with just 43 seconds to go in the game putting them up 74-40. Oh, and did I mention it was off of an inbound pass with about 3 seconds on the shot clock? Oh, and by the way he was molested (see fouled) by Aaron Craft during the whole thing. Check it out here if you missed it: http://btn.com/2012/01/10/did-you-see-this-illinois-paul/.

Paul’s got the lead blurb on ESPN, he’s trending on Twitter, and he deserves all the accolades that come his way.

Sullinger will head to Champaign tomorrow.

Ohio State is currently the #5 team in the country, and stars Jared Sullinger – a guy who could’ve been a first round pick LAST year. So yeah, I’m not expecting too much out of this game tomorrow, I’d just like to avoid looking stupid at home.

In Champaign, Illinois leads the series vs. OSU 102-69, but the Buckeyes are on a 5-game winning streak against the Illini, and a 2-game streak in Champaign. Sure, OSU has had a few losses on the road this year at Indiana and Kansas, but Indiana is having a dream season and Kansas is Kansas. Illinois is young and immature, and a win tomorrow would be somewhat of a miracle.

DJ Richardson is feeling better, but if as we learned last year if his confidence is low then he won’t make shots. Perhaps he has matured as he’s been strong all season, but a wrist injury can mess a guy up. No word on whether Sam Maniscalco is going to play on his bum ankle, but again if he’s not in tip top shape he won’t be that useful either. Beaten and bruised, the Illini are going to need to pull out all the stops to win.

Meyers Leonard has been useless the last two games, even if he had a game-winning block against Northwestern. If he had played throughout the whole game then they wouldn’t have needed one lucky block to win the game, they would’ve been up by double digits.  He is most likely going to be guarding Sullinger, and I’m anxious to see how that shakes down. Leonard was able to stop Robert Sacre of Ganzaga, but Sacre is no Sullinger.

Joseph Bertrand needs to keep doing what he has been doing, and Brandon Paul needs to stop turning the ball over. Then, of course, the bench needs to get involved. If each player can take their best game of the season and smoosh it into tomorrow’s game, then maybe we’d have a chance – maybe.

All I’m asking for is some good effort, hustle and heart – and then I think we’ll succeed in not making a fool of ourselves.

The game is on ESPN at 8.

Bertrand had a career-high 25 points, Photo by Cary Frye

Yet again, the Illini made a game much more difficult than it needed to be and barely scraped by Nebraska, winning 59-54. Joseph Bertrand was again the star, and I couldn’t be happier that the guy is finally getting his due. He had a career-high 25 points scoring 11 out of his 12 FGs. He also had a steal, 2 rebounds and 2 assists.

Though technically a junior, Bertrand is playing for only the second year as he had to redshirt his freshman year due to injuries/illness. His skills have grown leaps and bounds since last year, and I think redshirting may have been a great idea because now we get the guy for two more years.

The Cornhuskers came into the game tied for last place in the Big Ten with an 0-3 conference record. The Illini were at home so this should’ve been a big ol’ blowout, but again they let their opponent stay in the game for way too long. To be fair, Sam Maniscalco was out with an ankle injury and DJ Richardson was limited with a wrist injury. Richardson, who usually has the most minutes of anyone, was still in for 21 minutes but had 0 points and just a steal. Meyers Leonard was absolutely no help yet again, and had 7 points and 6 rebounds. Not sure what’s going on with him, but he needs to snap out of whatever it is if we have any prayer of beating anyone that matters in the Big Ten. The guys have only 1 conference loss so far, but every win has been a close one against the bottom feeders like Northwestern, Minnesota, and now Nebraska.

Tracy Abrams and Brandon Paul helped Bertrand out, but neither really had stellar games. Abrams had 8 points and just 1 assist to go with 3 rebounds. Paul had a nice showing with 11 points and 6 rebounds, and he had 3 assists and just 1 turnover. Paul had been the turnover king for a while, so limiting himself to just one turnover is a huge deal. Paul and Bertrand were the only two players in double digits for points. The Illini also got outrebounded 24-19, which is ridiculous. Bo Spencer led the Cornhuskers with 13 points, and two other guys – Brandon Richardson (love child of Brandon and DJ??) and Toney McCray – were also in double digits with 10 and 12, respectively.

The Illini have not had an easy time with a team since beating Chicago State 90-43 on November 27th. None of the games since then have been double digit wins, and even beating Minnesota by 9 points doesn’t reflect how close that game really was.

Bertrand gets well-deserved attention; photo by Cary FryeMinnesota by nine points is misleading because Illinois almost gave that game away as well. Somehow, they are pulling out wins, but eventually their luck is going to run out and they're going lose a game they shouldn't. So far, they've pretty much beat the teams they're supposed to. The road win at Northwestern could've gone either way, but the other wins aren't that special because they were expected. Moving forward, they're going to be facing teams that are going to be a lot harder, and they need to step up and get at least a few unexpected wins if they want to be involved in Tourney conversations.

First, they host Ohio State on Tuesday, which is going to be a loss. Winning would be a gigantic coup, but with the way they’re playing, I’m not holding my breath. Penn State on the road comes next, which is usually an easy win but they just killed Purdue, who already killed Illinois. Then it’s Wisconsin, at Minnesota, and Michigan State. So, things are just going to get tougher and tougher. Meyers Leonard needs to get involved, and everyone needs to get healthy, otherwise the season is already over.

After playing two road games in a row, tomorrow Illinois will be back in the friendly confines of the Assembly Hall. This is the first time in 35 years that Nebraska will be in Champaign, and since they seem to be gunning for last place in the B1G conference, I’d like to see a big blowout tomorrow.

The Illini are back in the running to surpass the mediocre title with that Northwestern win, but they’re still shaky. A home blowout against Nebraska would be a nice touch, and a loss is unthinkable.

With just three losses, Illinois wasn’t looking toooo shabby. Losing to Purdue didn’t seem like a big deal until Penn State made them look stupid last night, and though the Northwestern game was a win it was way too close for comfort. However, it was a win and it happened in a dramatic fashion, so they should be feeling pretty good when they welcome the Cornhuskers.

With a record of 8-6, it is abundantly clear that Nebraska was allowed to join the conference solely for their football program. They’ve now lost 3 games in a row – all to Big Ten opponents – putting them in a tie for last place with Minnesota. Granted, the teams they faced were the top tier (Wisconsin, Michigan State, Ohio State) but really who isn’t in the top tier when it comes to the Big Ten (wink)? With Iowa winning at Wisconsin and the afore mentioned surprise Penn State win, this is shaping up to be a pretty exciting conference season.

When the highest caliber win on your schedule came on the road at a 5-11 USC, weeks ago, Nebraska has got to feel a little beat up. It’s not like when St. Bonaventure comes into town with nothing to lose, being new to the conference they have everything to lose, and I want that loss to be huge. True they may have a few more seniors than Illinois (who doesn’t?), but playing in the Big 12 is totally different than facing a Big Ten schedule.

Sam Maniscalco is probably going to be out for the game, which is wise since we’ll need him in tip-top shape for the more important games. Not that we should overlook Nebraska altogether, because that’s always a mistake. However, if we can get the W at NU on the road without “Sammy Ice,” let’s save him for something bigger. And, word is that his poor play for the last few games is because of that ankle, and we don’t want to see that again.

Look for Tracy Abrams to start again, along with Joseph Bertrand, Brandon Paul, DJ Richardson and Meyers Leonard. While Leonard got the winning block at NU, I would like to see him add a little more spring to his step. There is no reason he shouldn’t get a double double every game, and that’s what I expect to see tomorrow.

Fun facts:

• Illinois leads the series against Nebraska 7-2. Last time they played was in Puerto Rico in 1990, when Nebraska got the win scoring 100 points.
• The last time Nebraska visited Champaign was in 1976.
• Nebraska has only won in Champaign once.

The game will be tomorrow at 12 on the BTN.