Nnanna Egwu had 10 rebounds in the loss vs. Michigan; Photo by Cary Frye

It should come as no surprise to anyone that Illinois lost to the No. 2 team in the country last night. And, with that road win for Michigan, the Wolverines are now tied with Kansas for the top spot in the country. Hey, if we’re going to lose at home, at least it’s to the best team in the country!

Before yesterday’s game, my only wish was that Illinois didn’t look stupid. Despite the 74-60 win for the Wolverines, the Illini actually hung in there pretty well for a good portion of the game. The Illini were down 8 points at the half, 35-27. About halfway through the second, Michigan pushed harder and the game slipped away. With about 5 minutes left the Michigan lead surged to 18, and it was pretty much over at that point.

Brandon Paul had a team-high 15 points, which is still on the lower side for him. He had a block, a steal and a couple of assists, but he also had 5 turnovers. D.J. Richardson fresh off of a career-high 30 last week at Nebraska, scored just 12 points yesterday. He also contributed an impressive 7 rebounds. Nnanna Egwu continued to lead the team in rebounds, he contributed 10. One of these days, I believe he will have a double double, but it hasn’t happened just yet. Tracy Abrams had 10 points, and those were the only guys in double digits.

Tyler Griffey and Joseph Bertrand each contributed a measly 4 points. The Illini had 6 3′s, all of which came from Richardson, Paul and 1 from Abrams. What I said before the game is that we needed someone else to step up and have a good game besides Paul, and that didn’t happen. We won the battle of the rebounds 34-33, but lost the TO stat 15-12. Four separate Wolverines were in double digits, including 19 from Trey Burke.

Of course I knew this game would be a loss, but a gal can always dream for something different, right? Michigan was clearly the better team, and Illinois acted like this was a given, and thus gave them the game. The Illini are doing exactly what I expect, which makes me very nervous for what’s to come. They have just 2 wins in the conference, home against OSU and at Nebraska last week. Thursday, they’ll have to head to Michigan State and do something spectacular, or else fall further down the spiral toward the bottom of the conference.

The keys again, in case this time they’re listening, is to stop the turnovers and get everyone involved. There are too many games where this appears to be a 3-person team (Abrams, Richardson and Paul). There are a whole lot of other guys on the bench and on the starting roster that can contribute, and need to if we’re going to have a prayer at heading to the NCAA Tournament this year.

On the whole 15 wins isn’t a terrible place to be at this point in the season, especially playing in what might be the toughest conference out there. However, there is a very real chance that we’ll only win 2 or 3 more games on the season, and that’s not going to do the trick. We need some surprises, so why not get started this week?

Up next, you can watch the Illini at Michigan State on Thursday at 6pm on ESPN.

As you can see from the headline, I’m not very confident about this upcoming game on Saturday. Lucky readers, this will be short and sweet because honestly what is there left to say? On Saturday, the Illini (who by the way are 2-4 for the season) will head to Ann Arbor to face a ranked Michigan in “The Big House.”

The Wolverines are favored by 25 points in this game, and frankly that sounds just about right. The only goal for Tim Beckman, Nathan Scheelhaase, et al is to not look stupid.

The Illini actually hung in there with Wisconsin last week at Camp Randall, until the 3rd quarter that is when they were outscored  24-7. Wisconsin has been having an off year, while Michigan is ranked. Oddly enough, Michigan is only 3-2 for the season, but their two losses have come on the road against #2 Alabama and #11 Notre Dame.

In order to feel a tad better, Lousisana Tech (that icky 52-14 loss at home a few weeks back) is now 5-0 and the #23 team in the country. Penn State (that loss two weeks ago) had a rough start but has since been on point, and even Arizona State has just one loss to Missouri on the road. Point is, we haven’t lost to a team like Indiana – at least not yet.

Game plan for this weekend has to be to get the offense to do something (anything!) and keep the defense off the field for as long as possible. That way, the defense can stay strong for the entire game, instead of pooping out in the end. Plain and simple, ready go-

Fun Facts!

• Illinois has faced the 21st-toughest schedule so far this season, as Illini oppponents have a 13-7 record against FBS competition (not including their game against Illinois).
• Things are just going to get harder, because moving forward they will face the 10th-toughest schedule for the rest of the season.
• Illinois ranks 10th nationally in fourth-down defense, allowing just one first down on five fourth-down attempts (20.0 percent).
• The Illini have held the opposition scoreless seven times in the red zone this year (out of 24 chances), ranking 24th in the nation in red-zone defense (70.8 percent).
• Michigan leads the series by a 68-23-2 advantage overall and holds a 32-11-1 lead in games played in Ann Arbor.
•  The two teams have split the last four meetings, with Illinois winning 45-20 in the Big House in 2008 and 38-13 in Champaign in 2009.

The game will be on at 2:35 PM Central on ABC (more public humiliation!).

Tracy Abrams makes me feel slightly better about the future of the Illini;; Photo by Cary Frye

I will admit it, I was hanging on to a shred of hope for Illinois to magically buck the odds and make it to the Tournament this year. It wasn’t impossible. A win at home vs. Michigan, a road win against Wisconsin and the dream is very much alive. But, tonight’s 71-62 loss to Michigan shattered any remaining pipe dreams that fans had in the backs of their heads.

Michigan hasn’t won at Assembly Hall since 1995. That’s 13 straight games that Illinois has won vs. Michigan in Champaign, a record that is now kaput. This is the ultimate season of failure, so it’s not a surprise that this impressive run for the Illini over the Wolverines has ended.

Tonight was the last home game for Illinois of the season, which would normally signify senior night. Since our only seniors are a walk-on and an injury-riddled transfer who has only been on the team for one year, I’m not sure anything even happened to honor these guys at all. It should have been a somewhat special night, but it surely wasn’t. Meyers Leonard even got a surprise visit from his brother who is a marine serving in Afghanistan, but it wasn’t enough to motivate him to get a win. That’s not entirely fair, as he did have 9 rebounds and a team-high 18 points. But Leonard can’t do it all.

It’d be nice to chalk the loss up to youth and immaturity, but Michigan’s top scorers were Trey Burkey (freshman) with 21 points and Tim Hardaway, Jr. (sophomore) with 25. So youth didn’t seem to be an issue for them, just us. Brandon Paul contributed 15 points and 6 rebounds, and just 3 turnovers (that’s a stellar number for him), while PG Tracy Abrams had another nice game with 12 points and 5 rebounds. However, our PG had 0 assists, which is one of the overriding problems for Illinois.

Illinois actually had fewer turnovers (8) than Michigan (12), but had just 25 rebounds compared to Michigan’s 31. Really what it comes down to is talent, and perhaps coaching. Then there is the fact that Illinois just hasn’t been able to shoot (39% on FG) and has started to slack on defense. They allowed Michigan to shoot almost 47% for FGs and for 3′s.

Whelp, that’s it, the season is over. Our only hope now is to win the Big Ten Tournament, which I won’t even pretend is a possibility. Most likely we will be facing Northwestern in the first round, and they are a team that actually realizes something important is on the line. Tonight’s game hammered home the notion that there will be no post-season, and sadly knocked the nail in Bruce Weber’s coffin just a little deeper.

Up next, Illinois will head to Wisconsin on Sunday for the last game of this season that started off strong, and then quickly slid down a windy staircase.