That's a Little More Like It

Down three at halftime with only 22 points, it looked like it might be another long afternoon for the Illini. The win moves Illinois to 18-4 and made it nine straight wins at Assembly Hall.

Mike Tisdale led the way for Illinois with 18 points and helped Illinois dominate the glass by 13 rebounds, just one game after getting owned by Minnesota in the rebounding department. Dominique Keller continued his strong play with 12 points off the bench.

So it's on to Wisconsin this week, where the Badgers will look to get back on track and Illinois will try to solve some road woes. A win at the Kohl Center would go a long way into securing a good seed for the tourney.

It's hard to say whether this is a good time to play Wisconsin or not. Will they be focused on snapping their six game skid, or will the spiral into Indiana territory continue?

Also, with Michigan State losing at home to Penn State Sunday, the regular season conference title is suddenly looking to be up for grabs. With a home game against the Spartans late in the season and a relatively favorable (knock knock) schedule the rest of the way, the Illini could very well sneak into a Big Ten Championship.

Illinois hits the Road

Illinois has enjoyed a lot of success at home this season, to the tune of an eight game winning streak at Assembly Hall. Starting tonight, the Illini will be playing four of six on the road and it's time to show they deserve to stay in the top 25.

People will point out that Illinois hasn't won on the road in about a month, but the Illini haven't exactly had a ton of chances to get wins on the road. That stretch has been two games. As for tonight, if they could choose a road game (other than Indiana), Minnesota would be the one. Illinois has a 20 game winning streak against the Gophers, eight of those on the road.

However, these aren't your older brother's Golden Gophers. Tubby Smith's squad has home wins against Louisville, Ohio State, and a blowout of Penn State. So what are the keys to beating the Gophers?

First, Illinois has to dominate inside. Minnesota has decent bigs, but Mike Davis and Mike Tisdale should be able to win this battle. Secondly, the Illini need to slow down Lawrence Westbrook. The Minnesota guard isn't easy to, well...guard. He's very quick and can get to the basket, but can also hit the three if you give him space. Finally, Illinois need to take care of the ball. The first two goals shouldn't be too hard to acheive; Illinois has better big men and plays great defense, so turnovers are their biggest fear.

Game is on tonight, 8PM on the Big Ten Network.

Illini get a W in First Game Since Being Ranked

Assembly Hall is rocking again this year, helping the Illini to a 67-49 win against Ohio State last night and making it seven wins in a row at home for Illinois. It was another balanced attack for Illinois, led by Mike Tisdale with 15 points, Demetri McCamey with 13, and two others in double figures.

Bruce Weber seemed to be making the right moves as well. In the first half he pulled an ineffective Tisdale and Dominique Keller stepped in with 12 points, while Tisdale returned to being the great big white hope in the second half.

This was the kind of win that has seemed to elude Illinois recently, as well as Big Ten teams ranked in the 20's. Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and others I don't care to research have been victims to the 20's curse so far this year, but the Illini came together for a big win over the Buckeyes. We finally saw some offense to go along with that suffocating defense that has been a staple of Weber teams.

It was a complete game and the Illini seem to have that intangible quality where it just seems like all the parts are working. Tisdale commented after the game that it seems like this year's team is a lot more "together" than the team last year. Weber said the Illini are still looking for that big road win to be serious contenders in the conference, but I'm sure they'll be more focused on getting that eighth straight home win when they host Wisconsin this weekend.

Big Win for Illini; Tough Test is Next

It was a tale of two halves Wednesday night as Illinois downed Michigan at Assembly Hall. The first half was an ugly battle in which Michigan ended up with a one point advantage. For the Illini, Demetri McCamey had 15 of his 17 points in the first half, while 7'1" center Mike Tisdale had six points. For Michigan in the first half, Manny Harris was held to five points while the rest of the team had 26, en route to a 31-30 lead.

The Wolverines had to feel that if Manny could step it up and reach his average of about 18 points per game, they would have a great chance to win. Well, Manny scored 15 second half points, but the rest of the team only had five.

Mike Tisdale meanwhile was beating Michigan in every way. With McCamey held to two second half points, the big guy was tipping misses, making buckets while being fouled, and even hit a three that erased all doubt late. Tisdale had 18 second half points to finish with 24 and give the Illini a 66-51 win.

The victory was a huge one for the Illini, who move to 3-1 in the conference and 15-2 overall. You have to win at home in the Big Ten to be successful and this was a must win early in the conference season.

Next, Illinois will try to steal a game on the road and make it sweeps week for the state of Michigan when they take on Michigan State in East Lansing on Saturday. If they can escape with a win, the Illini will have 16 W's with 13 games left, including at least one gimme at Indiana. Tournament hopes are high after the win last night, but fans will be thinking about securing a higher seed if the Spartans go down Saturday.