Click here for the UI-Wisconsin box score.
MADISON - With 2 minutes left in regulation, the Grateful Red chanted "Stand up, old people" and motioned to the capacity crowd at the Kohl Center.
Illinois just wanted someone to stand up and hit a shot.
Next came the obligatory "Over-rated" chant.
And as the Badgers finished off a decisive 63-50 win, it appeared the student section was right about No. 23 Illinois. The Illini dropped their fourth straight road game. Illinois shot 33 percent and allowed UW guard Jason Bohannon to score 20 points before a capacity crowd at Kohl Center.
Mike Davis had 14 points for Illinois (18-5, 6-4 Big Ten), while Chester Frazier added 13 rebounds. The Illini trailed by as many as 17 points, giving the Grateful Red ample time to think of catchy things to say.
11:15 Left in First Half - Wisconsin 50, Illinois 36
- Jason Bohannon was largely responsible for Wisconsin's 17-point lead - but he could he also be responsible for a mini-run from the Illini?
Shortly after the UW sharpshooter swished his sixth three-pointer of the game (tying a career-high), he missed an uncontested dunk. Illinois responded with five straight points as part of a 7-0 run.
- Bruce P. checks in via email: "We missed the first 5 minutes because of ESPN! Nice job Pat Summit... But 5 minutes of the game?"
- Every Thursday we name our Top 4 seeds in each NCAA regional. Here's how we think the four regionals would look if Selection Sunday were today (and not March 15). Tonight's results are not included:
Midwest
1. North Carolina
2. Marquette
3. Xavier
4. Kansas
West
1. Pittsburgh
2. Wake Forest
3. Memphis
4. Gonzaga
East
1. Connecticut
2. Duke
3. Louisville
4. Purdue
South
1. Oklahoma
2. Clemson
3. Michigan State
4. Tennessee
- Klee pieced it together on the drive up to Madison today, and it's a good thing it's a hearty drive. With the developments of the past week, it was awfully difficult to find four teams to fill the No. 4-seed spots. Tennessee was the last one in, mainly due to their seasonal resume, not what the Vols have done lately. Illinois is currently a 6 seed in our book, with ample opportunities to move into a protected seed (Nos. 1-5). More on the seeds tomorrow on IlliniHQ.
- Solid work on the defensive end put Illinois back within a reasonable deficit. The Illini cut it to 10, but the Badgers responded with seven straight points. Illinois is a team lacking confidence at the moment. Bruce Weber has "gone small," with Mike Davis and four perimeter players, hoping to speed up the tempo.
Check back in a few.
Klee
Halftime - Wisconsin 37, Illinois 25
- Remember how we were saying Jason Bohannon was one of the Badgers that Illinois was concerned about? His previous season-high on 3's was five (against Idaho State and Texas). Bohannon set a new season-high with 2 minutes left in the first half: five three-pointers. His career-high is six 3's (at Indiana).
- Alex Legion's long jumper - a foot was on the three-point line - was only his fourth field goal in the last five games. But his minutes have been varied, and sometimes minimal, and this might be a game where you will see a lot of Alex Legion - the offense looks like it did in the first half against Iowa.
Alex also played solid D on Joe Krabbenhoft as the burly forward was backing into the post. As you know, defense is where Weber wants to see him improve. And Legion's taking the defensive end seriously in practice, because he knows that's how he'll earn minutes.
- Klee spoke with Gene Keady this afternoon. The Big Ten analyst was his usual funny self. Asked him if he gets stressed out when he watches former coaching aides Bruce Weber and Matt Painter coach against each other.
"You know me better than that," Keady said. "I don't get stressed. I give stress."
Before Weber got the SIU job, he had applied for countless head coaching gigs across the Midwest. I asked Keady if Weber ever got frustrated with the process.
"Well, sure. But I didn't like him to apply too many places," Keady said. "Toledo, Southeast Missouri, he didn't need to apply to those places. There were some people that I didn't understand why they wouldn't hire him. He was a good coach. It didn't make sense to me."
Keady talked at length about the Weber-Painter relationship - and his own coaching tree - and we'll write about it in Sunday's News-Gazette and on HQ.
- Wisconsin riddled Illinois' defense in the first half, shooting 50 percent from the field. And it's been eight games since Illinois allowed more than 31 points in a half. Michigan did it, scoring 38 points in their matchup in Ann Arbor, and the Wolverines won that game. Furthermore, the Illini are on their way to giving up 70 points, and they've only done that twice (Clemson, at Michigan), and they lost both of those games. We'll see if they can get some stops here.
- Wisconsin, of course, is looking to stop their first six-game losing streak since the 1997-98 season, before Bo Ryan was coach.
- Matt Painter didn't give any definites today, he didn't sound optimistic Robbie Hummel (back) would play against Illinois on Sunday.
"He could make progress or he could take another step backwards," Painter said today, of Hummel's uncertain status.
Check back in a few.
Klee
5:50 Left in First Half - Wisconsin 27, Illinois 17
- The Grateful Red was late-arriving tonight, but the student section has filled nicely. Just before the national anthem, we counted 48 Grateful Red t-shirts around the UW band. Now, there's probably close to 200 or so. Maybe more. Not quite a full house at the Kohl Center, but there aren't many empty seats. Still, the noise in this place won't scare anybody, unless the Badgers are on a big run. It's more like Value City (Ohio State) than Mackey (Purdue).
- Former Illini great Steve Stricker is in attendance, sitting courtside across from the UW bench. They just showed him on the Jumbotron. Hate to tell you this, but he's wearing a Wisconsin ballcap.
- Marcus Landry just another 3. That's Wisconsin's fourth 3, and they've opened a 10-point lead. Bruce Weber immediately called timeout, and the coach didn't say a word for the first 20 seconds in the huddle. We'll see if The Stare got their attention.
Check back in a few.
Klee
11:53 Left in First Half - Wisconsin 12, Illinois 11
- Wisconsin football coach Bret Bielema was down on the court about an hour before tipoff. Fortunately, there were no Illini football fans in the Kohl Center at the time. You folks don't like him very much right now.
- Avatans K. checks in via email: "You have been covering Illinois for a while. How has the practice changed/evolved over the course of last few weeks now that we are in Big Ten play and are ranked nationally?"
Good question. There has been a change. Mainly, in the tone of Bruce Weber and Wayne McClain's voice. They've gotten louder, more stern with careless mistakes, as evidenced by Weber's throwing them out of the gym last week. It wasn't just an act, either, Weber told me. He was quite upset at their complacency and wanted to put an end to it.
I think the coaches want to ground the Illini - because must of this roster hasn't experienced success at the college level - and help them realize they really haven't accomplished anything yet, at least relative to recent Illinois teams.
- Klee's favorite part of the first 4 minutes of the game: Predicting Demetri McCamey's heat check. It usually comes from the right wing.
"If he makes it, you know a couple more are coming," Bruce Weber said this week.
Sure enough, Demetri splashed his first jumper (his foot was on the line for a 2), and promptly fired up another one. He hit that one, too, a 3-pointer from the left wing.
That's a good sign for Illinois. I thought McCamey played his finest game as an Illini when Wisconsin was in C-U about 10 days ago (25 points, seven assists, four rebounds).
- Didn't take long for Dominique Keller to find his way to the scorer's table. DK checked in for Mike Davis at the first media timeout and then threw down a dunk. Davis returned the court (for Mike Tisdale) at the next whistle.
- Here's a stat where you would expect to find Wisconsin near the top of the list. But the Badgers are waaay down at No. 193, showing their defensive struggles of late.
- Who had a better week: Meyers Leonard, D.J. Richardson or Jereme Richmond? I'll go with Jereme Richmond - the most important recruit of them all - but you can click here for the tale of the tape.
- Marcus Jackson reports Alex Legion just shot his seventh and eighth free throws of his Illinois career. He made them both - now the UK transfer is 5-for-8 from the line.
Kyle S. checks in via email: "Well, the Illini Nation is collectively upset with ESPN for interrupting the game to show her talking after the 1000 win. How we looking so far?"
Kyle, Weber has used a revolving door at the scorer's table, playing eight guys in the first eight minutes. Wisconsin is getting too much inside for your liking, and has the early rebounding edge. (If there's one guy Illinois fans should wish they had room for in 2009, it's Jack Cooley.)
Jason Bohannon - one of the guys the coaches were concerned about - has a game-high six points at the 11:00 mark. For the Illini, as one guy on press row put it, "There's not a lot of motion in the motion" so far.
And that Michigan 71, Penn State 51 score is shocking. And the Pat Summit interruption... no comment. Hopefully they switch over soon.
Check back in a few.
Klee
Tipoff - No. 23 Illinois (18-4, 6-3 Big Ten) at Wisconsin (12-9, 3-6)
- Coaches have really been on Mike Davis this week in practice. The word he's heard over and over from the coaches: "Energy." He can't go anywhere without the coaches saying, "Energy." It's almost like a ghost following him.
But that's what they're looking for from the sophomore, who's been battling a health condition - and taking "four pills" a day for the condition - for a few weeks now and just hasn't been his usual self. Mike D talked about his health issues earlier this week.
"When I'm inside and relaxing, it feels better," Davis said. "When I'm outside walking around or on the court, I get winded a little faster than I usually do."
- Looks like a full house among those that cover the Illini in print: Herb Gould (Chicago Sun-Times), Lindsey Willhite (Daily Herald), John Supinie (GateHouse News), Mark Tupper (Decatur Herald-Review). You can always tell if the Illini are playing well by how many reporters travel to road games. So they're playing well.
- The top three scorers for Illinois - in Big Ten games - are sophomores. Barring a move by Trent Meacham, the Illini will have a sophomore lead them in scoring for the first since Deron Williams in 2003-04.
Illinois' 2007 recruiting class was met with angst among those that follow UI recruiting. At the time, that was for good reason, but those '07s have developed and turned into the program's cornerstone for the next two-plus seasons.
"We're learning every day and getting better. That's the biggest thing: How are you going to approach every day?" Demetri McCamey said before practice the other day. "I think (Mike) Tisdale and Mike Davis, they're doing a good job in the frontcourt, and me and Jeff in the backcourt. Then we've got Alex coming along, a transfer from Kentucky.
"I think the future's bright for us. We've got to keep getting better all the time."
- Read more about the Illini's sophomore surge here.
- Bruce P. checks in via email: "Paul, if they start 'homering' us tonight, I'll be looking for you to run out there and get it stopped!"
Bruce, hopefully I could outrun Jim Burr.
- This will be Wisconsin's ninth game against a team ranked in the Top 25.
- The guy on the Kohl Center Jumbotron - a local weather guy - just told everyone tonight's forecast calls for "not as cold" temperatures.
So that got everyone's hopes up.
And then he told us it will be 9 degrees tonight.
- The starting lineup for Illinois: McCamey, Frazier, Meacham, Davis and Tisdale. This marks the 21st straight game Bruce Weber has stuck with that lineup.
Check back in a few.
Klee
30 Minutes Until Tipoff - No. 23 Illinois (18-4, 6-3 Big Ten) at Wisconsin (12-9, 3-6)
Good evening everyone, Paul Klee and Marcus Jackson joining you from inside the Kohl Center. We'll be here throughout the game - if you have questions or comments send them here: pklee@news-gazette.com or mjackson@news-gazette.com
A few items as Bucky stretches....
- In a unique twist, one Illinois assistant has been responsible for four straight scouting reports. That doesn't happen often. We wrote about Wayne McClain's scouting report strategy today: Click here.
- The newest addition to IlliniHQ: Ed Bond's blog. Bondo has chronicled the Illini's trip to Wisconsin on his camera phone. In fact, he just caught an unsuspecting Klee, Jackson and Steve Lavin with his wily camera phone. Click here.
- Tomorrow on HQ, Illini radio voice Jerry Hester joins you for an online chat at 11 a.m. Here's an idea. Ask him about his time playing professionally in Israel - in the Israeli league where Dee Brown, Roger Powell and Brian Randle are currently drawing a paycheck. Submit your questions here.
- Klee's prediction: Click here.
- Jim Rossow's prediction: Click here.
Check back in a few. The wounded Badgers - "They're mean and dangerous," Bruce Weber said - are going through layup lines.
Klee
Towards the end of our loss at the Kohl Center, Lavin and Mussberger agreed that Alex Legion's playing time ran a tad long. I looked up some statistics from previous games and found that he posted good numbers in our road loss to Michigan. Otherwise, he has been a liability in numbers and a hindrance to the rest of the squad. He does NOT make the extra pass, but takes it wildly to the rim or throws up a quick shot from the perimeter. He obviously hasn't adapted to the Weber style of basketball and looks out of sync with his teammates. Does anyone know what his problems were at Kentucky that caused him to leave?
Posted by on February 5, 2009 at 11:12 PM | Suggest Removal
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