CHAMPAIGN - A handful of things figured to make Western Michigan's visit to the Assembly Hall interesting, at the least.

Illinois is in the midst of final exams and was coming off a nifty win against Vanderbilt. Plus, the Illini have a tendency to play down to lesser competition.

Turns out, one of the most interestings things Sunday was a visit from Santa Claus and his lovely wife, who were shown on the video board late in a 88-53 blowout of the Broncos. Oh, and the Orange Krush serenaded Western Michigan with a shaky rendition of "Jingle Bells."

Western Michigan (3-4) played like it was already on holiday break. Illinois (8-2) again showed that it can score points in bunches. The Illini led by as many as 27 points in the first half.

Dominique Keller had a season-high 15 points off the bench. Mike Davis added 12 points and 10 rebounds, while D.J. Richardson (12 points) and Demetri McCamey (11 points) did what they needed to do. Bruce Weber nodded to his bench often, playing all 13 guys. Twelve of them scored (Bubba Chisholm).

Weber applauded a defensive effort that held sharpshooter David Kool without a field goal for the first 21 minutes. Kool had scored 30 and 34 points in his previous two games. It was the final home game for Illinois until Northwestern's visit on Dec. 30.

HQ Live Report - 9:12 left in regulation - Illinois 71, Western Michigan 45

-Bruce Weber has applauded more often in this game than in the previous nine. He likes that Western Michigan's David Kool, who had 64 points in his last two games, didn't score a field goal until 19:00 showed in the second half.

-Balanced scoring for Illinois, which has seven players with at least six points.

-There's some bad basketball being played in the MAC. Entering today, only one team in the West Division -- Eastern Michigan (6-3) -- had a winning record. WMU will drop to 3-4 after this one.

Working on coverage for the N-G. Back in a few.

Klee

HQ Live Report - Halftime - Illinois 48, Western Michigan 25

-Alex Legion's four points were his first since the Bradley game. Tyler Griffey also checked in after sitting out against Vanderbilt, Clemson and Bradley (DNP-coaches decision).

-Bill Cole's three-pointer from the right corner was his first 3 since the Presbyterian game on Nov. 21. He has five points.

-Ten guys have played for Illinois; Nine have scored.

-Dominique Keller is enjoying this one. He's 4-for-5 (3-for-3 on threes) for 11 points, a team high.

-The Illini are on pace to meet their goal of holding WMU under 65 points. It would be the first time since the Utah game in Las Vegas that's happened.

-Richmond, Head and Egwu - the three signed or committed recruits in attendance - just went back to the Illinois locker room at halftime.

The Live Report is awesome.

Klee

HQ Live Report - 9:13 left in first half - Illinois 25, Western Michigan 7

-Western Michigan is ice cold, having missed 14 of its first 16 shots. That's a recipe for a blowout. Coach Steve Hawkins just called another timeout.

-With Abrams joining Randle in the Wolves backcourt, Mike Mullins has run of guards that's almost comparable to the McCamey/Evan Turner/Sam Maniscalco trio he had a few years ago.

"It's a guard's game and I think we'll have as good a set of guards as anybody in the country," Mullins told me yesterday.

-Mike Davis (six) just passed Tisdale (five) on the rebounding numbers.

-Bill Cole leads everyone with two floorburns. He's like Ryan Bowen out there. Yes, that's a Ryan Bowen reference. He played for the Nuggets, you know.

-The first seven players Weber plugged into the game (McCamey, Richardson, Paul, Tisdale, Davis, Keller, Cole) have all scored for Illinois.

-There's an Illinois team managers reunion in C-U this weekend. Shout-out to the managers.

Back in a few.

Klee

HQ Live Report - 15:26 left in first half - Illinois 4, Western Michigan 2

-The Shootout at the Hall - by itself - hasn't dramatically affected Illinois' recruiting. But when you add that event to other events (the team shootout in June, the Moody camp in June) those types of events have made an impact.

"One, you get the signed kids here, but also the young guys and get them on campus and get that neat feeling of playing in the Hall," Bruce Weber said yesterday at the Hall. "And you hope that pays dividends down the road."

-On the top of the Illinois scouting report, Jerrance typed "65 points" in bold. He felt that's the magic number today - he wants the Illini to hold the Broncos under 65.

-Weber didn't lose his voice in practice last week. "Hey, everybody. Slow down and move the ball!" Weber just shouted. They heard him in C Section.

-Mike Tisdale had five rebounds by the first media timeout (15:26). So he's halfway to a career high.

-Illinois is 0-for-8 from the field, in stark contrast to its 59-percent shooting against Vanderbilt on Tuesday.

-Chasson Randle and Nnanna Egwu just arrived. They're sitting together, alongside Jereme Richmond, Crandall Head and Randle and Egwu's Illinois Wolves coach, Mike Mullins.

-Here's what Chasson Randle said yesterday about potentially playing with Egwu at Illinois: "It'd be nice if we could play together in college."

Randle, Egwu and Tracy Abrams are signed on to be teammates with Illinois Wolves in the spring and summer. Here's what Randle told HQ's Jeremy Werner about Egwu:

"Man, he's growing it seems like every day with his game," Randle said. He's adding the little hook shot and finishing strong at the basket. He has a little outside jumper, too. So he's phenomenal."

Back in a few.

Klee

HQ Live Report - Tipoff - Western Michigan at Illinois

-HQ contributor and News-Gazette legend Jason Randall, sitting with the Krush, texts that Deon Thomas and Brian Cook's honored jerseys are out of order in the rafters. He's right - Thomas' jersey should be after Kendall Gill's.

-DeAndre McCamey just arrived. He's sitting in his usual spot next to the UI bench.

-With a win today, Illinois can move into a tie with UConn with the sixth-most wins in the past decade (Duke, KU, Memphis, Gonzaga, Florida).

-Western Michigan's sharpshooter, David Kool, is the one to watch. Jerrance Howard, who has this scouting report, told me Brandon Paul will defend Kool to start the game.

-Same starting lineup: McCamey, Paul, Richardson, Davis and Tisdale.

Back in a few.

Klee

HQ Live Report - 15 minutes until tipoff - Western Michigan at Illinois

-The top prospect in the Shootout field was Quincy Miller. So smooth, so long, so gifted. His Quality Education squad finished off a win against Brehm Prep at 11:23 p.m. last night, with maybe 300 fans left standing in the Hall.

Is it realistic to think Illinois will be a player in his recruitment?

"Of course they're going to be a player in my recruitment," Miller said after the game. "I'm from North Chicago, Illinois. My family's down here. At the same time my school is down there. They're going to be a player."

I have my doubts. I picture that one as a Kentucky/UNC-type recruitment. Illinois still is a longshot, but it didn't hurt to get him on campus, and Miller said he will visit again during the offseason.

-Quincy Mil ler also had the best so-this-is-what-recruiting-has-come-to story.

"Someone hacked into my email (account) and sent Coach K an email and said I had committed," he said. "It was from my email address."

Miller's response?

"I told him (Coach K) it wasn't me. He knows."

-Asked if he followed the '04-05 Illini, Miller said no. "I've watched Dee Brown highlights, though," he added.

-Jereme Richmond and Crandall Head just arrived. They're chatting with Dominique Keller.

Back in a minute.

Klee

HQ Live Report - 35 minutes until tipoff - Western Michigan at Illinois

What's up. Paul Klee joining you from the Assembly Hall with the Live Report. We'll be here through the final buzzer with updates here and there.

Thought about sleeping here last night. The fourth Shootout at the Hall ended at 11:23 p.m. with the last of seven games. Here's the rundown of our Shootout coverage, with more to come later today on HQ:

-You can find the game recaps on HQ. There are seven of them, covered by five reporters from the News-Gazette.

-Jeremy Werner's Live Report from the Shootout. (Notes on all the games.) Click here.

-Klee's recruiting notebook (Randle, Richmond, Abrams, Simpson, Siakam, etc.). Click here.

-Here's today's story on Bill Cole. He's earned minutes by simply playing harder than everyone else. Click here.

-Game prediction and Jerrance Howard's scouting report. Also some insight on how D.J. Richardson has been shooting in practice (lights out). Click here.

-The Illinois players were particularly fond of Meyers Leonard's highlight-reel blocked shot, where he pinned a layup against the backboard.

-Can't say enough about the Shootout. It gets better every year. Special thanks to the Champaign Sports Commission.

-Some of those expected to be here today: Nnanna Egwu, Chasson Randle, Jereme Richmond and Crandall Head. Meyers Leonard said he wanted to attend but wasn't positive he could make it. An eight-grader from Springfield is also supposed to be in attendance.

-Kendall Gill, who's doing the BTN broadcast, just walked across the court.

Illinois players just left the floor to go back into the locker room. C-U must be sleeping - very quiet in here, maybe 300 fans so far. We'll be back in a minute.

Klee