Read our Live Report from Conseco Fieldhouse here

INDIANAPOLIS - Adjusting the ice bags on both of his knees, Mike Davis sat in the locker room and explained why Illinois thinks it has a chance against mighty Ohio State on Saturday.

"People are probably going to say, 'Illinois got lucky today,'" Mike Davis said. "Well, let's get lucky again. Let's shock 'em."

Lucky? No, No. 5 Illinois outplayed No. 4 Wisconsin in a 58-54 win today in the Big Ten tournament at Conseco Fieldhouse on Friday. That set up a semifinal meeting with top-seeded Ohio State today (12:40 p.m., CBS).

Strangely, judging from the confidence brewing in the Illinois locker room, that's just the matchup the players were hoping for.

"We know we're going to have to beat the best teams to win (the tournament)," said Mike Tisdale (21 points, eight rebounds against Wisconsin).

"We lost to them twice, why not play them a third time, get another crack at them, top-five team in the country, should be fun," added Davis (10 points, 10 rebounds).

The Illinois players watched from the tunnel as Evan Turner, the Big Ten's Superman, buried a 37-foot buzzerbeater to lift Ohio State past Michigan. One Shining Moment arrived three weeks early.

"Right when he let it go, I called it," D.J. Richardson said.

It's not hard to understand why Ohio State is expected to beat Illinois a third time. Their matchups this season have been as lopsided as a football; Ohio State won 72-53 in Champaign, the worst home loss for Illinois in three decades, and 73-57 in Columbus.

"I think our matchups kind of hurt them a little bit," Ohio State guard David Lighty said. "They have a lot of bigs. We like to get out and run. I think that will probably be our best bet."

Illinois (19-13) delivered the shocker of the Big Ten tournament in beating Wisconsin (23-8) - mainly because the Badgers so thoroughly thumped the Illini in Champaign 72-57 just five days before. But that's what Bruce Weber does. His adjustments produce wins at the Big Ten tournament, whether it's with the top-seeded Illini that won the 2005 title or the 10th-seeded n'er-do-wells that upset their way to the 2008 championship game.

"I don't know if there's any secret to it or whatever, but we get up for the tournaments," said Weber, whose 12 tourney wins are second only to Tom Izzo (13, entering Friday).

How did Friday happen? Demetri McCamey made like Indy's Peyton Manning, quarterbacking his way to 13 points and eight assists. Just as important, player after player talked about "preparation." Specifically, they recalled Monday's boot camp-ish practice that featured competitive drills, where the losing team "ran and ran and ran," as Davis put it. It was an unusual coaching tactic this late in the season. Coaches usually prefer fresh legs in March. But it worked.

"He (Weber) just turns it on," Tisdale added. "This week in practice has been almost like hell."

"Our guys played their butts off," Weber added.

Illinois advanced to the semifinal round for the 12th time in 13 tournaments, a crazy statistic, and made it hard for the selection committee to keep them from the NCAA tournament. The Illini own five wins against the RPI Top 50 - only Kansas, Georgetown and Syracuse have more - and taking two of three from Wisconsin can't hurt, either.

"This win virtually locks Illinois into an at-large bid regardless what transpires in conference tournaments, where an unexpected victor could deflate a high-major's bubble," Yahoo! Sports bracket expert Brad Evans said. "At worst, Illinois will be a No. 12 seed. However, if it musters another marquee effort against the Buckeyes, a No. 11 seed is conceivable."

First things first: Ohio State (24-7). Assistants Jay Price and Jerrance Howard scribbled notes on the Ohio State-Michigan game from press row, and Howard, who has the scouting report, raced from the postgame locker room to study more film on the Buckeyes.

"All week - the last couple weeks - we're feeling down and out. All of Illini nation is. Nobody wants to lose," Howard said from the team's hotel. "But we had our best practices this week since I've been here. We'll give it our best shot and that's all you can ask."

"I think it's more when they play a good team they have a sense of urgency, maybe a little bit of a fear factor," Weber said.