Illinois Vs. Quincy

The Illini take the court today against a Quincy team that is favored to win their division of the Great Lakes Valley conference. Bruce Weber's team got a warm up against Missouri Southern State and are prepared to kick it up a little bit as the competition should be higher tonight. Joseph Bertrand will not play this evening due to injury. Take a look at my article on what the Illini need to show in today's game, and I will try to let you know how I think they did on those points.

Final score 84-63 Illini Win!

Bill Cole nails his third three!

Bubba Chisholm into the game for the Illini, but no Stan Simpson. I'm sure we will find out during the post game why he was out again. Last week it was academics, so I assume it's the same thing.

With 2 minutes left, the game is in hand for the Illini. It certainly wasn't the prettiest display of Illinois basketball in recent memory, but it got the job done.

Finally the Illini have woken up. Demetri McCamey just made a nice reverse lay-up, and the lead is stretched to 17 points. 78-61 Illinois.

DJ Richardson makes it look easy. Guys like he and Brandon Paul just seem to glide out there.

Bill Cole hits a three, and the lead has grown to 14 points.

Only six turnovers to this point for Illinois.

DJ Richardson hits back to back threes followed by a lay-up and gives the Illini their biggest lead in a while. The Illini are ahead here 69 to 56. Richardson has really stepped up his game in the last few minutes. 6 left in the game.

Quincy calls a timeout with 9 minutes left in the game, and this one is a lot closer than it should be. 59-54 Illinois. Don't get me wrong, Quincy has played a tough game, but Illinois should be able to beat these guys by at least 15 or 20.

The Illini go down low to Tisdale, and it works. The tallest guy on the floors for the Hawks is 6'8", so the heigth advantage is there.

Quincy has been hanging around all game, and I keep waiting for the Illini to put things together, but to this point there are few guys really working extra hard. 51-47 Illinois.

Mike Tisdale just flushed home a rebound that woke the crowd up a little bit. The atmosphere in this building has been sub-par for most of the game, and I can't wait until these things matter so I can hear from my Orange Krush!

The Illini seem to be a little shaky today. There has been a real lack of flow in this game for both teams.

DJ just earned a Matto point by diving on the floor for a loose ball and giving us all that nice sound of skin rubbing on hardwood...

The Illini have only committed 4 turnovers, but they have taken a lot of bad shots which are just as bad.

At halftime the Illini lead Quincy 37-30.

DJ Richardson continues to impress as he sinks another shot from behind the arc. He leads the Illini with 11 points.

The offense is still trying to make the outside shot work for them. There has been a lot less driving than I wanted to see, but that has a lot to do with the type of defense Quincy is using.

DJ Richardson for three. If we keep shooting like this, Quincy will have to start opening up the lane a little.

Mike Davis with another deep shot.

Quincy is really packing the lane on defense and giving the Illini the three point shot. Now that DJ and Brandon have made a couple, let's see if they change their philosophy.

Quincy is murdering the Illini from the paint and on the offensive glass. To this point the rebounding edge is +7 for the Hawks.

Alex Legion started off hot, but since that point he has missed 3 straight and the coaches are all over him for his shot selection.

Josh Edmonds is on fire for the Hawks. To this point the junior has 10 of Quincy's 17 points.

Alex Legion hits another three. 2-2 with 6 points.

Jeff Jordan checks into the game for the first time this year. He was ready last week, but Weber felt he needed to work a little longer to get back on the team.

Alex Legion comes into the game off of the bench and hits a three pointer. Hopefully Legion will see this as an opportunity to show that he belongs on the court.

The attendance today is disappointing again.

The team looks asleep to this point with the exception of Brandon Paul, and he's rushing things a little bit. The advantage in athleticism is obvious for the Illini, but to this point the Quincy Hawks just want it a lot worse.

Mike Tisdale used his size early to grab a board, but since then he has been a little soft down low.

Brandon Paul starts where he left off last game when he had 10 trips to the line as he goes aggressively to the hole and is fouled. Paul makes both free throws.

Brandon Paul and D.J. Richardson are joining the starting line-up in only their second game under Bruce Weber.