Fans ill over Illini struggles

CHAMPAIGN – Illinois basketball and coach Bruce Weber already lost a few friends Sunday. Now it only gets tougher.

After a 74-70 loss to Northwestern on Sunday, Illinois (16-7, 5-5 Big Ten) plays four of its next five games away from home, beginning with a game at Indiana (18-6, 6-6) tonight (7 p.m., BTN).

“If we can play with the intensity like we did at Minnesota, we’ll have a chance in some of these games,” Weber said Monday.

It’s been hard to stick with the Illini, who quickly buried upsets with depressing losses. Playing hard is one thing, but the ticket buyers also want to see execution and the bench, which appeared rather bored against Northwestern.

“We have to play with emotion and spirit, and we have to win the fight,’” Weber said. “Against Michigan State, we won the fight. We didn’t win the fight (against Northwestern). Some of that is the mental battle of taking them on, being ready to play. It’s hard to describe. You know when it’s happening.

“In the huddles, I pleaded with them. ‘We can win this thing. Come together. Make plays. Don’t play not to lose.’ We didn’t have that emotional zip that we needed to get a win that we had against Michigan State. The look in the eyes wasn’t the same yesterday.”

In three of these next four road games, the Illini face a team in the upper half of the Big Ten. This is where Weber and the Illini could save the season, or where it could slide out of control.

A growing number of diehards already turned their back on it after the Illini’s fifth loss at home to Northwestern since Assembly Hall opened in 1963.

Besides 12 minutes played by reserve point guard Sam Maniscalco, the bench’s only contributions were 1 minute from Myke Henry and a few seconds from Nnanna Egwu. Henry and Egwu played well in the victory at Northwestern in January, but Weber said the freshmen struggled against the Northwestern offense in practice last week.

“[In] hindsight, of course, use your bench, use other guys, see what happens,’” said Weber, clearly subdued after the loss that hurt Illini pride more than the RPI, where Illinois fell from 35 to 46.