"D.J. (Richardson) has done a decent job on Evan," Illinois coach Bruce Weber said. "He's still (nearly) getting triple-doubles, but he made him earn it. Diebler and Lighty killed us.

"We all have to do a good job of guarding. We have to come out with the fight we had (against Wisconsin) and battle them, see if we can get them a little hesitant and fight them on defense. In the first two games, they toyed with us, to be honest."

Illinois held Wisconsin to 6-for-39 shooting to start the game in the 58-54 quarterfinal victory Friday. Against Ohio State, the likely strategy is for Illinois to sag to defend the basket and Diebler and force the rest of the Buckeyes to hit jump shots. Diebler burned the Illini earlier this season.

Supinie