"I thought they were the tougher team for the bulk of the game," Groce said of Western Carolina. "That's disappointing. They did a lot of things better than us. We have to learn quickly that you have to play a complete 40-minute game. But as I said after the Gardner-Webb game, we're not going to give it back. We made plays late in the game."

The unbeaten Illini (9-0) will have to play better when they travel to No. 10 Gonzaga on Saturday. And they will, Groce vowed.

"We'll learn from this," he said. "We're a learn-and-move organization. We learn from every circumstance. We'll learn from this one and make sure we're ready for Saturday's game."

Herb Gould