Toughness

"It's team defense,'' said Illini coach Bruce Weber. "We went into the season, and we talked about it. We didn't have great individual defenders besides Chester. We were hoping somebody could become it.

"Trent (Meacham) has become a very, very solid defender. Quietly, he's done a good job. Demetri (McCamey) has gotten better. He's starting to pressure the ball a little bit. The big guys are better. Second-chance points and points in the paint would be a big difference (against Ohio State). We won both of those. We hadn't done that in the games we lost.''

Supinie