5,157 through the gate

With the winter storms hitting the area hard, Bruce Weber commented before Sunday's game against Northern Colorado that if 2,000 or 3,000 people showed up, he'd be thrilled. The attendance was officially listed at 14,814, but that was tickets sold. Illinois included a turnstile number on the official box score that said 5,157 people were actually there.

Coach and players were happy with the dedicated ones.

"You try to feed off the crowd but you can't worry about that too much," forward Tyler Griffey said. "The people that were brave enough to come here, we're appreciative of that. Those are some dedicated fans."

Marcus Jackson