Illinois at Northwestern Pregamearama

The flu, injuries, little practice time.

Who's ready for a basketball game?! Illinois' players seem to be having the kind of week that would probably keep most students in their dorms/apartments/boxes and nowhere else. But unfortunately for the Illini, they have to travel to the north side of Chicago for an away match-up against the pesky zone defense of Northwestern.

Pruitt appears to have the flu bug and the rest of the team just seems to be worn out from the long stretch without a game night off. This might be a blessing in disguise, as the collapsing zone defense of Northwestern might have trouble with a smaller line-up seeing more minutes (Meach, Calvin and Jamar might see heavy minutes while giving Chester another night off).

Illinois has an astounding 122-34 record against Northwestern, with a 59-21 advantage in games played up north. Illinois is looking to improve a more important record tonight, their Big Ten conference record. With a win, Illinois would go above .500 in conference for the first time this season and possibly start to see the big dance on the horizon.

Big game is going to need some big scoring. Illinois has been holding teams to low scoring totals, and NU isn't a team that scores much to begin with. As long as Illinois gets some perimeter production, I think they'll pull this out.

Prediction

Illinois - 53

Northwestern - 48

Game Time - 6 p.m.
Television - ESPN2

Illini Must Overcome Flu, Zone Defense (Daily Illini)

Illinois Game Notes vs. Northwestern (Fighting Illini.com)