Couple Nice Little Wins

Couple nice little wins by the Illini following their disappointing loss to Clemson last week.

On Saturday morning they took the pain to the Georgia Bulldogs at the United Center, drubbing the 'Dogs 76-42. I missed the game entirely because I was en route to Las Vegas for the weekend and by the time I arrived at the Mandalay sports book, the beatdown was already in the books. Georgia apparently had 27 turnovers. I'm not sure how many of those the Illini forced, but that's a nice little number. I'm no basketball expert, but if the other team has 27 turnovers your chances of winning seem pretty good.

Just two days later, on Monday night, the Illini hosted the Rainbow Warriors in Champaign. Hawaii played well considering their long trip from the most remote island chain in the world (that's right folks, Hawaii is out there), but the Illini, behind clutch shooting from Chet and 'Nique Keller, managed a 68-58 victory. That puts the Illini at a solid 8-1 on the season with remaining non-conference games against Chicago St. (tonight), Detroit (the debut of Alex Legion?), Missouri (border war) and Eastern Michigan, before opening the Big Ten season at Purdue on December 30. If all goes right they'll be sitting at 12-1 that night in West Lafayette and, though they won't be expected to win that game, a strong showing against Hummel, Moore and the rest of Painter's boys, would give a strong indictation that this Illini team will be dancing come March.

Let's do this, Bruce!