Now that the pesky business of defeating Iowa is out of the way for Illinois, the focus turns squarely on Michigan State, which comes to Champaign on Saturday.
ESPN’s “College GameDay” will be there, as will many prospective Illini recruits.
But the status of reigning Big Ten player of the year Kalin Lucas for Saturday’s game is undecided.
Lucas left Michigan State’s 67-49 loss to Wisconsin on Tuesday — the Spartans’ first conference defeat — with a sprained right ankle.
“We don’t know if he’s going to play; you just can’t worry about it,” Illinois coach Bruce Weber said. “Even if he doesn’t play, they’re still a very good team. I hope he’s healthy for his own sake, for their sake. You don’t want anyone hurt because when it happens to you, you know how it feels.”
The Illini (15-8, 7-3) have eight Big Ten games remaining, most of them against the top teams in the conference. When Illinois and Michigan State met Jan. 16 in East Lansing, the Spartans won 73-63 behind 20 points from Lucas, who is averaging 15.6.
“We just have to prepare for Michigan State as if he’s playing,” Weber said. “And we know they’re going to be physical, they’re aggressive, they push the basketball, they’ve got a lot of people that can score.”
Krushed: About 160 college-age fans, dressed in Iowa colors, settled underneath the basket where Illinois was warming up Wednesday night.
Just before tipoff, the black and yellow clothes came off to reveal all orange.
They were members of Illinois’ Orange Krush student fans who took three buses and arrived at Carver-Hawkeye Arena minutes before the game, which the Illini won 57-49.
“People ask, is it a trap game?” Weber said. “Are you going to have the emotion to get over the hump? To have them show up, have the disguises on, it’s just a great boost of energy for our guys, and they kept the noise going and had a great time. I was glad we could reward their travels with a win.”
Sickened: Junior Bill Cole started and played 26 minutes against Iowa despite battling flu symptoms that caused him to miss practice Monday.
“You can just tell, he was a little bit light-headed because he has been giving us some offensive punch,” Weber said. “Now, teams just focus on one or two guys, and if they can stop those guys, they get sluggish.”
Freshman Joseph Bertrand, who’s redshirting this season, did not travel with the team because of classes but will go to Wisconsin on Tuesday, Weber said.
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chine@tribune.com
