Illini hang on, Gonzaga next

While trying to encourage his team, Illini coach John Groce blew out the seat of his pants while demonstrating a defensive stance and said the incident taught him a valuable lesson.

“I learned that I need to wear dark underwear,” Groce said after Illinois improved to 9-0.

Afterward Groce laughed at the costume malfunction and said his dark suit was headed for the scrap pile. “Probably not salvageable,” Groce said.

Groce was not particularly happy with the way his unbeaten team played, but he was already turning his focus to what should be one of the weekend’s marquee matchups in college basketball when Illinois heads to Spokane, Wash., for a collision with unbeaten and 10th-ranked Gonzaga.

“I’ll be honest, I haven’t watched anything on them, but our staff has and I’ll meet with them late tonight,” Groce said.

“I’ve been told (Gonzaga coach Mark Few) thinks it’s his best team. It’s a great environment in there, but our guys will be up for the challenge.

“It’s an exciting challenge, a nationally televised game against a top 10 team. They’ll be excited to play us because we beat them here last year.”

Illinois defeated Gonzaga 82-75 at the Assembly Hall last December and Groce said his entire team knows Tuesday night’s performance was far from what will be needed Saturday.

“I thought Western Carolina was the tougher team for the bulk of the game and that was disappointing,” Groce said. “They were terrific on the backboard. We didn’t do enough things well.

“But we made a few plays down the stretch and I’ll give our guys credit for that.”

Western Carolina hung around and found a formula for success by continually driving the ball to the basket in the second half.

“In the second half, we created dribble penetration and got to the foul line,” Western Carolina coach Larry Hunter said. “We had some opportunities. But them forcing us into turnovers was key. And some guys stepped up for them and hit some big shots at a crucial part of the game.”