ILLINOIS PREVIEW

November 7, 2010 - The Rocket men open their season on Wed. Nov, 10 with a road game against the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Last season the round-ball edition of the Fighting Illini finished the season as the fifth best team in the Big Ten, posting a 21-15 overall record.

Illinois has some higher aspirations this coming season and the reason for the optimism is that all five starters are returning, as well as two key reserves.

Leading the assault on the conference this year is 6-3 senior guard Demitri McCamey. McCamey garnered first-team All-Big 10 honors in 2009-10 with a 15.1 scoring average and when he wasn’t scoring he was busy dishing out 7.1 assists per contest, ranking  him second in the country in that category.

Mike Tisdale, a 7-1 senior center is back, along with his 11.9 average and .585 field goal percentage.  Tisdale, an honorable-mention All-Big 10 giant averaged 6.0 rebounds per contest last year and swatted away 59 shots while guarding the paint, the second-highest block total in Illini history.

Another honorable mention All-Big 10 selection returning to the fold is 6-9 senior forward Mike Davis. Davis is the Big Ten’s reigning rebound king, averaging 9.2 boards a contest, and, with a 10.7 scoring average he also added 15 double-doubles to his resume.

Last season’s Big Ten Freshman of the Year, Guard D. J. Richardson is back on board with a 10.5 average, along with 6-4 sophomore guard Brandon Paul; 6-9 senior forward; Bill Cole; and 6-8 sophomore forward Tyler Griffey. Cole leads the team in three-point shooting accuracy making 23-of-52 for 44.2 percent.

Waiting in the wings is 7-0 freshmen Myers Leonard who was a consensus Top-50 recruit as a high school senior.

Illinois is coached by Bruce Weber who is entering his eighth season at the school. Since taking over the program Weber has directed the team to a 173-72 record.

The Illini have played two exhibitions games and have come out on top of both contests, beating Lewis 75-65 and Southern Indiana 76-67.

In this year’s preseason media poll Illinois has been voted a close “also ran” behind Michigan State, Ohio State and Purdue. Nationally, Illinois is ranked No.13 in the country by the media

The Rockets and the Illini have played each other three times with Toledo winning two of the games. The last Rocket win came at home on Dec. 29, 1981 when UT hammered Illinois, 71-51 in the, now defunct, holiday tournament.