[Cactus Jack]

Final from Eugene. A little late to the party on this one, as this game was last week. I'd watched in hopes of getting a better idea of where Oregon stood but was not impressed-- at the same time, don't know that this is the kind of game that you can take lots away from. Seemed Illinois was playing about as well as they could have hoped to play and it just wasn't Oregon's night.

Was 45-38 at half but the Ducks were outscored 64-39 in the second. As a team, Illinois was 55% from three on 29 attempts. That's going to win you lots of ballgames.  

This one was one day after the Ducks' loss to Ohio State in the Rose Bowl, so I can see the crowd not exactly being up for a big home basketball game the next night.

Will hopefully get a better look at Oregon at some point this season.

Illinois has looked solid what times I've seen them. They aren't going to win the NCAA Tournament, but they are capable of playing with anyone when they play well. Their best two players are Euros-- Jakucionis is Lithuanian and Tomislav Ivisic is the twin brother of Zvonimir, so not overly athletic, especially compared to what they had last season. Kentucky fans will remember the recruitment of Canadian freshman Will Reilly as well; he's averaging over 12 per game, but has really cooled off against stronger competition. The Illini have only lost three games this season (Alabama by 13, Northwestern by 4 in OT, and Tennessee by 2). They've beaten Arkansas, Oregon, Missouri, Wisconsin, and Washington.