Men’s College Basketball

MAINE vs. ILLINOIS

Time, site: 8 p.m.; Assembly Hall, Champaign, Ill.

Records: Maine 0-0, Illinois 0-0

Series/last meeting: Illinois leads 1-0/UI won 88-69 on 12/8/97

Key players: Maine – 6-2 G Huggy Dye (14.7 ppg, 3.0 rpg in 1999-2000), 6-10 F Julian Dunkley (12.7 ppg, 6.4 rpg), 6-6 F Carvell Ammons (7.0 ppg, 3.7 rpg), 6-2 G Derrick Jackson (6.3 ppg, 2.2 rpg), 6-3 G Errick Greene (3.0 ppg, 3.0 rpg); Illinois – 6-10 F Brian Cook (9.0 ppg, 4.5 rpg), 6-4 F Sergio McClain (6.8 ppg, 3.8 rpg), 6-9 F Marcus Griffin (10.7 ppg, 5.0 rpg), 6-3 G Cory Bradford (15.3 ppg, 2.5 rpg), 6-3 G Frank Williams (11.4 ppg, 3.4 rpg)

Outlook: The Black Bears will face their toughest test of the year on opening night: They get fed to a Big Ten squad with national title aspirations, in a hostile gym. To add to the challenge, the Illini also like to make life difficult by pressuring the ball tenaciously, and the Black Bears lost last year’s all-conference point guard, Andy Bedard, to graduation. The bright side is this: Illini coach Bill Self is concerned with the ability of the Bears to pull their big men (primarily Dunkley and Colin Haynes) outside the 3-point arc. His defenders aren’t comfortable out there. If the Maine guards can hold their own and the big men rebound well on the defensive glass, Maine could hang with the Illini longer than most people expect.