No. 8 Alabama braces for stern challenge from No. 25 Illinois

Alabama was unsuccessful in last Friday's fierce test against a Big Ten program, falling at Purdue to slide out of the top five in the polls.

The No. 8 Crimson Tide will see another ranked Big Ten squad on Wednesday when they battle No. 25 Illinois in the C.M. Newton Classic at Birmingham, Ala.

Alabama (3-1) was outclassed 87-78 in the showdown against the Boilermakers. But coach Nate Oats indicated there is a method behind the madness of playing a road game against a team that lost in last season's NCAA title game.

"We schedule these games for a reason," Oats told reporters. "We like to go against the best teams in the country and figure out what we have to work on, and we have plenty to work on because (the Boilermakers) are good. Braden Smith is one of the best guards in the country and he does not turn the ball over. As a team, they only had three turnovers."

The Crimson Tide struggled defensively but received a solid offensive performance from freshman guard Labaron Philon, who scored 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting. Philon is averaging 12 points through four games.

"Labaron has been really good. Probably better than what we thought he was going to be," Oats said. "I thought he had a pretty good game. But we got to keep developing our bench. We got to keep developing the young guys and they got to help us win a lot of games this year."

Mark Sears had 15 points and six assists but made just 5 of 15 shots against Purdue. The first-team All-American is averaging a team-best 17.3 points but his high outing is just 20.

Last season, Sears scored 20 or more points on 26 occasions while setting a school record with 797 points.

Illinois (3-0) won its first two games by 45 and 32 points, respectively, before posting a 66-54 home win over Oakland on Wednesday.

Fighting Illini coach Brad Underwood said the Golden Grizzlies affected the speed of the game by their cautious approach and a zone defense that forced patience and perimeter shots.

The Illini didn't respond well, committing 18 turnovers and making just 7 of 25 3-point attempts.

"The biggest, most important, takeaway for me is it's not always fun and easy and free flowing," Underwood said. "There's going to be some grind-it-out games. I thought we handled that pretty well for the most part, but we've still got some things to work on."

Tomislav Ivisic recorded 20 points, six rebounds and four steals to continue his strong start. He has a team-best five steals and also leads in rebounding at 9.0 per game in addition to being the squad's second-leading scorer at 17.3.

The 7-foot-1 Croatian made 9 of 14 field-goal attempts while finding open creases in the Oakland defense.

"We were preparing for their zone the whole week," Ivisic said. "The coach was asking for me to be in the middle spot. That I would have a lot of space there to help my teammates, assist them, or have open shots."

Will Riley, who is averaging 17.7 points and 6.0 rebounds off the bench, had just eight points on 2-of-8 shooting against Oakland.

Alabama has won three of the four meetings between the schools. In the most recent contest, Alabama rolled to a 79-58 home win in the first round of the NIT.

--Field Level Media