COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Coaches are always looking for ways to get players fired up, encouraging them to play so hard their sneakers catch fire.

University of Illinois basketball coach Bruce Weber has never had that problem with Chester Frazier.

In fact, Weber is constantly looking for ways to rein Frazier in, to cut his minutes, to save an ounce of his energy and to put the brakes on a point guard who loves to play at 100 miles an hour.

That could be an issue tonight because Frazier, a Baltimore native, has been waiting for this matchup against the University of Maryland for months.

"He's very fired up," Weber said this week in anticipation of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. "He has talked about this game since the schedule came out. It's a big game for him. He'll have a lot of people there.

"I hope he can have some emotional control of himself because he has a tendency to go too fast."

That's how it turned out last year when Frazier went 1-for-8 shooting and had just two points in 34 minutes against Maryland.

Frazier is destined to lead Illinois in minutes played this season and he's gaining a reputation as inch-for-inch, the best rebounder in college basketball. Although just 6-foot-2, Frazier is averaging 6.2 rebounds and has led Illinois in rebounding in three of five games (sharing the honor twice).

"He pretty much won the game against Hawaii for us," Weber said. "He had 19 points and nine rebounds. He leads us on our play-hard chart. I thought he got so exhausted in the Duke game that he was punch drunk for the game with Oklahoma State.

"He played so many minutes the trip took a toll on him. Once the final game was over, he sat in the hotel and slept. He was so exhausted. We'd like to be not so demanding of him."

Frazier's hard-nosed intensity on the defensive end sets a tone the rest of the Illini team tries to emulate. That defensive intensity figures to be the cornerstone of an Illini team that is, in Weber's own words, "offensively challenged" at times.

Maryland has its own issues. For openers, coach Gary Williams' team is young. He is starting three sophomores, two of whom hurt Illinois in last season's 72-66 Maryland victory at the Assembly Hall.

Greivis Vasquez scored 17 points and James Gist added 11 points and seven rebounds as the Terrapins ended Illinois' 51-game home-court winning streak against nonconference foes.

"I've seen three of their tapes from this season and it's the same style they've used in the past," Weber said. "They go 2-2-1, they use a diamond press, they fall back into a man (defense), they run some flex offense and use some little counters. The guards they used last year (including Vasquez) are their mainstays.

"We're going to have to do a good job against their two guards. (Vasquez) took over the game at our place last year. And we're going to have to deal with the two big guys (6-9 Gist and 6-8 Bambale Osby) inside.

"Hopefully we can make them go to their bench. They are very young and that's where they have a little bit of a dropoff."

Maryland beat Northeastern in overtime (a team Illinois defeated by eight), then lost to UCLA 71-59 and Missouri 84-70 at the O'Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic in Kansas City. Then the Terrapins beat Lehigh 72-51 on Friday.

Against both UCLA and Missouri, Vasquez led Maryland in scoring.

Weber said he is still wrestling with whether or not to start Calvin Brock, who played well in Maui, or Trent Meacham, who led Illinois in scoring against Oklahoma State, at shooting guard.

"If we play Calvin at the (shooting guard), I'm not sure if we have enough passers or skilled people and it puts a lot of pressure on Calvin. He has to do so much against their press. We'll have to feel it out and see what happens."

The ACC has dominated the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, winning each of the first eight challenges. Weber said the ACC's dominance is "a cycle," but 8-for-8 is a pretty strong cycle.

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Illinois vs. Maryland

When: 6:30 p.m. today

Where: Comcast Center, College Park, Md.

Records: Illinois (4-1), Maryland (4-2)

Broadcast: ESPN2