CHAMPAIGN - Exhausted, elated and sore. Those three words seemed to sum up the overall feeling on the Illini basketball team one day after its breathless 73-70 victory over Missouri in the annual Braggin' Rights game in St. Louis.

Thursday, two days removed from a Border War battle that pushed both teams to the limit, Illinois takes the Assembly Hall floor against Idaho State at 7 p.m.

How Illinois will react, and which players can answer the call, remains to be seen, Illini coach Bruce Weber said Wednesday.

As has become commonplace with this season's Illini, the first order of business was a look at the injury list. And the initial results were not pretty. In fact, Weber said he "forfeited" practice Wednesday because "we just don't have enough bodies." Instead, Illinois shot free throws, watched game film and did a walk-through to simulate Idaho State.

Forward Warren Carter, Illinois' leading scorer who did not play the final two minutes against Missouri after sustaining a hip flexor while hitting the floor chasing a loose ball, is questionable Thursday.

"I don't know if (trainer) Al (Martindale) was joking last night, but he said it could be one day or it could be six weeks," Weber said of Carter's injury.

Carter received treatment Wednesday and might be a game-time decision.

"Warren wanted to go back in the game," Weber said. "Then he started running (on the sideline) and he couldn't go. I'm hoping, with some good therapy and ice and stimulation, that he'll be able to play. If he has to rest, we'll have to find a way to get a victory with whoever can play."

Point guard Chester Frazier, whose nagging foot injury has so far kept him out of practice but not out of games, was hobbling after the Missouri game.

"I can't say enough about Chester," said Weber, who credited his point guard with helping break Missouri's press. "His foot is just a mess. Al put him back in the boot after the game."

Brian Randle also was sore after taking a spill in the first half, and Weber said his junior forward is ex-periencing some mental tentativeness as he rebounds from surgery to his groin area on Nov. 17.

"Every time he makes a sudden move … he is just scared because he doesn't want to have the injury re-occur," Weber said. "At halftime, I'll be honest, I didn't know if he'd play again. But he went back in and did a pretty good job in the second half."

Weber doesn't dispute that the timing of this game is not the best. But once the NCAA allowed "exempt" tournaments (such as the Chicagoland Invitational Challenge in Hoffman Estates), Illinois found itself with commitment to games it had to cram into the schedule.

"Did we want to bring our kids back on Christmas Day and play on the 27th before our game (vs. Xavier in Cincinnati) on the 29th? Or did we want to have a game right here? It worked out better to have it at this point.

"Now our kids get four days off for Christmas, and most of them will be home for whole Christmas Day. That's a positive, and that's why we did it."

Idaho State has been an up-and-down team that has showed great promise but also had great difficulty.

It took No. 19 Marquette to overtime in Milwaukee. It pushed Brigham Young into overtime in Provo, Utah. And it nearly beat Washington State, a team that knocked off No. 22 Gonzaga.

But it also lost by 29 at Oregon, lost by 30 at Texas A&M and lost by 37 at Utah State.

"They have some pretty good guard play," Weber said. "(David) Schroeder is a good scorer. He can create. They'll be pretty basic (on defense) with some 3-2 zone and some man-to-man."