Amid the bright lights of America’s biggest playpen, the 20th-ranked University of Illinois basketball team has come to conduct a business trip.

So says forward Mike Davis, who claims Illinois’ visit to the HoopTV Las Vegas Invitational is a serious journey into self-discovery.

“This just teaches us how to play on the road, a time to come together and learn,” Davis said. “It’s not like a home game, where everybody is behind us. We’ll learn what we’re all about.”

The learning commences Friday, when Illinois takes on Utah. Then, depending on the outcome, Illinois will face either Oklahoma State or Bradley on Saturday night.

Illinois beat Presbyterian and Wofford in the first two rounds of the tournament with both of those games played within the friendly confines of the Assembly Hall. But Friday is this team’s first venture away from home and coach Bruce Weber is anxious to see how this group performs in a different environment, especially his talented freshmen.

“When we looked at out schedule ahead of time, we wanted to make sure we had some home games early,” Weber said. “Now you go away and we have a chance for a couple of good games at a neutral site. Then we’ll take another step and go into Clemson (Wednesday) and play a top team on the road.

“It’s all a buildup. It’s a long learning process for us and the kids.”

Friday’s opponent, Utah, is the biggest team Illinois will have faced to date, with a 7-foot-3 starting center and four players on the roster who top 6-foot-10.

“They were in the NCAA Tournament last year but they lost a handful of seniors and they are starting over a little bit,” Weber said of the team coached by former Michigan State assistant Jim Boylen.

“They’ll shoot it pretty quick from ‘3’ and at the same time they can go inside to the big kid.”

The “big kid” is actually two players, 7-3 starter David Foster, who is making 66.7 percent of his shots, and 7-foot reserve Jason Washburn, who is the team’s No. 3 scorer and is making 81.8 percent of his shots.

Another big man, 6-11 Kim Tillie, is a versatile forward from France .

Leading scorer Carlon Brown, a 6-5 junior, scored 22 points in Tuesday night’s 77-74 loss to Seattle.

While much has been made of Illinois’ freshmen starters D.J. Richardson and Brandon Paul, and of the sharp early play of juniors Demetri McCamey and Davis, Weber said another junior has stepped up to become an unsung hero off the bench.

“Billy Cole and I had some discussions last spring,” Weber said. “There were a lot of rumors about him. Is he going to stay or (transfer)? I think Billy was always committed to us, but he wants to play like every young man.

“He got a chance at the end of last season when Chester (Frazier) went down. He got some minutes, made some shots and that was positive. I still told him that he’d have to do some other things to help us.

“We have shooters. We need someone who can do all the little energy stuff and I think he has latched onto that role. One of the things he has talked to us about is being one of the leaders on the Matto Chart (which measures hustle plays). He knows that’s his role.

“He had a couple of huge plays (Tuesday vs. Wofford). He had a (fast break) layup and a tip-in. He was in there when we made a nice run. He’s doing a lot of little things and he feels good about himself right now. And when he gets some open looks, he’ll make them.”

The tournament games are being played at the Orleans Arena, a facility built at the Orleans Hotel and Casino.

“I’ve done a clinic there and it’s nice,” Weber said of the facility that seats 7,471 for basketball. “And we always seem to have a lot of fans when we play in Vegas.”

 

Viva Las Vegas

Illinois vs. Utah

Time: Friday, 9 p.m.

Broadcasts: WTRX-FM (93.7), WJEZ-FM (98.9)