The bench provided 35 minutes of relief in the 64-63 win over Penn State. The only game when the reserves played less was at Indiana when they were allotted 34 minutes.

By comparison, the bench had played an average of 60.8 minutes per game during the Big Ten schedule.

The starting guards earned a good dinner as Trent Meacham went 39 minutes, Chester Frazier 36 and Demetri McCamey 35.

It will be interesting to see what kind of life the Illini have in their legs for tonight’s quarterfinal matchup with Purdue. Especially those players who have been dealing with injuries.

Frazier fought through a combination of Osgood Schlatter’s disease in one knee and tendinitis in the other. Brian Randle continued to fight off the effects of a separated shoulder suffered a few weeks back.

Mike Tisdale saw 10 minutes of action despite limited practice this week due to a sore knee. And Rodney Alexander didn’t play at all, although Weber said he has recovered from a concussion.

“He practiced a little bit but the way the game was going, we made the decision not to go with him,’’ Weber said of Alexander. “Brian seems OK. He plays with some pain, but he’s back to fouling to maybe he’s feeling better.

“Chester is probably the worst of all the guys. We have to get him sitting in bed, get it iced and see if we can get enough energy out of him.’’

Frazier said he would be fine. He planned to spend a lot of time with the ice bag Thursday night, receive some electric stimulation and possibly take some anti inflammatory medicine.

Tisdale said he overstretched his leg this week and described his knee as being “a little sore.’’

Randle said he was largely pain free, adding “This is the end of the line for me. So as long as I can be on the court, I’m going to give it what I have.’’