Time to empty the notebook after Illinois beat Vanderbilt 69-63.

First of all, I have to say I wasn’t overly impressed with the atmosphere at Memorial Gymnasium tonight. The crowd was announced at 12,630 and it was hard to tell how full the arena actually was from the press box because the overhang blocks most of the seating. But even when Vandy made a run to start the second half the place wasn’t that loud. …

Demetri McCamey showed why he has All-Big Ten, maybe All-America, potential tonight, scoring 23 points with six assists and one turnover. He didn’t know he would start until he went in the locker room and saw his name listed. His game could be broken into two parts.

Offensively he was stellar, hitting five 3-pointers, including one that beat the buzzer before halftime and one from deep, deep, deep as the shot clock expired in the second half. He penetrated and scored and dished and generally made his teammates better.

“Now we’ll see if he made some strides,” Weber said. “We’ll see what he does Sunday and next week. Last year he’d have a big game and kind of putz out for three or four games and get motivated again.”

Defensively, Weber was disappointed. McCamey started on Jermaine Beal and every time he was guarding someone it seemed Weber eventually had to switch Chester Frazier to that man. He said McCamey had three bad defensive possessions when Vanderbilt got back in the game late in the first half.

“If his goal is to play in the NBA, you have to guard,” Weber said. “If he doesn’t, he’s not some superstar 6-6 guy who can do everything. He’s gotten better but he has a tendency to take time off when he gets tired. He’s way better than he was two weeks ago, and he has to keep watching film and we have to watch with him and keep reminding him.” …

Richard Semrau continues to struggle with his finishing around the basket, but he came up big on defense against preseason All-SEC center A.J. Ogilvy. Ogilvy had nine points at halftime, and Semrau spent a good deal of time defending him in the second. Ogilvy was only two for six in the second half.

“We were a little shy about playing him,” Weber said of Semrau, “but he made some big defensive plays down the stretch.” …

Other big plays down the stretch were made by Mike Davis, who recorded his second consecutive double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds. He helped neutralize Vanderbilt’s two 6-11 centers on the boards.

The Commodores held a 20-14 rebounding edge at halftime. But in the second half, the Illini took over with a 28-13 advantage, much to Weber’s surprise.

“We had rebounded well but against not-as-big teams,” he said. “They had us at halftime and I thought they punked us inside. We watch film and show our guys watching the ball and not boxing out. We told them when we play a real team with big guys, they’re going to control the boards. But we were much more active in the second half.” …

Chester Frazier has played beyond expectations. He had eight assists and one turnover against Vanderbilt and now has 20 and three for the season. …

Calvin Brock continued to struggle. He came off the bench for the first time to make way for McCamey in the lineup. He made one of five shots with one rebound and seems to have lost the confidence that made him so effective in the early going last season.

“We still need Calvin,” Weber said. “I told him to just be patient and let the game come to him. He keeps trying to make the big play.” …

Are you kidding me? After going 11 for 11 from the line, the Illini have made 77.1 percent of their free throws thus far. Meanwhile, Vanderbilt was dreadful from the line in the second half, missing the front end of three one-and-ones, among others.

“They missed some key free throws and I’d say looking at them they’re a pretty good shooting team,” Weber said. “We’ve been through it, so now maybe the thing will turn our way.” …

Irrelevant stat of the night: Checking out the realtimerpi.com web site, the Illini are No. 23 after Thursday’s win. Oh, and Mercer is No. 2.