Ilinois coach Bruce Weber said today he will likely use his usual five starters when the Illini face Michigan on Wednesday despite matchup problems that surfaced in the first meeting between the teams.

The biggest issue is whether 7-1 center Mike Tisdale can be effective guarding Michigan’s smaller, quicker inside players — namely 6-8 DeShawn Sims — who are able to step outside to shoot. Sims got the Wolverines off to a fast start by making two 3-pointers in the first five minutes of Michigan’s win in Ann Arbor and had three for the game. He has made only 11 3s in the team’s other 15 games.

“I hope we can stick with the same people, and we just have to do a better job on defense,” Weber said on the Big Ten teleconference. “I don’t know why we were on our heels. Some of it is that they have great spacing and execute their stuff. But we weren’t very aggressive and down the stretch didn’t contain the dribble well.

“But we’ll practice playing smaller. At different times in the (first) game Calvin (Brock) gave us some nice energy off the bench, and I hope Dominique (Keller) is starting to figure out how hard you have to play. He’s the perfect matchup for Sims.”

Tisdale played 22 minutes in the first meeting and Brock played 28. Illinois used four guards at times to match up better with the Wolverines. But one of the key plays of the game came late when 6-10 Michigan forward Zack Gibson had Tisdale isolated about 20 feet from the basket and drove around him for a dunk that gave the Wolverines some breathing room.

Part of the problem, however, was that Tidale, and other Illinois defenders at times, didn’t receive much help from teammates. It was probably the team’s worst defensive effort of the season.

With only 10 days between their two games against each other, the mistakes should be fresh in the minds of the Illini. Weber is trying to portray the short turnaround as an advantage.

“Since we lost, I hope it’s to our advantage,” he said. “We have a little mental edge. We were able to watch the film when we got back and yesterday a little bit. You can’t change a lot but a couple of things and the kids have a better feel.”