The bus ride home from games is usually a quiet afair, by coach Bruce Weber’s account, with Illinois players sleeping or maybe watching a movie to kill the time.

But the ride back from Evanston on Thursday night was a rollicking good time as the Illini had energy to spare after their shocking rally from a 14-point deficit in the final five minutes.

“At 1:30, 2 in the morning they were hyped up, just talking and jabbering the whole way back,” Weber said. “We made them get up for class. I don’t know how easy it is. I only had three hours sleep at most. We’re not going to get a whole lot out of them today (at practice) but we’ve got to get our concentration back.”

Instead of popping in a movie, Weber let the players watch a replay of the entire 60-59 win, in which Illinois led one time — when Demetri McCamey banked in the game-winner with 2.9 seconds left.

“The kids asked to do it,” Weber said. “Usually they ask for a movie. They were hooting and hollering the whole time. It was fun to watch. It was a little different – more as a fan to enjoy it.”

Weber said the comeback definitely brought back memories of the Illini’s amazing rally against Arizona in the NCAA Tournament in Chicago in 2005. This win wasn’t as dramatic but there was a definite parallel, largely because of the location.

Weber said he will always remember how loud Welsh-Ryan Arena became as the 8,117 fans, split between Illinois and Northwestern, turned up the volume down the stretch.

“The crowd was spectacular,” he said. “It was so loud (the players) didn’t hear me. It gets loud at Assembly Hall and they hear me. Several times I yelled a play and no one even turned. One time when they didn’t set the shot clock, the officials didn’t hear. It was a great atmosphere.”