Mike Davis grabbed an offensive rebound against Purdue on Sunday and went up for a dunk that went awry. So, he grabbed the rebound again, only to miss the putback.

It was the type of sequence that has tested the Illinois sophomore this season. A moment that could have dictated how he played the rest of the game. But instead of pouting and showing his disgust, Davis finished strong, posting 14 points and a career-high 16 rebounds in the Illini’s 66-48 win.

He said part of the credit goes to a psychiatrist who called coach Bruce Weber and pointed out how poor body language was playing a role in Davis’ performances. Not that Weber didn’t already know, but it helped drive home a point.

“A psychiatrist called Coach and told him about my body language that I put my head down and would get down on myself,” Davis said. “He said I can’t do that. It’s a weakness of mine. I have to stop. The other team can tell when I put my head down that I’m out of the game, so I have to stay positive the whole game.”

Weber is ready for Davis to become the rebounding machine he was early in the season. So, he challenged him to average 13 boards per game the rest of the season. It’s a lofty goal for someone who was averaging 7.4 before Sunday. But the potential exists.

Davis now has 26 rebounds in the last three halves of play, including the second half at Wisconsin. He is feeling considerably better after a bout with tonsillitis left him lacking energy and experiencing side effects. Besides having trouble eating and breathing for a time, Weber said Davis lost feeling in the left side of his face and his tear ducts stopped working.

“It didn’t keep him from doing anything but mentally it bugged him and took a toll last week,” Weber said.

Weber understood that Davis was being impacted by his condition. But he took somewhat of a tough-love approach, pushing him to play through the problem. Davis’ father also was dishing out some harsh words.

“My dad tells me stuff all the time,” he said. “He notices everything. We talk after every game and have a little scouting report before. After the Minnesota game he got in my ear and said some pretty crazy stuff to me.”

In the loss at Minnesota, Davis had his least productive game of the season with no points and three rebounds in a season-low 14 minutes. It was the low point.

On Sunday afternoon, Davis proclaimed himself healthy and ready to take on Weber’s challenge.

“I’m capable,” he said. “I just have to play hard all the time. I can’t let my offense dictate my defense all the time. Sometimes I put my head down when I miss a shot and get discouraged. But today I didn’t. I missed the dunk and kept playing.” …

–You can bet that Illinois officials will campaign hard for Chester Frazier for the Big Ten defensive player of the year. His latest success story was holding Purdue’s E’Twaun Moore to six points on 2-of-9 shooting. In the first meeting between the teams, he shut down Robbie Hummel.

Among his other top efforts: he held Michigan State’s Kalin Lucas to 10 points on 3-of-13 shooting and Ohio State’s Evan Turner to four points on 2-of-7 shooting. And that’s just part of the list.

Frazier said he studied extra film of Moore’s offensive tendencies. Remember, Moore torched the Illini for 24 points and made 10 of 12 shots at Assembly Hall last season. He scored 17 when the teams met at Purdue on Dec. 30 when Frazier wasn’t guarding him.

“I tried to take away his right hand. He’s real tough driving right,” Frazier said. “He’s a bigger guard with long arms, so I had to keep him out of the paint especially and try to deny passes when he came off screens — make him take another route.”