Bruce Weber recently showed the Illini a video that included snippets of Florida quarterback Tim Tebow. Apparently the point of the video was to depict a player who is a leader and a fighter for his team.

Weber theorized that guard Chester Frazier was channeling Tebow when he stepped forward after the Michigan State loss to call out some of his teammates and then said he planned to meet with those players to make his point.

Frazier used some harsh words, but Weber downplayed the message, saying the guard was simply displaying leadership.

“Chester watched that tape and took it to heart,” Weber said. “This is his team this year. He wants to make sure everyone gives maximum effort and stays together, and it wasn’t that we didn’t play hard. We won the play-hard chart by double digits. But we still have problems with the defensive end down the stretch, rebounding, block outs and putbacks. … It comes down to fighting through it and giving your best effort the entire game. That’s all I think he was alluding to.”

Frazier certainly showed the toughness that he preaches to the rest of the team. After being undercut and landing hard on his tailbone and back, he went to the locker room. When he returned, he headed straight to the scorer’s table to check into the game, seemingly without asking the coaches first.

But there were signs that other players were lacking confidence as facial expressions and body movements reflected frustration with the disappointing turn of events.

“It’s baffling to me,” Weber said. “At Purdue we had great body language, great focus, great poise. I told them, ‘This is why we do all of those competitive drills at the end of practice.’ We still are young and fragile. When guys don’t play well offensively, we seem to have a tendency to hang our heads.”

Weber said he already has started thinking about who will bring Frazier’s toughness once the senior guard is gone.

“I hope somebody starts getting that toughness,” he said. “With the new guys it will be hard as freshmen but a couple have tenacity to them. Can they do it as a freshman and be a leader? I don’t know. Jeff Jordan has made some strides to do that. He’s going to have to get where he becomes better conditioned to go harder like Chester does if he’s going to play that role.” …

Other notes from Monday’s teleconference with Weber:

A lot of weight is being placed on this week’s two-game homestand against Ohio State and Wisconsin. Both opponents are currently tied with tie Illini in the Big Ten at 3-2. Both are potentially competing for NCAA Tournament berths with Illinois.

But because of the balance in the conference Weber wasn’t about to say that the Illini need both games this week.

“I don’t think you can get too high or too low in this league,” he said. “There’s a big logjam after Michigan State, not only in the conference (records) but overall. A lot of things can still happen and we have to keep that in perspective.

“Minnesota had a great win at Wisconsin and then came back and lost to Northwestern. You can’t get too high or too low. We could do a nice jump start for ourselves. But even if we don’t win, it doesn’t necessarily mean we’re totally out of it.” …

Weber seemed in shock in the final 15 seconds or so at Michigan State when the Illini not only didn’t foul the Spartans but no one even attempted. At that point, it was still a two-possession game.

“I wanted to foul,” he said. “There was a little bit of frustration we let one go. Six points with under six seconds is pretty tough but if there are 10, 12 seconds you never know what can happen. I would have liked to foul to be honest.” …

Mike Davis started the season with a bang, collecting four double-doubles in the first 10 games. Since that time his numbers have dropped to an average of 8 points and 5.6 rebounds over eight games. Certainly no one expected the sophomore to maintain his early pace, but Weber thinks he needs to adjust his game now that opponents have him scouted.

“We tried all along to warn it would get harder and he had to pick up his level of intensity in practice,” Weber said. “He’s not unknown. People are reading about him in Sports Illustrated, in stats and highlights. He’s not going to get wide-open shots. He’s got to adjust his game and level of intensity but that starts in practice. …

Illinois is trying to tap into the enthusiasm surrounding inauguration day for Tuesday night’s game against Ohio State. The school has declared Tuesday “Illinois Day” and will hand out mini American flags to every fan at the game. Fans will be asked to wave the flags, likely to coincide with the time that the game hits the air on ESPN.