If Bruce Weber could have one thing for Christmas, it would be a week without a game so that his players could spend the holidays resting with family and then have a few days dedicated to nothing but practice.
Missouri has no worries on that front because the Tigers don't return to action after their Braggin' Rights victory until Friday, when they will put their unbeaten record on the line at Old Dominion. The Big 12 schedule doesn't begin until Jan. 3.
But Illinois players must return to Champaign on Christmas night. They will practice Monday and open the Big Ten schedule on Tuesday, when Minnesota visits Assembly Hall.
Weber is unhappy about the short holiday, brief preparation time and quick turnaround that leads directly into conference play.
"We've asked the Big Ten, and the coaches muttered about it back and forth the whole fall," he said. "We don't believe there should be games (right) after Christmas. But we have a TV contract, and you have the Big Ten Network and they want games. For the kids' sake, for the students' welfare, they need a break."
Illinois also will play next week at Purdue on New Year's Eve. It is the first time the Illini have played two conference games during the week between Christmas and New Year's, a time typically used to wrap up nonconference games.
The Tigers, meanwhile, get to enjoy the break after extending their winning streak to three games in the annual meeting. They survived their first true test, one that figures to be helpful as the schedule becomes more difficult.
Coach Frank Haith said, "Great win, great job, but if we want to have the kind of team, kind of season we want to have, we're going to have to learn from that stretch where we didn't play as well and eliminate those kind of bad plays."
Mizzou still lags behind in the ratings percentage index at No. 52 as of Friday — Illinois is No. 47 — because its schedule is ranked 268th. That will improve quickly when conference play begins.
Thus far, the Tigers opponents' have a combined record of 58-78 against Division I competition. Their first five games in the Big 12 will be against opponents that are 44-8.
"We're not going to blow every team out by 20, so you're going to have close games," MU guard Phil Pressey said. "You just have to find a way to win these close ones."
Illinois had fared well in close games until letting a two-point lead with two minutes remaining slip away against Missouri. The Illini also face a quick upswing in quality opponents.
This is the first season since 1975-76 that Illinois has finished the nonconference portion of its schedule before Christmas. But the Illini played only nine games before the Big Ten schedule began that season. This year's crammed schedule has left little time for practice. Or rest.
Weber believes the players are beginning to feel the wear and tear of a five-month stretch that started with a tour of Italy in August.
"The bad thing about Italy is we didn't have a break,'' he said. "We came back and the next day we started school. We tried to let them go one weekend in the fall. But this has been hard on our young guys, and it's carried over to practice because they're not as competitive as they were early."
While Missouri is building nothing but confidence and nationwide recognition as one of six remaining unbeaten teams, Illinois must recover quickly from two losses in three games.
The Tigers, with all of their victories by 10 points or more before the 78-74 win over the Illini, have set the bar high, meaning mistakes made in the second half against the Illini did not sit well.
"We want to achieve a certain goal toward the end of the season, and we feel like we won the game but could have played a little better," MU guard Michael Dixon said.
Weber can't worry about the end of the season because he knows his team is a work in progress.
"We've had some success, and it's great,'' he said. "But we're still very inexperienced and immature. Half our team is freshmen, and we have a lot to learn, and the next three weeks it's important for everyone to make progress."
