Our Marcus Jackson is in Niceville, Fla., where it's 69 degrees outside. Inside the 2,222-seat The Arena, the Illini will try to fix their ways and stay above .500.
In case you missed it, MJ doesn't think Illinois will be able to handle Alabama-Birmingham. Here's his prediction:
UAB 71, Illinois 68
While the results haven’t been what many expected to this point for the Illini, the hope is the early adversity will help down the road, especially for the freshmen and newcomers going through all this for the first time. There haven’t been any gimmes on the schedule, and that isn’t changing this weekend.