Meacham takes turn in spotlight

CHAMPAIGN -- In Illinois' first seven games, five different players have stepped forward to be the leading scorer.

While such diversity brings back memories of the 2005 Illini squad that rolled all the way to the NCAA championship game, it's both a blessing and a curse with this year's model.

On Saturday, at least, it represented good tidings as junior guard Trent Meacham came off the bench and poured in a career-high 26 points in just 23 minutes as Illinois cruised to a 78-61 win over Weber State at Assembly Hall.

"Every game, it has been somebody else," said Illinois coach Bruce Weber. "That's the best thing about our team. We have very good depth. We have very good balance.

"The biggest dilemma, though, is me guessing or making an estimate of who's going to be playing well at what time and getting them in the right groups."

Every group looked right for the first 30 minutes as the Illini couldn't miss against Weber State's wide array of ineffective defenses.

During Meacham's 23 minutes on the floor, during which he went 7 of 7 inside the arc and 4 of 8 from 3-point range, Illinois outscored Weber State 55-22.

Meacham had 20 points at halftime, which made him the first Illini to reach that mark since Dee Brown hit Michigan State for 23 first-half points on Jan. 5, 2006.

"I told him at halftime to try and score 40 points," said point guard Chester Frazier, who kicked in 8 points, 6 assists and 6 rebounds.

"He came out in the second half and hit 3 straight shots, so I think we kind of wanted to feed him the ball."

But the Illini eased off the gas early. When Meacham and the starters left the game for good with 11:34 to go, the hosts led 67-29 before a freshman-heavy lineup surrendered more than half of the margin.

The freshmen performed better when they played with the vets. Mike Davis threw down 2 enormous dunks on back-to-back possessions (and got dunked on by Weber State's Davin Davis in between) en route to a career-high 6 points.

Seven-foot-1 freshman Mike Tisdale (8 points) tied his career best with a variety of silky post moves.

Seniors Brian Randle (2 points, 2 rebounds) and Shaun Pruitt (6 points, 4 rebounds) didn't get their usual number of touches against Weber State's zone.

"It wasn't a game for them," Weber said.

It wasn't a game for junior forward Rodney Alexander, either. He left with 11:34 to go when he experienced a "sharp pain in my chest."

"I started hyperventilating," Alexander said. "It wouldn't stop, so they took me back here (in the locker room) and stopped it."

Alexander said he experienced a worse episode in junior college, but didn't miss a game.

"They say it's like your heart starts going in a circle and just keeps on going. The pace keeps going higher and higher."

Illinois also learned it will lose sophomore center Brian Carlwell for 4-6 weeks after he strained his right knee in practice on Friday.

"The sad thing is," Weber said, "the last week or so, he had started to make a little progress. That's why I threw him in the Maryland game."