I think we're a very worthy team. If that's (Ohio State) the number one team in our conference ... You saw a pretty good game out there. We're a team that's improved since the year's gone on. I hope our kids get the chance to play in the NIT.

I'm walking in here earlier today and you tell me that Iowa is going to score 65 points, I think we have a chance to win. I thought we had some open shots, but we just couldn't make anything.

Really, the pressure was on Illinois. No one gave us a chance to win, except for the 12 players on our side and three or four coaches. They had 16,000 on their side.

We've come a long, long way from really not competing to competing and having a chance to win games. Hopefully, good things will continue for us on the horizon.