March 03--CHAMPAIGN -- After a 26-point blowout loss to Illinois on Saturday night, Northwestern coach Chris Collins described the Illini in complimentary terms as "hungry" and "desperate."
Illinois guard Ahmad Starks doesn't have a term for his team. But he did come up with a mission statement of sorts.
"I don't know if desperate is the word," Starks said. "We definitely know we want to win out the rest of these games. We pretty much know every game is a must win so we're going to come out and approach each game with that mentality. We want to finish these last two games strong and see where it takes us."
Their preferred destination is known as late March.
The Illini (18-11, 8-8 Big Ten) have just two regular-season games remaining -- Wednesday at home against Nebraska and Saturday at Purdue -- to help enhance their NCAA tournament resume. While they have solid credentials, the selection committee will notice a few blemishes.
As of Monday, ESPN projected Illinois as one of the first four teams left out of the tournament. CBS Sports had the Illini as one of the last four teams invited to the tournament.
The bubble doesn't get any wobblier than that.
Of course, that is not where Illinois coach John Groce wants his players devoting their attention.
"We want to build the thing where (the NCAA tournament is) the expectation annually. We don't dodge that," Groce said. "We talk about loving challenges and being fearless and being ready and getting caught up in defending. Hopefully from a mental standpoint they stay locked on those things and not so much talk of other things."
Illinois is unpredictable. The Illini won four straight before losing three straight and then snapping that with a dominant 86-60 thrashing of Northwestern, a team that had been on its own four-game winning streak.
Groce said he likes what he has seen lately from his team.
He praised the team's toughness in the last three games (losses to Michigan State and Iowa before beating the Wildcats) and the Illini shot well (55.6 percent) against Northwestern.
Senior guard Rayvonte Rice has averaged 18 points in the last three games as he moves closer to full strength after a broken hand had sidelined him.
"Ray's mindset is to win," Groce said. "He understands the hourglass, the sand is sifting through it very fast right now. There's not a lot left. He wants to take full advantage of that, as do the other seniors."
Two more wins could do it.
"We're in the mix," Groce said. "You'd rather be playing for something this type of year than not playing for anything."
