Before the season, Illinois head coach Bruce Weber scanned his team’s schedule, making sure to note the most dangerous stretch of games for the Illini.

“He circled it,” junior guard Dee Brown said. “The hardest games are going to be Arkansas, Georgetown and Oregon. He didn’t point out Gonzaga or Wake.”

Brown later stated that Weber was a smart man – possibly smart enough to have foreseen Illinois’ past two victories and certainly smart enough to motivate his highly ranked team to recognize the target they now tote around with them.

“I think the bull’s-eye has always been on us,” senior forward Roger Powell Jr. said. “We are a top-10 program; that’s something we have to play with. It may have gotten bigger, so we really have to really focus now.”

Following a blowout victory against the No. 1-ranked team in the country, in the most friendly of venues they could imagine, playing at Arkansas is a dangerous game.

The Razorbacks have done their best to add athleticism and size to last year’s team. Last year, Illinois beat the Razorbacks handily in Chicago. This year, Arkansas started out the season 5-0.

Arkansas head coach Stan Heath said he understands that Illinois faces the chance of a letdown after the Wake game.

“The coaches understand it, the players are the key,” Heath said. “(A team like Illinois is) playing the game and not the opponent.”

Heath added that if he had a vote in the national coaches poll, he would “absolutely” make Illinois his No. 1 team.

Guard Luther Head said one of the first things out of Weber’s mouth after the (Wake) game was about the Illini’s next opponent.

“We can’t sleep on those guys,” Head said. “It’s easy to wake up for these types of games (Wake Forest).”

Brown added that Weber told them they need to learn from history to become the team they want to be. Brown used the Northwestern game from last year as an anecdote. He said that in the past year, he has learned not to look past teams – as has teammate Powell Jr.

“Each game we play is a challenge,” Powell Jr. said. “I think we are doing a pretty good job stepping up to the plate.”

Illinois is coming into the game as one of the hottest teams in the country. Its team defense has vastly improved since the beginning of the season and the team is getting open shots and knocking them down. The Illini shot 60 percent in the first half against Wake Forest.

Heath has had first-person experience with a team of Illinois’ caliber in the past.

“They remind me of the team I coached at Michigan State in 2000,” “They had that look – that swagger.”

The 2000 Spartan team went on to win the National Championship.