Against Wisconsin, style doesn’t matter. The W does.

For Illinois, it’s gotten to the point where style matters.

With 25 straight wins, there has been very little Illinois has done wrong this year.

Illinois catches flack for style points. Not wins and losses, but style points. And for the last week and a half, there have been no style points.

Illinois may not look its best against the Indianas, Michigans and Wisconsins of the Big Ten – or play its best basketball of the year against them – but Illinois has won. It doesn’t matter what strategy you use against Illinois. They play to anyone’s style. And still win.

Just like the No. 1 Illini did with their 70-59 win over No. 20 Wisconsin.

“If you want to run, Deron, Luther and I, that’s our game,” said Illinois junior guard Dee Brown. “If you want to slow it down, bring it.”

Wisconsin brought it. It packed the lane. Played defense. Waited for an excellent shot. Make opponents play their patient style of basketball. Bo Ryan basketball.

For a time, at the end of the first half, the Badgers controlled the game. They went into the half down one. They had a brief, twenty second lead in the second half.

Impatient basketball adds ammunition to the Illinois Needs A Loss contingent.

But the Illini regrouped. Or as the team would say, I do this. And this is adapting.

“We have versatility,” said Illinois head coach Bruce Weber.

And as with everything on this team, the versatility starts with the guards. No matter what the situation, the guards find a way to score.

Senior guard Luther Head scored one of his first baskets breaking down his defender and connecting on a floater.

Head knew he shouldn’t have taken the floater. Wisconsin was giving Illinois jump shots off of screens all day.

Head knew what he had to do. Head did this. He adapted.

Head told Weber no more floaters. How did it work out? Head scored a game-high 26 points with fifteen footers and free throws.

When Head wasn’t open, he didn’t hesitate to find the open man. Which usually was junior guard Deron Williams.

Williams? He did it too. Scoring 15 points.

The duo carried the Illini for most of the game. These guards refuse to lose.

Brown chipped in with key threes when he could to put the game away. Foul trouble limited Brown to a season-low 26 minutes.

But when Illinois needed Brown, he did it.

“You got three guys that can catch and shoot, penetrate and drive it to the rim and pull up (for a jumper),” said Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan.

Therein lies the genius. However you try to beat the Illini, they have an offensive weapon to counter it.

“Do you want to leave Dee open?” Ryan said. “Do you want to leave Deron open?”

Physical play. Running the floor. Slowing the game down. No matter what the style, Illinois has beaten it.

They blow out the running teams. They beat the physical teams like Cincinnati by 18 points.

But there is more than style points left for the Illini.

They have beaten the middle of the pack teams, but they haven’t dominated against them in the Big Ten.

Maybe it’s just looking for style points, but that’s all Illinois hasn’t done in the regular season.

But there are five final regular season games left. No opponents are ranked.

Five more games to learn how to adapt style points to middle-of-the-road opponents.

Bobby La Gesse is a senior in communications. He can be reached at [email protected].