Monday night, Illinois got the call it was waiting for – the call that said it was going to be playing postseason basketball. For the Illini, their postseason starts with a WNIT first round game against Western Illinois at 7 p.m. at Assembly Hall.

The Illini come into this game on the heels of a disappointing second round loss to Purdue 68-57 at the Big Ten Tournament.

The Illini had the Boilermakers on the ropes early in that game, but “panicked” and eventually lost the lead and the game.

Tonight will be the first game the Illini have played in 12 days, and the time off was on senior guard Maggie Acuna’s mind.

“It seems like we have been waiting forever to play,” she said.

This is the second-straight year that the Illini have participated in the WNIT. Last season, they went to Terre Haute, Ind., to play Indiana State but came back to Champaign with a 72-60 loss.

The farthest the Illini have gone in the WNIT is the second round in 2001 and 2002, but they lost to Mississippi State and Michigan State in those years.

The tournament has expanded this year from 32 to 40 teams to give teams that won their regular season conference titles, but did not win their conference tournament, a chance to play postseason basketball. Western Illinois is one of those teams that falls into that category.

The Westerwinds have won a school-record 23 games this season and won the regular season Mid-Continent Conference championship, but missed out on an automatic NCAA bid when they lost to Oakland (Michigan) 65-56.

Western Illinois has the Mid-Con player of the year on its team, embodied in the person of six-foot-seven senior, Zane Teilane, who is averaging a double-double this season (16.6 pts, 10.7 reb) and is also third in the country in blocks, averaging 4.2 per game.

“We’ve faced big post players before and it was a challenge, but our post players get pumped up for challenges,” senior guard Janelle Hughes said.

Western Illinois comes into this game with some impressive defensive numbers, as it is third in the country in scoring defense – only allowing teams 51.8 points per game and sixth in defensive field goal percentage at 35 percent.

With the beginning of the postseason, the mentality of the players does change, and Acuna has a bright outlook on this postseason.

“We have been practicing just in case and it just feels like the beginning of another season,” she said.

The winner of this matchup will play against Marquette on Friday in Milwaukee.