For the first time in recent history, the Illinois men’s tennis team is not the favorite heading into the Big Ten Championships.

“Maybe a wounded bear is the hungriest bear,” Illinois head coach Brad Dancer said. “We have to come out and act like we’re the wounded bear – like we’re hungry and like we want it. If we do that opening night, that will show.”

Illinois, the nation’s sixth-ranked team, begins competition today in Minnesota. The Illini will take on the winner of Thursday’s match between Michigan State and Northwestern.

Despite not being the tournament’s first seed, Illinois is still the highest nationally ranked team in the tournament.

Undefeated Ohio State, the tournament’s top seed, is ranked 10th. The Buckeyes snapped the Illini’s 86-match winning streak in conference competition earlier this season in Columbus.

“If we get out there and go after it, then we should be in the running again like we always are,” senior Ryler DeHeart said.

A year ago, the Illini were the tournament’s top seed and won the tournament title on their home courts. This year, however, the men are far from home and have already suffered regular season losses.

The Illini, however, will not be intimidated by the unfamiliar surroundings, which include the Golden Gophers slow, bouncy tennis courts that, unlike most courts, are red and gold. The team should adjust well though, Dancer said, utilizing more kickserves to control the balls’ bounce.

“The seeding and conditions don’t matter,” DeHeart said. “We’re going to go in there and dominate.”

Although there is a lot of tennis to play between the beginning of the tournament and a possible rematch with Ohio State, Illinois is excited about the possibility of seeing the team’s archrivals in the finals.

“We want to go in there and take the Big Ten title and beat Ohio State,” said senior Pramod Dabir. “Our loss to them earlier in the season put a bitter taste in our mouths.”

The team could potentially see several other powerful teams early in tournament play including host Minnesota. But the Illini are not putting too much pressure on themselves to defend the Big Ten title.

“I’m not going to look at it as if it’s a bigger tournament, I’m just going to go out there and play every point,” freshman Marc Spicijaric said.

Instead, the team will focus on playing the best tennis they can during each match. Although the team has not been injury-free since mid-February, or as mentally tough as Dancer would have liked, the team has always had the focus of peaking in May, Dancer said.

Now, the Illini believe they are much better prepared, focused and ready to contend with the best teams in the conference. But, most importantly, the Illini know that they will need to play well starting today to get a chance to avenge their loss to the Buckeyes.

“All I know is that we’re going to play Ohio State on Sunday,” Spicijaric said. “And we’re going to beat them.”