Shaun Pruitt had a career night against No. 2 Wisconsin on Saturday, scoring 19 points and grabbing 14 rebounds. But his best effort of the season came at a price.

While setting a screen, Pruitt planted his feet and, according to coach Bruce Weber, his left knee gave out. The result: a sprained MCL, which kept Pruitt out of practice Sunday. The injury will most likely sideline him when Illinois hosts Indiana (14-4, 4-1) today at 6 p.m. (ESPN.)

Pruitt is questionable for the matchup, as is Brian Randle, who continues to suffer from plantar fasciitis.

For an Illini team that has continuously struggled with injuries this season and has learned to expect the worst, the newest twist of events is something they could not have imagined.

“This is the same thing over and over,” said Brian Carlwell, who is expected to pick up the bulk of Pruitt’s minutes. “It’s like we think we have everybody back healthy, and we come to practice, and they say this person is not practicing and probably won’t play.

“It’s kind of getting tired.”

Although the situation is tiresome, Carlwell said he will not change his game approach, even though he will be guarding forward D.J. White, who is averaging 15.4 points per game.

“I’m just going to prepare the same way I normally try to do, and just stay focused and try to go out there and get a win,” Carlwell said.

With White playing more aggressively and comparable to the type of player most people thought he would become out of Hillcrest High School in Tuscaloosa, Ala., his physical play could give the Illini problems. Weber, though, is hopeful sophomore Calvin Brock can bring some energy in replacing Randle.

“Once in a while, he just goes too fast, but if he gets his feet squared under him, he has that nice little jump shot from eight to 10 feet,” Weber said. “His nature is to go to the boards, and he gets out in transition pretty good.”

The Illini (14-7, 2-4) have won the last six of seven games against Indiana, but in order to keep hopes of an NCAA tournament berth alive, see this as a must-win game.

“It’s huge; I feel like we’ve been playing better the last two games, but we need to keep that coming,” Trent Meacham said. “Our chemistry is starting to come along, but we need some big wins, and it would be a big win (today).”

The Hoosiers currently sit at third place in the Big Ten standings and are coming off a win against Connecticut on the road Saturday. Weber said they are “playing as well as anybody.”

The Illini’s ability to compete with Wisconsin pleased Weber, but now his attention turns to Illinois “surviving” as a team – instead of the feud with Kelvin Sampson.

“We battled against Wisconsin, but, one, we don’t do the little things,” Weber said. “We continue to do things to hurt us in gut-check time.”