As a senior, Warren Carter has seen the Illinois basketball program at its best, but has also been a part of its fall from grace. Carter leads the Illini in scoring with 13.4 points per game and has assumed the leadership role that many thought he never could. With that responsibility, he knows what motivates the team, but at the same time, knows what discourages it. And as Illinois gears up for Thursday’s Big Ten game against Penn State, Carter wants the team to stop paying attention to all of the NCAA Tournament bubble talk that surrounds them.

“I love College Game Night and I’m a fan of March Madness and everything, but as of right now I don’t think they should be watching that and getting into it and getting so nervous about it,” Carter said. “The guys who are making the observations and the opinions aren’t the guys on the committee.”

Carter’s comments come after the Illini lost a 60-53 decision to the Hawkeyes last Saturday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, dropping to sixth place in the Big Ten standings. Head coach Bruce Weber has never had one of his teams play on Thursday during the Big Ten Tournament, and it’s a concept the Illini are also unfamiliar with after successful tournament runs in three of their last four seasons. But in order to boost their tournament resume, the Illini, and especially Carter, know a strong showing is key.

“I’m going to go out and play hard and bust my butt each game,” Carter said. “From this point out, every game could be my last game to play.”

Following Illinois’ loss to Iowa, Weber questioned the team’s emotion. After re-watching the game film and seeing the faces of the players, he thought they might have played too uptight. He admits he has asked the Illini to be more composed on the road after they have had a tendency to over-celebrate at times.

“We didn’t act stupid, but we didn’t show the emotion I would have liked, and I’m not sure why that was,” Weber said. “Two times in the first half, we walk to the huddle.

“I wish I knew why that was, and I wish I could have fixed it. But we didn’t have the extra passion, the extra confidence.”

Now with a clean slate entering the tournament, the Illini are taking on more of a “loose” approach. Weber wants the Illini to steer away from playing “uptight” basketball, and the team has bought into his thinking. Junior center Shaun Pruitt, who has been one of the Illini’s most consistent performers, said they will play with a sense of urgency in order to at least get to 22 wins – a number he feels could leave the Illini in a safe zone.

“Personally, I’m a little nervous,” Pruitt said. “I’m not nervous in a bad way, I’m just ready to play and see what we can do.”

Added senior Rich McBride: “We’re not going to come in nervous to no game. We’re going to come in confident, ready to play.”

And in order to remind them of being prepared, they have been relying on the theme of “Turn up the heat.” The theme, which appeared on a set of T-shirts that they unveiled prior to the game in Iowa City, Iowa, is taken from the book, “212 Degrees: The Extra Degree” by S.I. Parker.

In the past, the Illini have had great success at the United Center – winning the title in 2005 and 2003 – and Weber hopes the Illini can get as much out of the site’s home-court advantage as possible. The United Center will play host to the tournament for the last time until at least 2013. With the expectation of more fans in Chicago rooting for Illinois than Penn State, Carter wants to turn the tournament into the “Illini Invitational.”

“You’re at the United Center, you’ve done well there; take the game to them, that’s my whole thought, not do or die. Go on the court, let it all out and if it’s not meant to be, it’s not meant to be,” Weber said. “Obviously, all season we’ve had a lot of not meant to be, but you just have to go play basketball and let whatever happens, happen.”