Calvin Brock’s job is not getting any easier.

After stymieing freshman phenom Eric Gordon in the Illini’s spine-bursting 62-58 loss to the Hoosiers Sunday night, the junior guard now faces the difficult task of lining up against Michigan’s Manny Harris Wednesday at 8 p.m. Harris averages 17 points and 3 assists per game as the Wolverine’s leading scorer.

Brock held Gordon to 17 points on 4 of 10 shooting Sunday, the lowest total in Gordon’s last five games, If all goes well, his current defensive hot streak will carry over to the matchup against the Wolverines.

“I’m up for competition; I’m a competitive person,” Brock said. “I’m going to play hard if somebody else is playing hard.”

Illinois head coach Bruce Weber said a win on Wednesday would be nice, if not necessary, to rejuvenate their season.

“It’s a big game,” Weber said. “We’re back home, there are some good feelings. We need to take a giant step here, not just a little step. We need a giant step.”

Illinois (8-9, 0-4) needs to make a substantial run to have a shot at an NCAA tournament bid later this spring. Some players claim the team needs to rattle-off four conference wins in a row to make that a possibility.

Considering the Illini have lost five straight, nobody is taking matters lightly.

“(The Michigan game is) huge, because we’ve already dropped three in a row at home,” senior center Shaun Pruitt said. “This is definitely an opportunity. You don’t want to let too many home games get away in the Big Ten or else you’re not going to have a chance. We’ve already let a couple go, so we need this one.”

Michigan is coming off a big loss at home a week ago against Indiana 78-64, and a 78-68 win over Northwestern on Saturday. Harris scored 22 and dished out 8 assists against the Wildcats.

“This is what we are, and maybe it took us a little longer to figure it out,” Weber said. “It’s not that we’re horrible, but some of that being a complete player, being a complete team, understanding roles, and coaches figuring out what we were and then getting them to believe in it. Those are all things that have added up to where we are.”

Freshman guard Demetri McCamey, expected to fill in for the injured Chester Frazier in tonight’s game, said winning the Big Ten tournament wouldn’t hurt the team’s chances either, considering it would earn them an automatic trip to the Big Dance in March.

Having to work against Michigan head coach Jim Beilein’s defensive 1-3-1 zone could pose problems for an Illini three-point attack that has been particularly streaky in recent games. The scheme could force the Illini to find Shaun Pruitt and others down low as early and often as possible.

“We just need to have a better understanding of what it takes to play in the Big Ten,” said senior forward Brian Randle, who grabbed ten rebounds and scored nine points Sunday. “If we do all of that, keep working hard in practice and staying focused, I think we’ll be in a good spot.”

Jeremey Werner contributed to this report