Rivalry week is upon us, and with it comes the highly anticipated clash between the Fighting Illini and the Indiana Hoosiers. The intensity of this Big Ten matchup is enhanced because it will be Eric Gordan’s first trip to the Assembly Hall as a Hoosier.

Despite the fan and media hype, senior Brian Randle down plays the story behind the game.

var UniqueNameFO = { movie:”https://www.dailyillini.com/media/paper736/interactive/9vds4874.swf”, width:”200″, height:”205″, majorversion:”8″, build:”0″, xi:”true” };

UFO.create(UniqueNameFO, “di_inline_flash”);

“I mean, it’s another Big Ten game,” Randle said. “Every Big Ten game feels like a rivalry. There are weeks where you can’t help but have fans, you know, be hyped up about it. I think for us and the way we’re going about it is it’s obviously a top team in the country and we feel like we’ve got an advantage of being at home.”

This home court advantage might just be the factor in this game, as last time the Illini faced Indiana, they played them tough losing by only four.

Randle said the team’s mentallity will be a key for the game.

“We’re playing to win,” Randle said. “We’re playing to break them down and I think we’ve go as good of a chance as anybody at beating them.”

The game is on Thursday at 8 p.m. and can be seen on ESPN.