Brian Randle stood there looking beaten, like he knew things weren’t supposed to be this way. He mumbled his way through the same lines, the ones about losing and fighting back, until he weaved himself into a corner.

With roughly one month left in his college career, Randle faced a question on Monday that he’s posed to himself hundreds of times before: Is he ready for this season to come to an end, to leave the team he’s grown up with and move on after only a few more games?

“It’s five games, six guaranteed if you include the Big Ten Tournament. So, it’s kind of a tough pill to swallow,” Randle said, counting the remaining times he’ll put on an Illinois jersey. “Because we’re not a top-25 team, we’re working to make .500 and working to keep everything together. It’s not the ideal finish to my career, but I think we can still finish strong and put ourselves in a pretty good position.”

On the eve of the Illini’s Wednesday night matchup against No. 11 Wisconsin, Randle was adamant about his hopes for the rest of the season, but admitted the Illini are an emotionally sinking team after a 52-51 loss at Penn State on Saturday.

The Illini lost sight of Talor Battle in that game and watched the freshman guard lead the Nittany Lions in points, assists and rebounds, not to mention the two free throws he hit in the final seconds that put the game away. To say it was the free throws, inconsistencies and faltering down the stretch that did them in would be to describe most Illinois games this season.

“I think that Penn State game might have been one of the most disheartening ones, simply because you have the lead and it comes down to (just making) a stop, and unfortunately we fouled the best free throw shooter on the team,” Randle said.

“It seems to be the same position,” he added. “I think I’ve said it 10, 11, 12 times. I don’t know – we just have to keep fighting.

Trent Meacham said everybody’s looking for answers at this point.

“I think we’re all searching,” he said. “The more you lose games like that closely you might forget how to win them. It’s the little things – a couple plays here, a rebound there, a stop here, a made shot or a made free throw, and we win those games. Hopefully at the end of this year, we can make the plays to win those games.”

Randle, the team’s third leading scorer at nearly 10 points per contest, leads the Illini into a game that during his first four seasons, one of them a redshirt year, would have meant something more than it does this time. It is a game that could have decided which team ended the season atop the conference leader boards.

Instead, it’s just another contest against a top-tier team.

“It’s really about pride, whether that be self pride or pride for this team, this Illinois basketball program,” Randle said. “It’s not easy; I don’t think anybody expected this to go the way it has but you have to look toward the future, you gotta look to the next game. For the rest of these guys besides myself, (seniors) Shaun (Pruitt) and Chris (Hicks), (they) have to look forward to their career.

“It’s about building, it’s about getting familiarity, and them getting better for the future – for the next game, the next season.”

The Illini have won only three times in the last 14 games and have not put together a winning streak since late December. Wisconsin has won 15 of its last 17 and beat Illinois 70-60 in early January behind Trevon Hughes’ 22 points and Brian Butch’s 16.

“They have a great system and those guys, they play so well together,” guard Trent Meacham said. “I think that’s their thing. Everybody plays, does their role and that’s what makes them tough. They don’t make mistakes, and they make you make mistakes. That’s why they’re so good.”

Meacham, who led the Illini in scoring against Wisconsin with 14 points, said Illinois needs to avoid a slow start this time around if they expect different results.

“They jumped on us early and we played even with them for the rest of the game, but they jumped on us, and you can’t spot a team like that that many points. We couldn’t overcome that.”

Guard Demetri McCamey, who followed up 31 points against Indiana nearly two weeks ago with more well-rounded games heavy in assists, said he’s ready to prove Illinois can beat a ranked team, something the Illini have yet to do this season.

“This game is real big,” McCamey said. “We get a chance to play against one of the top teams in the country again, and just show what we can do against a very good team. They got us last time, so we just got to go back … and hopefully we can get the win.”