CHICAGO – Illinois coach Bruce Weber has been instructing sophomore Demetri McCamey to attempt less three-pointers and focus on developing a mid-range game.

The coach has had a hard time reaching Illinois’ starting point guard, as McCamey has tried at a team-leading 52 three-point attempts this season.

After throwing up 12 three-point attempts against Clemson, McCamey looked as if he took his coach’s advice in Saturday’s 76-52 victory against Georgia at the United Center. The guard shot five three-point attempts, making two, and converted on 6-of-7 from inside the arc.

But it wasn’t Weber’s voice McCamey had in his head.

“I know this don’t sound good, but my little brother (DeAndre) told me that I was settling for too many threes,” McCamey said. “So I took that under consideration and just started attacking the paint like I used to do.”

DeAndre, a junior at Chicago St. Joseph’s, is being recruited by several Division I programs, including Illinois. He was in attendance to watch his big brother at the United Center.

Injury ‘taking a toll’ on Frazier

Chester Frazier has gutted through a deep thigh bruise for four straight games. But Frazier aggravated the injury Saturday as the Illinois senior guard hobbled off the court early in the first half.

Frazier returned to play a season-low 24 minutes, hitting two three-pointers and dishing out four assists.

“It’s taking a toll,” Weber said. “It’s good we only had to play him 24 minutes. I just said (to Frazier) in the second half, ‘Just be basic and be solid.’ He gets a little hyper and tries to do too much. And when you are hurt, you don’t have your athleticism and quickness now you put yourself in a bind. You can’t recover. Even though he didn’t have great numbers … he was still solid when we made that run in the second half.”

Recruits take in Illini victory

Illinois may be in the middle of the season, but recruiting never ends for Illinois coaches. Several Chicago-area recruits were in attendance at the United Center, including Illinois signee Brandon Paul (Warren) and Class of 2010 commits Jereme Richmond (Waukegan) and Crandall Head (Crane).

DeAndre McCamey, Bartlett sophomore Jacob Williams and two eighth graders – Alex Foster and Thomas Hamilton – were also in attendance.

“Any time you’re in the city of Chicago, you got special kids that are important,” Illinois assistant coach Jerrance Howard said.

“It’s good to be at the United Center. The fan base here and everybody that’s coming out. It’s just a good feeling. It’s good for our program.”