Mike Davis’ entrance to practice Tuesday in bare feet was a sign the Illini are ready to start fresh in this week’s Big Ten/ACC Challenge. After Illinois was upset by both Utah and Bradley in the Las Vegas Invitational last week, Davis said he has the opportunity to help the team rekindle its energy early on in the season when it travels to No. 18 Clemson on Wednesday.

“We’re having some growing pains right now, but we’ll get through it,” Davis said “I’m kind of happy that we lost those two games because it’s an eye opener. You can’t go into every game thinking you’re going to win by 40, because you’re not. I’m kind of happy that we lost because now guys are motivated and we need to win.”

Illinois is 3-7 all-time in the Challenge, and last season it lost to Clemson by two points in a heartbreaker at home. The Illini were leading at halftime, but the Tigers clawed back on a 9-1 run with two minutes remaining and held on to win when the Illini failed to get a shot off before the buzzer.

Davis’ career-high 28 points were not enough for Illinois, as other aspects of the game hindered the squad.

“I remember their press,” Davis said. “We’re not going to go down there and have zero turnovers, so we just got to fight through the turnovers and keep moving the ball.”

The Illini saw more than they would have liked to of the Tigers big man Trevor Booker, who put up 16 points and grabbed eight rebounds.

“He’s a big guy, one of the best post (players) in the country,” Davis said. “If we can contain him and keep him off the boards, we’ve got a good shot to win.”

Booker leads Clemson in both scoring and rebounding this season, and he will be Davis’ main focus inside the Littlejohn Coliseum.

“If we get stops, we don’t need to score,” Davis said.

Davis, who is averaging 11.8 points and 10 rebounds per game, believes a win Wednesday would be more significant than both of the losses in Las Vegas.

“Down in March those two games probably will be key losses on our resume, but if we can win here it will be a key win for us,” he said.

Freshman guard D.J. Richardson is eager to shrug off his first collegiate losses.

“What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas,” Richardson said.

But he is taking some good out of the trip.

“Everyone has to lose at a certain time,” Richardson said, who hadn’t lost a basketball game since his junior year in high school. “I went through a winning process, and now I have to feel what it’s like to be a loser sometimes.”

Junior forward Bill Cole said the Illini don’t have enough time to fret about their mistakes.

“That’s that good thing about basketball as opposed to football,” Cole said. “We don’t have to sit here and dwell on it. We came back and we had basically a day and a half to prepare, and we’re going to go back out and tough it.”

For Davis, toughing it out against Clemson comes when he departs Champaign.

“You got to check your egos at the door,” Davis said. “We’ve got to come to the gym and be a family.”