There was an aura about the place, the giant orb blooming above the flat Champaign cornfields. Opposing teams did not win at Assembly Hall. This much was rooted in fact — over a span of seven seasons, from 1999 to 2006, Illinois lost only four games at home.

The winning sheen of the Hall has faded recently. In the years after that 2005-06 season, including this year, Illinois lost 27 games at Assembly Hall and attendance figures dropped.

But No. 2 Michigan comes to Champaign on Sunday boasting a national player of the year candidate in Trey Burke, and Assembly Hall will be packed to capacity for its fourth sellout of the year. It will serve as the biggest home game in John Groce’s fledgling coaching career at Illinois.

A potent and diverse attack of guards and wings propel Michigan’s offense, which ranks ninth in the nation in points per game and fourth in the nation in field goal percentage. Two freshmen  wings, Nik Stauskas and Glen Robinson III, average 12.6 and 12.1 points per game, respectively, while Burke can affect the game in rapid spurts through transition scoring or facilitating. Burke’s 18 points per game is tied for second in the Big Ten with Brandon Paul, while his 7.2 assists lead the conference.

Will the home crowd be enough to sway the result in the favor of an unranked Illini team? The players will ultimately decide, but the different factions of the Assembly Hall home experience want to leave an imprint on the visiting Wolverines, too.

Populating the bleachers and floor seats surrounding the court will be the Orange Krush, sporting ties over their orange attire to promote the Coaches vs. Cancer “Illini Tie Together” event. The Krush plans to drum up the anticipation before the game by performing the Krush Walk from inside Memorial Stadium to their spots at Assembly Hall.

“You line up two-by-two and everyone crosses the street all together moving toward Assembly Hall,” Illini Pride Vice President McKennon Biers said. “Seeing the sea of orange is definitely cool to watch and be a part of.”

Aiding the Krush will be blown up faces of famous personalities, like former Illini Stephen Bardo and comedian Nick Offerman, which has become an essential feature of college basketball student sections. Biers preliminarily said notorious referee Jim Burr would get the oversized face treatment for Sunday’s game, but rules state that an official’s likeness cannot be reformatted or used as a giant face. For now, the blown-up faces for Sunday are to be determined.

But the Orange Krush will compose of only a small segment of the sold-out crowd Sunday. Heightening the rest of the ticketholders’ excitement will fall on the shoulders of the Illinois athletic department’s marketing and video teams.

The video department uses the days preceding a game to compile a highlight reel of the basketball team’s previous games this season. Then, with the help of marketing personnel, it follows a loose script that determines when to play certain videos and promotions on the scoreboard.

“You want to let it come naturally and follow the flow of the game,” said Andrew Young, director of video services. “You don’t want to overtake the crowd.”

Young said a series of “call-to-action” videos are used when the game becomes tense in the final minutes of the second half. If such a situation occurs Sunday, when Illinois comes out of a timeout needing a stop on defense, the go-to video is always the raucous “Stand Up and Shout.”

“That’s the one the crowd responds to every time,” Young said.

With Michigan eyeing the No. 1 ranking after Duke’s loss Wednesday, the Wolverines will bring a special effort to Champaign. Illinois will counter with the energy of a home crowd behind the team, hoping to restore the Hall’s formidability.

Though Biers was a high school senior, he remembers the loudest he’s ever heard Assembly Hall – the upset of Michigan State in February 2010, when ESPN’s College Gameday stopped in Champaign. D.J. Richardson was a freshman at the time, but he punctuated the upset with a fastbreak dunk that elicited a mighty roar from the crowd.

“You could hear the top of the crowd,” Richardson recalled. “It was the craziest feeling I’ve ever felt. Every time I watch that play, I get chills. When it gets crazy like that, it’s going to make us play even harder. I think that will help us if we’re up.”

Thomas can be reached at [email protected] and @ThomasBruch.