FACTS & STATS: Site: Rose Garden (19,980) -- Portland, Oregon. Television: CBS. NCAA Tournament Record: Western Kentucky 17-21, Illinois 38-28. Series Record: Illinois leads, 2-0.

GAME NOTES: Back in the NCAA Tournament for the ninth time in the last 10 years, the Fighting Illini of Illinois face off against the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers in the first round of the South Regional at the Rose Garden in Portland. As an interesting subplot to this encounter, Illinois head coach Bruce Weber actually began his coaching career under Gene Keady with the Hilltoppers 30 years ago.

Current history finds Weber leading the fifth-seeded Illini into the 71st edition of this postseason tournament for the second straight year and the fifth time overall. The Big Ten Conference power streaked through its non- league slate at 13-2 before stumbling to 11-7 in conference. The Illini lost back-to-back games to close out the regular season to Michigan State and Penn State before topping Michigan in the conference tournament six days ago, 60-50. However, a day later Illinois was ushered out of the event in a 66-56 loss to Purdue.

As for the Hilltoppers, the 12 seed in this event, they are in for the 21st time in school history and sport a record of 17-21 over the years. The squad made the cut by again winning the Sun Belt Conference Tournament with victories over Florida International, North Texas and South Alabama which means the team is riding a seven-game win streak overall.

Illinois leads the all-time series between the programs to two wins in as many meetings. Actually, these schools met in the 2003 NCAA Tournament as well, with the Illini logging a 65-60 victory in Indianapolis. Also in the first round of the event six years ago, Illinois was the fourth seed in the region and WKU the 13th seed, yet still it made for a close call.

The winner of this matchup will be back in action on Saturday versus the winner of the Akron/Gonzaga bout.

Orlando Mendez-Valdez, who became the 42nd player in Western Kentucky history to score 1,000 points in his career, was named the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year for 2008-09, making him the fifth player for the program to earn the honor in the last nine seasons. Mendez-Valdez is someone who can do it all for the Hilltoppers with his 14.0 ppg, 4.1 rpg and team-best 127 assists over the course of 32 games. Mendez-Valdez shot a mediocre 43.7 percent from the field on the campaign but made up for it with an impressive 40.6 percent accuracy behind the three-point line. The second-leading scorer on the roster, Mendez-Valdez was actually behind A.J. Slaughter who accounted for 15.8 ppg and was second on the list with his 109 dishes in 30 appearances. Not to be overlooked for the Hilltoppers are Steffphon Pettigrew and Sergio Kerusch who responded with 12.7 and 11.2 ppg, respectively, although neither was able to shoot 68 percent at the charity stripe. Kerusch paced the group with his nearly seven and a half rebounds per game, which helped to give the program a rebounding edge of almost five per game.

Unlike the Hilltoppers who base so much of their success on the offense, Illinois was at the opposite end of the spectrum with a mediocre 64.6 ppg this season. More importantly, the Illini displayed one of the toughest defenses in college basketball in 2008-09 with just 56.6 ppg allowed. Opponents were not only limited to just 39.3 percent shooting from the field, those programs were also lost when it came to hitting the perimeter shot, doing so at a feeble 29 percent over the course of 33 games. Demetri McCamey was responsible for a team-best 11.5 ppg and was second on the team with 152 assists. McCamey's 56 three-point baskets were second only to Trent Meachem (9.8 ppg) who sank 65- of-157 this year. Mike Davis handled the inside for the Illini, collecting 8.1 rpg while depositing 11.2 ppg on 52.9 percent shooting from the floor. Mike Tisdale checks in with 10.5 ppg as a 53.8 percent shooter from the field, adding 4.1 rpg and a team-best 47 blocked shots, but that still doesn't disguise the fact that he has just 19 assists in 33 starts.

Illinois got somewhat lost in the mix when the rest of the Big Ten moved by in the conference tournament, but the added rest might be just what the team needs in order to dismiss the Hilltoppers tonight.

Predicted Outcome

Illinois 68, Western Kentucky 62