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Randle's injury not serious

Posted by: Paul Klee

Thursday, November 1, 2007 7:37 PM

Couple quick notes....

-Brian Randle sat out the second half of Illinois' 82-61 win against Division II Quincy on Wednesday. He banged his knee while going for a rebound in the exhibition game, and said he and the athletic training staff decided there was no need to push it.

"It would be different if the regular season was two days around the corner," Randle said today after practice at Ubben.

Randle described the injury as a slight bone bruise on his knee. He was held out of practice today as the team worked out for about two hours, and said he expects to be in the lineup for Tuesday's exhibition against Kentucky Wesleyan.

-If you saw Mike Davis on Wednesday, you saw what makes him a promising player. He's further along than coaches expected at this point, and finished with team highs of 13 points and nine boards. He's kind of similar to Randle, and the senior came away impressed with the freshman after watching him in a game environment.

"I'm not sure he has a grasp on how good he can be. I think he's starting to figure that out," Randle said. "In the three or four months he's been here, he's made more progress than anyone we have. Even now, he's still going off the raw energy and raw talent that he has. Once he puts some weight on and goes through the weight lifting and the conditioning, the sky is the limit for him. There's no telling how good he could be."

-The Illini got their flu shots today, but it wasn't in time for Trent Meacham. Bruce Weber said Meacham is fighting the flu. The junior went through light drills today.

Paul
pklee@news-gazette.com