No. 18 Illinois tops Michigan.(Chicago Tribune)

Byline: Gary Reinmuth

ANN ARBOR, Mich. _ Illinois coach Bill Self can't pinpoint the moment exactly, but sometime after his team's dreadful Feb. 15 loss to Purdue he's convinced a little light went on in his players' brains.

Perhaps it was during the long, dark bus ride home in the snow that night from West Lafayette, Ind. Maybe it was the three-hour practice Self put them through the next day. Whatever.

Since then, the Illini have won four straight games. Since that "by-George-we've-got-it" moment, no team in the Big Ten Conference has played better. And despite the red-hot shooting of senior LaVell Blanchard and the screams of a hostile crowd, the 18th-ranked Illini (20-5, 10-4) proved it by knocking off Michigan, 82-79, on Saturday at Crisler Arena to move into a first-place tie with Wisconsin with two games left to play. The Badgers play Sunday at Minnesota.

"We felt like if we didn't win today we wouldn't have had a shot to play for (the title)," said Self, whose team can clinch no worse than a share of its third straight league title by beating the Badgers on Wednesday night in Madison. "We wouldn't mind a little help, but this was the game.

"Our team has been confident, but I don't think we could have won this game three weeks ago."

There were a duffel bag full of reasons the Illini dealt the Wolverines' (16-11, 9-5) own title chances a serious blow, but the list begins with two more sparkling performances from senior forward Brian Cook and sophomore forward Roger Powell.