FULL-COURT PRESS

A Bloomington court storming was long overdue.\nGray-haired women standing courtside, holding strands of yellow string were no match for more than 17,000 fans after a 62-60 upset of No. 7 Illinois. It hasn't been long since fans last graced Branch McKracken Court (last year against Michigan State), but it has been awhile since IU last won a home game as meaningful as this.\n"I was so happy we won," senior forward Marco Killingsworth said. "I didn't want to come out of conference with two back-to-back losses. That would start to mess with your head."\nBut as hoards of fans surrounded the celebrating Hoosiers, the team members found themselves more surprised than enthused. \n"We didn't expect that," senior guard Marshall Strickland said. "We were as happy as they were that we won, but it wasn't like we were unranked beating the No. 1 team."\nFans flooding the floor surprised the IU players, but perhaps the night's biggest surprise was a 39-31 Hoosier rebounding advantage. Earlier in the week, IU coach Mike Davis described his team's rebounding troubles as "scary" after an 18-rebound effort against Michigan State.\nDavis mocked IU's ability to rebound when he joked about 5-foot-8 guard Errek Suhr being the team's third-leading offensive rebounder. Regardless of whether Davis intended for it to happen, the team certainly responded.\n"We were very motivated (to rebound)," sophomore forward Robert Vaden said. "(Davis) kind of made us feel bad because he said a Division I team should never get 18 rebounds -- especially Indiana ... We got 39 tonight and hopefully we can keep doing that."\nAlmost a week after grabbing just one rebound against Michigan State, Killingsworth pulled down 12 rebounds and scored 23 points for his fourth career double-double. But it was just one rebound that stood out for Killingsworth when he sealed the game by pulling down a miss from Illinois' James Augustine with less than 30 seconds remaining.\n"I thought, defensively, we played as well as we've played all season," Davis said. "We rebounded the ball and I never thought I could say that."\nKillingsworth's contributions come as no surprise by this point in the season. But with the big man only scoring three points in the first half, the contribution had to come from elsewhere. Junior Rod Wilmont and freshman Ben Allen answered that call. \nWilmont fell three points shy of a career high with 17 points on the evening -- 12 of those coming from behind the arc. Allen saw a mere nine minutes of action, but earned more "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie" chants by shooting 2-2 from three.\nAllen's timely threes and a skying dunk from Wilmont helped carry the Hoosiers through the first half and rejuvenate the crowd after an early 10-point deficit.\n"The bench probably won the game for (IU) tonight," Illinois coach Bruce Weber said.\nAs for the preseason Big Ten Player of the Year and Illinois' most potent offensive threat -- Dee Brown -- his numbers do the talking. Five points, 1-9 shooting and five fouls.\n"Lewis did a great job on Dee," Wilmont said. "As a team, we played really great defense ... That's something we've got to keep doing"