CHAMPAIGN — Most everyone around Illinois basketball saw Monday’s game against the Cornell of the Ivy League as a bounce back contest.

The Fighting Illini, still rated No. 25 in the latest Associated Press poll, were coming off their first loss of the season 64-48 to UNLV, and the Big Red were 4-4 after overtime victories against Lehigh and Albany.

But things didn’t go the way that Illinois had hoped. Instead, the Fighting Illini had to claw and fight to pull out a 64-60 victory before 13,578 at the Assembly Hall.

“No, I think we could have had a better game today,” said Illinois junior guard D.J. Richardson, who had 17 points, 11 in the second half. “We are happy to get the win, but we still have to work on some things to get better.

“We need to get more from the bench. We can’t take any steps backward, we need to keep going forward.”

Actually, since starting the season with eight straight victories, including wins at Maryland and against nationally-ranked Gonzaga, the momentum of Illinois basketball has been slipping. Close wins over St. Bonaventure, Coppin State and Cornell, sandwiched around the loss to UNLV in Chicago has many people wondering what is wrong in Illini nation.

“In the first half, they had us on the Matto, play-hard chart,” Illinois coach Bruce Weber said. “We finally picked up the intensity. We did a better job defending, getting loose balls, steals and deflections. When we took lead on the Matto, we won the game.

“At the end, we found a way to win. They weren’t going to back down. If we play this way against Missouri, it could be a long night. Hopefully, we play a little looser, be a little more aggressive and be a little sharper.”

The biggest problems for the Illini (11-1) have been consistency on the offensive end and finding production from its bench, which features two sophomore and six freshmen.

Illinois has made just 38 percent of its shots (86-of-225) in the past four games, the Illini have committed 52 turnovers in those contests and the bench, which was held scoreless on Monday night, has contributed just 13 points on 5-of-36 shooting (14 percent).

“We are not very fluid offensively,” Weber said. “ In the first half, we had some good possessions of attacking the zone.

“But, our young guys off the bench are not very sure of what they are doing yet and they don’t know what to look for.”

Illinois’ 7-foot-1 sophomore center Meyers Leonard scored a team-high 19 points, but he was held to four points on 2-of-3 shooting in the second half.

“I want to get Meyers the ball, but you can’t walk down and throw it to him,” Weber said. “ You have to move, get it side-to-side and then get it to him.

“His 19 points, 16 rebounds and three blocks probably saved us.”

Leonard said that Cornell (4-5) keyed in on him a little more as the game progressed.

“When they went man, you would figure that I would get some more shots up,” Leonard said. “But the fact that we got the win is all that matters.

“I probably need to get more shot attempts in the second half, regardless, we got the win.”

His 16 rebounds, four offensive and 12 defensive, was a new career high for the sophomore from Robinson.

“Meyers had a big, great game for us tonight,” said Richardson “We have that type of team where anyone can step up and be the key player.

“Meyers had a big double-double, we need him to stay consistent.”

Cornell, which had the lead for 15 minutes and 38 seconds in the second half, made just one of its final five shots, while Illinois were 3-of-3 during that stretch.

“We had some opportunities in the game,” Cornell coach Bill Courtney said. “When you come into a hostile environment like this in a Big Ten arena, and you have an opportunity to win, you have to take advantage of it. We didn’t necessarily do that.

“Illinois has some big-time players and they made big-time plays down the stretch. I thought Illinois did that tonight.”

The Illini will need a lot more of those plays on Thursday when they travel to St. Louis for the annual Braggin’ Rights contest against the Missouri Tigers.

“We have to play better against Missouri, there is no doubt,” Richardson said. “We have to get better bench production and consistency from the other guys.”

Tipoff from the Scottrade Center in St. Louis is set for 8 p.m. The game is being televised by ESPN2 and it can be heard locally on WDAN-AM 1490 and WDNL-FM 102.1