IOWA CITY, Iowa - In an upcoming television special that takes a behind-the-scenes look at the University of Illinois basketball team, coach Bruce Weber gives his players the following message:

"The people that we don't fear can beat us."

It's a warning that to overlook any opponent could be a costly mistake that results in Illinois' first loss of the season. There's a good chance Weber will trot out that message today when Illinois plays Iowa, knowing the Hawkeyes are without their best player, Pierre Pierce.

What he's hoping is that Iowa's performance against Illinois back on Jan. 20 - when the Hawkeyes pushed Illinois to overtime in the closest call all season - will provide that fear factor Weber believes is essential.

Iowa is 1-3 since Pierce was dismissed from the team for his second incident that involved charges of sexual assault. But Weber has not seen a slip in effort and hopes his team will take seriously the threat that Iowa poses today at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

"It helps us that we had a tough game," Weber said. "They know that they're capable of. Our kids respect them, whether it's (Jeff) Horner, who played against Illinois as a freshman and had a big-time game and really outplayed Dee (Brown) and Deron (Williams) out our place, or someone like (Adam) Haluska, who is showing signs.

"(Greg) Brunner is one of the best big men in the league. He's done it against us. He's done it consistently. Some of their young kids have stepped in without Pierce," he said, naming 6-foot-2 sophomore Mike Henderson and 6-4 freshman Carlton Reid.

Immediately after disposing of Penn State Wednesday night, the Illini players were already sounding prepared for an Iowa team that poses a very real threat.

"It's going to be a tough game," said Roger Powell, who is coming off a 21-point performance against Penn State. "They are going to compete and play hard and we're going to have to match that.

"They are not going to give up. When we played Indiana they did not have their star guard, Bracey Wright, and they played us tough."

Brown feels the same way.

"They will still be fired up. They have Brunner, they have Horner, who I respect and like. Pierre is a tough matchup, a great player, but if they're a good team like I think they are, one guy doesn't make a team."

True, but Pierce gave Iowa a player who averaged 18 points a game on offense and who was the team's best individual defender. That has been difficult to replace.

"They've had good showings without him but it's been hard to come up with victories. That's scary for me as a coach. Purdue battled and battled them and found a way to win," Weber said, pointing to Wednesday night's 66-63 comeback victory by the Boilermakers.

"One of the keys will be how the game starts. If we get them down right away, maybe we can get some doubt in them."

If the game is close, that's when Iowa could miss Pierce the most.

"He could create shots down the stretch," Weber said. "You've got Brunner to do it and Horner is a good set-up man, but they're missing what Pierce could do. There's no doubt about it, it makes a difference in their team."

Another key to the Illini's success this season is its ability to start the same lineup every game. Today will mark the 27th time without a miss that Weber has opened the game with guards Brown, Williams and Luther Head and inside players Powell and James Augustine.

"We've been very lucky," Weber said. "We've stayed away from injuries and any other controversies or other problems. It's been very good for us at this point.

"The ironic thing is, we rarely practice the starting five together in practice. I want them to compete against each other in practice. I want Dee to go against Deron and Luther. I want Luther to go against those guys. I think they push each other, yet when we get to a game they really play well together.

"One of the best things about our team is that they love to compete. I put Deron in a lot of tough situations in practice. Sometimes I give him the lower guys to see if he can carry them through a day and be successful in practice. We put them in some tough situations.

"Other coaches never do that. They get their five together from beginning to end. It's just a style I picked up and things we did at Purdue and now we've tweaked it a little bit."

Mark Tupper can be reached at mtupper@;herald-review.com or at 421-7983.