NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Illinois' search for an early infusion of confidence leads it to the campus of Vanderbilt University tonight.

That's where the Illini will take on a young but talented Commodores team on one of the most unusual playing surfaces in all of basketball.

Memorial Gymnasium has unnerved more than a few visiting teams who can't get a feel for playing in a gym where the team benches are located beyond the end lines, not at the side of the playing surface like most gyms.

It can be an almost disorienting feeling if you've never played there. Fortunately, Illini senior guard Trent Meacham has, although his memories are none too positive.

"It's a tough place to play," said Meacham, who played on Vanderbilt's quirky court when he was a freshman at Dayton in 2004-05. "It's tough. The benches are on the baselines. It's a different environment, and they have great fans. It's going to be fun but it will definitely be a test for us."

And how did Dayton do at Vanderbilt?

"We got killed," Meacham said.

Still, Illinois goes to Vanderbilt hoping it can build on improvements coach Bruce Weber has seen early this season.

"I thought our defense made good progress in the first two games," Weber said. "I thought we were in good position. We made some strides with our questionable defensive players.

"Our goal right now is to become competitive in the Big Ten because you're always trying to fight for a Big Ten championship, but also to get back into postseason play. What you do early dictates some of that."

Winning a true road game on the home floor of an SEC team could be a positive mark on Illinois' resume, Weber said.

"It would be a nice confidence-builder," he said. "It's a big game for us."

Vanderbilt won 26 games last season and featured the SEC Player of the Year Shan Foster. But Foster is gone, and coach Kevin Stallings has turned to a young roster that includes no seniors, two juniors and the rest sophomores and freshmen.

"Seven of our 14 kids played in their first college game this past Sunday," Stallings said. "We do have experience at the point guard (with junior Jermaine Beal) and at one of our post positions (with 6-11 sophomore A.J. Ogilvy), but I'm not joking when I say we're young.

"That said, we like the talent of our guys. We feel like in our freshman class we have some kids who are very talented. But when they're freshmen, you never know what to expect."

One of those talented newcomers is Jeff Taylor, a 6-7 freshman who led Vanderbilt with 16 points in its season-opening victory over Morehead State.

What really worries Weber is Ogilvy, a 6-11, 250-pound Australian who averaged 17.0 points per game last season for the Commodores.

"Ogilvy is one of the better big men in the country," Weber said. "There is talk of him leaving early for the NBA, so we'll have our hands full with him.

"We'll have to run a lot of guys at him and keep people fresh. We'll use Mike (Tisdale's) size and hope Ogilvy doesn't seal him in the post so deep it doesn't matter. Then we'll rotate Richard (Semrau) and Dominique (Keller) and bring help with Mike Davis from the weak side.

"Part of it too is that our guards need to have good ball pressure on the passer. If the passer can just look and look and look, it's tough to defend the post guy."

Weber, who likes to roam the full length of the coaching box and beyond, wonders how it will be stuck on an end line instead of on the side of the court. His friend, Stallings, offers this advice.

"With the benches on the ends, if you are a guy who coaches his team throughout the game like Bruce does, in a verbal way, where you are constantly communicating and calling plays, it can be difficult when the play is on the other end of the court.

"In the first half, his offense will have a hard time knowing what he wants. In the second half, his defense will have a hard time knowing what he wants. You get used to it when you do it all the time."

mtupper@herald-review.com|421-7983