HOFFMAN ESTATES - On the one hand, Illinois is 5-0, is winning by an average margin of 34 points and has made overcoming the absence of three regulars look as easy as gobbling pumpkin pie.

This is a confident Illini basketball team that ventures away from home for the first time and plays Miami (Ohio) tonight in the Chicago Invitational Challenge at the new Sears Centre.

But on the other hand, point guard Chester Frazier, who thinks the world has yet to discover this Illini team, makes an honest point when he says, "Yeah, but what have we done? We haven't beaten anyone. No disrespect to the other teams, but if you want to be a Top 25 team you have to beat some of those (better) teams. Someone is not putting us (in the Top 25) for a reason."

If Illinois is going to inch toward Top 25 status, games tonight and Saturday, as well as big-time showdowns against Maryland on Tuesday and Arizona next Saturday, will give Illinois a chance to prove it can do more than dropkick the lightweights.

Heading into tonight's game, Illini coach Bruce Weber sees a group trying to shed the perception that it will struggle without Dee Brown and James Augustine, both of whom are now drawing paychecks in the NBA.

"Maybe we're at that point where we're saying, 'We're our own team,' " Weber said. "I hope so, but I still don't think we have proven anything. I keep telling them that. We're 5-0 but we've won five home games, and the competition is not what it will be in the next few weeks.

"The next four games will be huge."

Step one is getting past the Miami, which defeated Illinois-Chicago 72-61 Tuesday night.

"This is a very well-coached team, an intelligent team that has some toughness to them," Weber said. "They do all the little things that make a difference. They don't really run the swing offense like Wisconsin, but they try to find a weaker defender and try to isolate that guy to get some mismatches.

"(Nathan) Peavy is a good, quality player," Weber said of the 6-foot-8 senior forward. "If we had Brian Randle, we'd have a real nice matchup. But we may have tough matchups with a couple of their guys.

"They went to Kentucky and made Kentucky fight (before losing 57-46). I hope over the course of time, maybe our pressure might hurt them and maybe we can get some inside touches."

Peavy scored 18 points in the Redhawks' victory over Illinois-Chicago. In that game, Miami shot 44.4 percent from 3-point range with Michael Bramos hitting 4-of-5.

For Illinois, Rich McBride returned Tuesday from suspension and scored 16 points in a lop-sided victory over Savannah State. Jamar Smith (high ankle sprain) should be the next player to rejoin the Illini lineup, but Weber said there's only a sliver of a chance he would play this weekend.

"I still think we're looking at Arizona (on Dec. 2)," Weber said.

And Randle is probably a few weeks behind Smith as he slowly tries to bounce back from surgery performed last Friday on his groin/abdominal area.

Frazier said he's looking forward to the challenge of winning away from the friendly confines of the Assembly Hall.

"It's a different atmosphere, a whole different type of game," he said of playing on the road. "But it's more home than away playing in Chicago. Hopefully our fans will come out and support us."

If Illinois wins tonight, it will play at 7:30 p.m. Saturday against the winner of today's Bradley-Rutgers game. Bradley bombed in 20 3-pointers in a 107-75 victory over Florida A&M on Tuesday.

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