Bruce Weber hopes this break doesn’t break bad for Illinois

• Reprints

Updated: January 28, 2012 2:10AM

Sometimes taking a break isn’t a good thing.

For the second time this month, Illinois has had what amounts to a bye week. But for the Illini, that’s a bad omen.

Illinois’ first week off came after it upset Ohio State on Jan. 10. Nine days later, the Illini lost at Penn State, then lost Jan. 22 to Wisconsin at Assembly Hall.

Illinois faces the end of another break when it visits Minnesota on Saturday.

“After a good win against Ohio State, we had a long nine-day break where you hope that it would be a positive thing that you get some guys back that have had some injuries,” Illinois coach Bruce Weber said. “And you go to Penn State, and they play very well at home. Then you come home and play a Wisconsin team that has struggled and is playing as well as anybody.”

Minnesota (15-6, 3-5 Big Ten) has rallied from an 0-4 start in conference play. In their last victory, the Golden Gophers pasted Northwestern 75-52 on Jan. 22 at Williams Arena. Their defense stymied the Wildcats, who missed their first 14 field-goal attempts.

“We’re playing better since an 0-4 start in the league, but we have a long way to go,” Minnesota coach Tubby Smith said. “I thought we had a very good game against Northwestern, where we got off to a good start, and that gave us a lot of confidence.”

Illinois (15-5, 4-3) needs to have confidence in the face of injuries. Guard Sam Maniscalco returned from an ankle injury at Penn State after missing three games, but Weber said he still has to be careful with him. Guard D.J. Richardson has an injured wrist and knee. Center Meyers Leonard sprained an ankle in the weight room Jan. 20, but Weber said Leonard “seemed OK” against Wisconsin.

Weber believes this is the “breaking point” of the season with the Illini coming off two consecutive losses and with three games in nine days.

“You can’t have any off days,” Weber said. “Minnesota has pick-ed it up and played well. I hope the motivation is that you lost two in a row. A toughness factor has to help us get ready to go to Minnesota.”