Illinois

Gary Williams used to take the ACC/Big Ten Challenge personally, in part because of his uber-competitive nature as well as the fact that he came to Maryland from Ohio State. It showed in the way his teams played, winning nine of the 12 games in the series, including the last six. In taking over for Williams this season, coach Mark Turgeon doesn't have the same history. Neither Turgeon, whose young team faces Illinois (6-0) on Tuesday night at Comcast Center, nor his players, even knew before Monday that Maryland has never lost in five home games in the series.

The Illinois Attorney General's Office has renewed its request to federal energy regulators for a hearing on Constellation Energy Group's plan to sell itself to Chicago-based Exelon Corp. In a brief filed Tuesday, Attorney General Lisa Madigan said the $7.9 billion deal would raise rates for customers of Exelon's ComEd utility, citing testimony by the company's executives during regulatory hearings before the Maryland Public Service Commission. The Illinois attorney general's office is among several groups that have objected to the deal on the grounds that the combined company would have two much control of electricity prices on the grid that serves much of the mid-Atlantic region.

Aric Brooks scored 17 points and Morgan State used a couple of spurts to beat Western Illinois, 72-53, Tuesday in the Cancun Challenge in Mexico. Kevin Thompson (Walbrook) finished with 12 points, Ameer Ali had 11 and Rodney Stokes added 10 for the Bears (2-2). Morgan State trailed 9-7 with 12:34 left in the first half after Western Illinois' David Gebru scored, but the Bears responded with a 20-1 run and held a 15-point lead by halftime. Thompson, who also had eight rebounds, saw his three-game streak of double doubles end. Ursinus 63, McDaniel 61: The Green Terror's Jon Ward went 2-for-2 from the foul line with three seconds left in overtime but McDaniel (2-2, 0-1 Centennial Conference)

The Maryland men's basketball team is not sulking after dropping both games of last weekend's 2K Sports Classic benefiting Coaches vs. Cancer at Madison Square Garden. Players are not crestfallen, and coaches aren't panicking. If anything, the Terps are eager to get back into action and correct the mistakes that led to a 79-70 loss to No. 4 Pittsburgh on Friday and an 80-76 loss to No. 13 Illinois on Saturday. Competitive play in both games has Maryland convinced it can beat a top opponent, and when the Terps (3-2)

Maryland players didn't appear dejected as they filed out of Madison Square Garden on Friday night in their black sweat suits after dropping their second straight game to a Top 25 team. It's not that the Terps hadn't been eager to win. It's just that the team realizes it is — as coach Gary Williams put it afterward — "a work in progress. " Williams told his players he was proud of them after their 80-76 loss to No. 13 Illinois in the consolation game of the 2K Sports Classic Benefiting Coaches vs. Cancer.

No. 13 Illinois handed Maryland its second straight defeat Friday night, using inside-outside balance to win, 80-76, in the consolation game of the 2K Sports Classic benefiting Coaches vs. Cancer at Madison Square Garden. The Illini made 10 3-pointers That, coupled with their superior size, made it a difficult matchup for the Terps. Trailing by double digits, Maryland closed to within 75-71 on a Jordan Williams (15 points) up-and-under move and a pair of free throws. Freshman guard Terrell Stoglin's 3-pointer cut the margin to 78-76 in the final 10 seconds before Illinois won it on free throws Maryland (3-2)

— Rod Blagojevich may have escaped criminal conviction on most counts, but his trial offers no comfort to Illinois' long-suffering voters. It was a sleazy reality show, featuring insider deals and pay-to-play politics. Blago's closest aides either testified against him (acknowledging their role in a criminal conspiracy), or, like Tony Rezko and Stuart Levine, couldn't be trusted to testify. And so ends another exciting season of Illinois' version of "Jersey Shore," starring the former governor as "The (Bad)

Solo Cup Co. announced plans Tuesday to shut its Owings Mills manufacturing facility in two years, eliminating 540 jobs and ending an operation that has been in Baltimore County for more than eight decades. The plant, which makes paper products such as cups and containers, is one of three the Illinois-based company is closing to consolidate work across its 10 other North American facilities. Solo Cup, which says the struggling economy has sapped demand for its products, plans to shut plants in Massachusetts and Missouri next year.

Betsy Sue Riggin, an affable 29-year-old, told her family she met her boyfriend Andrew Jackson at a salad bar in Baltimore three years ago. He was a "wonderful man," and they were expecting their first child in September. But on Thursday, Riggin was found dead behind the locked door of her Coldstream-Homestead-Montebello home, strangled. Jackson was charged Saturday in her death, and the woman's family is now learning about the long criminal history of a man authorities believe Riggin actually met at her job as a food services manager at the city jail.

There can't be another team with bigger sweat rings than Illinois. Plenty of teams, such as Villanova and Kansas State, will work this week for a No. 2 seeding in the NCAA tournament. Ohio State has a chance with a big run in the Big Ten to earn a No. 1 seed. Then there is a team like Illinois, which just wants in. Actually there are few teams like Illinois. The Illini have lost five of six and coach Bruce Weber can't figure out where his team's sense of urgency went. Plenty of bracketologists think it comes down to Illinois' first-round Big Ten tournament game against Wisconsin.