As the No. 11 Illinois men's basketball team continues to gain strength with Saturday's return of junior guard Luther Head and redshirt freshman forward Aaron Spears, the No. 10 North Carolina men's basketball team continues to see players fall to injury.

With two scholarship players already lost to injuries for the next two weeks, the Tar Heels received their biggest blow when junior forward Jawad Williams got hurt during Sunday's practice.

"If we were going to play right now, he wouldn't play," North Carolina men's basketball head coach Roy Williams said on Monday. "He's going to have to have significant improvement by (tonight)."

Roy Williams described Jawad's injury as a hip pointer, but it remains possible Jawad could play when Illinois and North Carolina play tonight at 8 p.m. in Greensboro, N.C., as part of the Big Ten/ACC Challenge.

Illinois' ability to go nine or 10 players deep in its bench concerns Roy Williams, given the possibility of Jawad missing tonight's game. In Carolina's first three games, Jawad led the Tar Heels in scoring with 21.3 points per game and ranks second on the team in rebounding with 7.7 per game.

"I think that we worry about their depth because they've got so many other guys that they can put in there," Roy Williams said. "If we do have him (Jawad) we're pretty sure he won't be full strength. Our guys have to do the best job of boxing out that we have all year."

Two main players the Tar Heels must keep off the boards are junior forward Roger Powell and sophomore forward James Augustine. Augustine leads the Illini averaging nine rebounds per game while Powell recorded a double-double in each of his last two games.

Unaware of the possibility that Jawad may not play tonight, Illinois basketball head coach Bruce Weber described the importance of solid play from Illinois' frontcourt players.

"We talked about it before the Mercer game, stopping (Mercer star forward Scott) Emerson," Weber said. "Our guys did a good job on that. This will be a tougher task for them. Williams is more mobile and (Sean) May has a great touch. We're going to have to step it up.

"It should be a good match up with the guards, but the big guys will be a question."

Last season, Illinois blew out North Carolina at Assembly Hall 92-65. Roy Williams knows his team needs to play better than they did in Saturday's 82-76 win over Cleveland State to beat the Illini.

"I think we've got to take care of the basketball and get good shots," Roy Williams said. "They're a very good team. Last year, they beat Carolina by 37 and that's before Sean May got hurt. We know that we've got to play as well as we could possibly play or we don't have a chance."

Roy Williams may be downplaying the talent of his top 10 team, and Weber knows that a win for his Illini tonight will go a long way towards proving they can have national success this season.

"They get all the national attention," Weber said about North Carolina, Kentucky, Kansas, Indiana and Duke. "Those are the programs that always seem to get the highlights. If we really have high goals of being the best you have to beat the best."