The Illinois men's basketball team used Sunday's exhibition game against the Illinois All-Stars to gain familiarity with first-year head coach Bruce Weber's desired tempo and offensive motions.

The Illini struggled through the first half with only a one-point lead at halftime, but in the second half they rolled to a 91-66 win over the Illinois All-Stars.

"The first half, we looked pretty bad," sophomore guard Dee Brown said. "The second half, we got things going. We got some good ball movement and had a lot more energy on defense."

The Illini pulled down 16 defensive rebounds in the second half compared to their opponent's four.

Sophomore forward James Augustine led the Illini in rebounding with 12, including seven in the second half. Augustine needed two more points to record a double-double for the game.

Former Illini forward Sergio McClain played for the Illinois All-Stars and said the Illini put the All-Stars on their heels early in the second half.

"Right out of the gate, they came out on a 5-0 run; we had to call timeout," said McClain, who scored eight points. "Dee just went on a tear, as usual. Once he gets in that mode, it's hard to stop him."

Brown scored 12 points in the second half and led the Illini in scoring by totaling 26 points for the game.

Illinois played Sunday's game without junior guard Luther Head and redshirt freshman forward Aaron Spears. Both players did not play after violating team rules.

"I'd rather do it now than have to worry about something later," Weber said. "I want to make sure they understand and all the kids understand it. You've got to have discipline and take care of business."

Weber limits rules for the team to be on time, go to class and try their best.

"When you don't do that you're going to pay the consequences," Weber said. "You can only run guys so often (in practice).

"When they sit next to you and get splinters they think a little better."

Illini fans found out that Illinois' three freshman will come off the bench to play this season. Freshmen Warren Carter, Richard McBride and Brian Randle all played during Sunday's exhibition preventing them from redshirting during the 2003-2004 seaosn.

Redshirting McBride never really was an option. The Illini needed to replace graduate Sean Harrington's shooting, but Weber left the decision to redshirt to Randle and Carter.

"Brian, I think he's gotten to the point, I think he's going to play some minutes," Weber said. "I hope they all get better as the season goes on."

Weber said talk even went up until Sunday morning trying to convince Carter that redshirting could benefit the lanky freshman.

"Warren's probably got the longest distance to get better," Weber said. "Hopefully, that will come with some time."

The stereotype of redshirting hindered the coaching staff's ability to convince Carter to redshirt.

"Kids feel redshirting is a negative and the toughest thing is to swallow your ego," Weber said.

The Illini plan to continue working to improve the freshmen and improve the team's overall knowledge of running Weber's new motion offense.

"I think just coming out here for the first time a lot of people don't know what to expect," sophomore guard Deron Williams said. "Basically, getting everybody on the same page, you have to know how to screen and read your man. It comes with practice. We have a couple more weeks before the season really starts."