<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">No. 14 Illinois lost its most consistent player -- its "heart and soul" -- for the rest of December when point guard Deron Williams broke his jaw during Thursday's win against Maryland-Eastern Shore. Williams, averaging a team-high 14.2 points and seven assists a game, is scheduled for outpatient surgery Friday. Illini coach Bruce Weber told ESPN.com that the best-case scenario is for the sophomore to return Jan 3. against Illinois State. Four days later, Illinois opens the Big Ten season against Ohio State. That means Williams is out for Saturday's game against Memphis (ESPN2, 9 p.m. ET), the heated rivalry game against No. 4 Missouri in St. Louis (ESPN2, 9 p.m. ET) Dec. 23 and a tough in-state game at Illinois-Chicago Dec. 30. Williams suffered the injury when he ran into a pick set by Eastern Shore's Jareem Dowling, less than two minutes into the second half of the 85-43 victory in Champaign, Ill. To compensate for Williams' absence, Weber expects Dee Brown (37 percent shooting this season after 44.3 percent a year ago) to snap out of a season-long slump. But the Illini will also need freshmen Richard McBride and Brian Randle to play more minutes. </div> Full Story This is a HUGE blow for Illinois.He really has been leading their team in all areas.Scoring assists and overall leadership.Dee Brown will need to step up big time.
