All those late-season struggles are behind Mike Davisand Illinois. The NCAA tournament is all that matters now. Davis tied his season high with 22 points, Demetri McCamey added 17 pointsand seven assists and Illinois dominated UNLV 73-62 Friday night to set upanother meeting between Fighting Illini coaches past and present in theSouthwest region of the NCAA tournament. The ninth-seeded Illini (20-13) took control with an early 15-0 run and ledby as many as 25 in a surprisingly easy rout, after losing 10 of their previous16 games to bring into question whether theyd even make it into the 68-teambracket. We always talk about it. Its not what you do at the beginning of theyear. Its about what you do now, McCamey said. Everybody willforget about what you did at the beginning of the season or the Big Ten seasonif you go out and win in March. Bruce Webers squad led by double digits throughout the second half againsteighth-seeded UNLV (24-9), with former Illini coach Lon Kruger in charge. Nextup for Illinois is a Sunday night clash against No. 1 seed Kansas and Weberspredecessor, Bill Self. Its been such a long time. Both Lon and Bill did tremendous job atIllinois. I respect them. Everywhere theyve been theyve been very goodcoaches, theres no doubt, Weber said. At Illinois, they helped the program. Im just worried about Kansas. Thats what Im really worried about, theirplayers and seeing if we can match up with them. Illinois moved to 15-0 this season when McCamey has at least seven assists.The Illini played without freshman reserve Jereme Richmond, who was suspendedfor violating unspecified team rules. Weber said he hadnt decided whetherRichmond will play Sunday. Oscar Bellfield scored 14 to lead the Runnin Rebels, who had lost justthree of their previous 13 gamesall against BYU and San Diego State, theMountain Wests pair of top-10 powers. Its disappointing for the guys because they played really well in thelast month especially, and doing the things they needed to do to create theopportunity to be here, said Kruger, going against Illinois for the first timein his 25 years as a college coach. To play like that in the first half, everyone was disappointed for sure. Illinois was ranked as high as No. 12 at midseason but faded with a seriesof late-game failures. That wasnt an issue this time. The Illini were on from the start, handling UNLVs in-your-face defense withease and building a 23-point lead while shooting 63 percent in the first half.The Runnin Rebels went scoreless for a span of nearly seven minutes in thefirst half. McCamey ran the show, setting up his teammates early and then getting to thebasket himself. He started the Illinis big run with back-to-back layups andfinished it off with a 3-pointer from the left wing that made it 29-12 with 6:51left before halftime. Mike Tisdale answered UNLVs next basketAnthony Marshalls driving layupthat resulted in a three-point playwith a highlight-reel throwdown of BrandonPauls alley-oop and Illinois kept rolling. McCamey provided the finishing touches with another 3-pointer that droppedin at the halftime buzzer, putting Illinois up 46-24, and then leaped into ateammate before heading to the locker room. It was the second time in the last three games the Illini were so dominantin the first half. They also rushed out to a 46-21 halftime lead against Indianaon senior day in Champaign. But in between, they squandered a 12-point lead inthe final 8 1/2 minutes against Michigan at the Big Ten tournament to provide afresh reminder of a season-long quandary heading into the NCAAs. I thought they played with a bounce to their step. When that happens andone team gets an upper hand like that, the other teams on its heels, Krugersaid. Its not like our guys wanted to play with less energy, but Illinois wonall of those energy battles. That kind of snowballed on us. UNLV got within 61-45 on Stanbacks jumper with 8 minutes left, but D.J.Richardson hit back-to-back 3-pointers and then a layup to bump the lead back to22 by the 5-minute mark. A Rebels rally that came way too late made the score look deceivingly closein Illinois first NCAA tournament win in five years. It meant something to our kids, to our seniors, and Im hoping now theycan want more, Weber said. I told them before the game its theirexpectations that matter. How do they approach the game? How do they approachthe tournament? Whats their desire? Its the same attitude weve got to have onSunday. Weve got a tougher opponent, obviously. The next task is to make it out of the opening weekend for the first timesince losing to North Carolina in the 2005 national championship game. And itwont be an easy one against the Jayhawks, who have lost twice all season andwill be trying to exorcise the demons of a second-round loss against NorthernIowa last year. Its going to take a special effort, Weber said, but its possible onSunday.