Illness is unpredictable.

It limited sophomore center Aday Mara to just 10 minutes Saturday, while junior guard Skyy Clark defied the odds with one of his best performances of the season.

But no matter what, the show must go on.

Coming off a win tainted by norovirus, UCLA men’s basketball (18-6, 9-4 Big Ten) will head to Champaign, Illinois, and face Illinois (16-8, 8-6) on Tuesday. The matchup will initiate a two-game run of Midwest road games after the Bruins completed a four-game victory spree in Los Angeles on Saturday.

Despite falling ill before UCLA’s latest game against Penn State – as an apparent case of norovirus ripped through the Bruins’ roster – Clark delivered his second-consecutive 14-point showing, shooting 6-for-7 in 25 minutes against the Nittany Lions.

“I don’t know how the hell he did it,” said coach Mick Cronin, who was battling the same sickness. “Some guys are just built better than others. He’s obviously a much better athlete than his coach. Now I know I’m old, but I don’t know how did it.”

In November 2022, then-No. 8 UCLA was upset after then-No. 19 Illinois posted 51 points in the second half. This time around, neither team sit within the nation’s top 25, but the Bruins are two rungs higher than the Fighting Illini in conference rankings.

Though UCLA won nine in a row in the early half of the season, its current seven-game winning streak is arguably more impressive with victories over three nationally ranked opponents in then-No. 18 Wisconsin, then-No. 16 Oregon and then-No. 9 Michigan State.

A hallmark of the Bruins’ most recent victories was its disciplined ball control. UCLA committed just three turnovers against the Spartans, and though the box score reflected four against the Nittany Lions, Cronin said there was an error in the scoring and the team committed just three against Penn State as well.

“I just don’t think you can win on the road in conference play if you turn it over,” Cronin said. “When you take care of the ball on the road, you give yourself a chance to win.”

Junior forward Tyler Bilodeau has added helped spearhead the team’s recent success, adding a team-high 39 points through UCLA’s last three games. Even after a Jan. 24 ankle injury took him out of nearly two whole games, Bilodeau bounced back almost immediately to maintain his title as the team’s leading scorer.

Alongside Bilodeau’s leadership is senior guard Kobe Johnson’s tenacity. Johnson is fresh off a career-best performance against Penn State where he recorded a career-high 13 rebounds and delivered a season-high 15 points to go along with six assists, four steals and a deflection.

“We’re going into two very tough places to play on the road,” Johnson said. “We got to be able to take care of business and handle the ball, and come out there with wins.”

The Fighting Illini have a deep roster, boasting four players averaging double digits this season. The No. 3 freshman scorer in the Big Ten, guard Kasparas Jakucionis leads the offense with 15.6 points and 5.5 rebounds per game.

But Illinois also relies on its other standout forward Will Riley, who is fresh off a 27-point performance against Minnesota. The 6-foot-8 stalwart posted a whopping 31 points in his collegiate debut against Eastern Illinois on Nov. 4 – the largest total from a freshman debut in program history.

As the Bruins gear up to handle the Fighting Illini freshmen, their health will have to be on the mend to help the team extend its win streak to eight.

“However we can help our team win, whether it shows up on a box score or not, it doesn’t matter to us,” Clark said. “As a team, we come out and play hard and do our best to get a win.”

Tip-off at State Farm Center will be at 5 p.m.