Meyers Leonard is projected as one of the top centers in the 2012 draft, but Illinois coach Bruce Weber doesn’t want Leonard to become too caught up in his future.

"The chatter has worked on his head," Weber said. "Instead of worrying about today and getting better, there's too many people (he hears mentioning the NBA). He doesn't have the maturity now to deal with that."

Weber said Sunday that he and other coaches planned to talk to Leonard more about it after the nonconference season.

"We've talked about it since last year," Weber said. "That bothered him early last year. He just thought everyone said he's a pro so he was going to be a pro. You have to work at it."

Illinois will play UNLV on Saturday at the United Center in Chicago, which will mark the 43rd time the school has played at the venue since the 94-95 season.

Illinois is 32-10 (.762) in games played at the United Center, but they have four of their past five games at the venue. Dating back to March of 2007 when they lost to Wisconsin in the Big Ten tournament, Illinois has lost to Arizona in 2007, beat Georgia in 2008 and lost to Gonzaga in the 09-10 season and Illinois-Chicago last December.