The Illini had some chances to win the game during the overtime period. Sophomore Taylor Tuck missed two free throws that would have put Illinois up by one point.

Then, Illinois came out of a timeout trailing 66-67 with five seconds left in overtime. However, junior Kersten Magrum missed a last second jumper that gave the Boilermakers the victory.

According to fightingillini.com, head coach Matt Bollant said, “Kersten tried to take a charge on the last play and we didn’t get to the weak-side glass. I’m disappointed that we gave up an easy shot late in that possession. Otherwise, I thought we executed well down the stretch. We got a great look going to the basket, it just didn’t fall” regarding the end of the overtime period.

Illinois led 49-41 at the 11:14 mark of the second half, but Purdue used a 13-0 run to take the lead 56-50. The Boilermakers’ leading scorer was KK Houser. She went 7-of-13 from the field and a perfect 4-of-4 from the foul line as she scored 20 points.

Purdue was led on the boards by Sam Ostarello. Ostarello hauled in 12 rebounds and even scored seven points.

Illinois had three players record double-digit point in this game.

Senior Adrienne GodBold recorded her first career double-double with 20 points and 11 rebounds while senior Karisma Penn and sophomore Ivory Crawford both had 15 points each. The Illini came so close to getting their third straight win over a ranked opponent, but Magrum missed her only shot of the entire game.

Despite losing, Illinois did some nice things against Purdue. First, they led the Boilermakers in points in the paint. The Illini outscored the Boilers 38-28 in the paint. Second, Illinois made a living by scoring off turnovers. They scored 28 points off turnovers compared to Purdue’s eight.

The Fighting Illini are now 7-6 overall and 0-1 in the Big Ten.

Their next game will be against the Ohio State Buckeyes on January 6th. The Buckeyes are 10-4 overall and 0-1 in the Big Ten. They lost to Iowa, 71-76, in their Big Ten conference opener.

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The Fighting Illini led the Ducks 36-20 at the half and never looked back from there. The defense for Illinois held Oregon to 22.5% from the field in the first half. The Ducks shot 16 3-pointers in the first half (40 total shots) and only hit two shots from beyond the arc. Illinois also did not let the Ducks get to the foul line in the first half.

Illinois seemed to have most things working in this game.

The offense was not stellar from the field (33 percent), but the Illini went 22-of-35 from the charity stripe in the game. They also shot 38.1 percent from beyond the arc against the Ducks.

Defensively, the Fighting Illini forced Oregon to commit 22 turnovers in Wednesday night’s game. They scored 31 points off these turnovers while recording 13 steals and nine blocks.

Throughout the entire game, it was a pretty balanced attack for the Illini. All five of their starters finished the game with double-digit points.

Karisma Penn was the ringleader with 17 points and 12 rebounds. Ivory Crawford and Amber Moore finished with 16 and 15 points respectively while Alexis Smith and Kersten Magrum finished with 14 and 12 points respectively.

The Ducks leading scorer in the game was their “double-double machine” Jillian Alleyne. Just like her average, Alleyne recorded another double-double in this game. She finished with 24 points and 16 rebounds.

The other big star for the Ducks coming into the game wasDanielle Love (no relation to Kevin Love). She went 0-for-6 from the field and did not score a single point. In 32 minutes, she only recorded two rebounds and turned the ball over twice.

The Fighting Illini are now 6-4 on the season.

Their next game will be at Assembly Hall against the Illinois State Redbirds on December 21st. Illinois State is currently 5-3 this season. They defeated Northwestern 64-46 in their last game.

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It was the Illinois defense that helped them win this game against the Tigers. The Illini put together a 24-8 run (which included a 14-0 run) early in the second half. They forced Memphis to commit 23 turnovers and outscored the Tigers 29-16 off turnovers in Saturday’s game.

Illinois was led by their senior forward Karisma Penn. Penn scored 21 points in the game and hit a scoring milestone. She now has scored 1,504 points in her career and passed Illinois all-time great Tauja Catchings for 10th place on Illinois’ career scoring list. Penn also recorded nine rebounds for the Fighting Illini.

Along with Penn, sophomore guard Alexis Smith had a solid game on Saturday. Smith only finished with nine points, but recorded nine rebounds and two steals. Penn and Smith helped their team in the final 2:11 of the game by going 8-of-10 from the free throw line.

Overall, Illinois shot very well from the charity stripe, especially in the second half. They shot 29 free throws over the entire game and shot 24 of them in the second half. The Fighting Illini hit 4-of-5 free throws in the first half (80%) and 17-of-24 free throws in the second half (70.8%).

Illinois also had nice performances from sophomore guard Ivory Crawford and junior forward Kersten Magrum. Crawford finished with 17 points and five rebounds while Magrum finished with 12 points and eight rebounds.

The Tigers leading scorer in the game was Ariel Hearn. She finished with 18 points along with four rebounds and two steals. She also turned the ball over three times in the game.

After the game, head coach Matt Bollant said “To come to Memphis and get a good win is important for our team and getting back in the right direction.”

The Fighting Illini are now 5-4 on the season.

Their next game will be at Assembly Hall against the Oregon Ducks on December 12th. Oregon is currently 0-7 this season. They lost to Nevada 77-73 in their last game.

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