The Illinois basketball team went up against a really good Purdue bunch and held their own on Thursday night.
Illinois now moves to 13-17 on the season and 3-14 in the Big Ten. While this record sounds terrible – and it is terrible – there have been so many close games and each one kills me a little more every time. But, this Illini team showed us a lot of heart and ability against the Boilermakers crew.
The Illini went down early 9-5 to the Boilermakers, but they fought back and ended up taking the lead 12-10. Illinois continued having the lead for the majority of the time up until the 10-minute mark in the first half. That is when Purdue went on a little run.
Purdue took the lead back and extended it to 29-22. They kept making shots from deep on the Illini. This got the Orange and Blue in a hole and they were even down 40-28 at one time. But, Illinois came back strong with help from multiple sources. Leron Black scored a bucket, Te’Jon Lucas and Da’Monte Williams each had a three-pointer and Michael Finke made Illinois’ final shot of the half. Heading into the locker room, Illinois was only down 43-38.
The second half was good for the Illini as well. Illinois continued to push forward and tied the game up at 56-56. But, this would be the last time they would have the game all-square. Purdue would get the margin up to 10 points at one time. But, Illinois did end up making the game close by only being down five points with under a minute left. Despite the great effort, the Illini fell to the Boilermakers 93-86.
Here are five takeaways from the Illini loss to Purdue.