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Illinois Basketball: 5 takeaways from the Illini loss to Purdue

By Rees Woodcock

CHAMPAIGN, IL - FEBRUARY 22: A fan picks up the front page of The Daily Illini, the University of Illinois' student newspaper, before the start of the Big Ten Conference college basketball game between the Purdue Boilermakers and the Illinois Fighting Illini on February 22, 2018, at the State Farm Center in Champaign, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Allio/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
CHAMPAIGN, IL - FEBRUARY 22: A fan picks up the front page of The Daily Illini, the University of Illinois' student newspaper, before the start of the Big Ten Conference college basketball game between the Purdue Boilermakers and the Illinois Fighting Illini on February 22, 2018, at the State Farm Center in Champaign, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Allio/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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CHAMPAIGN, IL – FEBRUARY 22: A fan picks up the front page of The Daily Illini, the University of Illinois’ student newspaper, before the start of the Big Ten Conference college basketball game between the Purdue Boilermakers and the Illinois Fighting Illini on February 22, 2018, at the State Farm Center in Champaign, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Allio/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

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.

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