Illinois Basketball: 4 observations from the Illini loss to Purdue

The Illinois basketball team came close to pulling out a win, but the Purdue Boilermakers were too much to handle on Monday.

Illinois got down early in the game and would have to fight back from an 11-point halftime deficit. But the Illini showed tremendous fight in the second half. A great run at the end of regulation would send the game to overtime.

One overtime wasn’t enough, though, so Illinois and Purdue went to overtime number two. In the second overtime, the Boilermakers got hot and would cruise to a 96-88 victory.

Here are four observations from the Illinois basketball loss to Purdue.

1. Welcome back Belo

Illinois has been missing a true point guard for most of this season but, on Monday, Andre Curbelo returned to the lineup.

Curbelo hasn’t played in a game since late November, but he suited up against Purdue. I thought Curbelo was going to show some rust in the game, but that didn’t happen at all. It was like he didn’t miss a single game this season.

Brad Underwood clearly trusted that Curbelo wouldn’t have any rust as well. He gave the magician 25 minutes on the court, and he put up 20 points, six rebounds, and three assists. On paper, Curbelo was amazing, but there are other intangibles that he brings to the team.

Besides the overall morale being higher with Curbelo on the court, the flow of the game was much better as well. Curbelo can probe a defense to see what they are wanting to do. He gets into the lane and sees who will collapse and then makes a decision based on the defense.

Honestly, Curbelo reminds me a lot of a quarterback on the football field pre-snap. A quarterback can hard count a snap to see who is going to blitz or send a man in motion to see if the defense is playing zone or man coverage.

That is what Curbelo does with driving the ball in the lane. He sees the defense’s tendencies and then pounces on their weakness. It really is fun to watch.