The Illinois basketball team finishes the 2024-25 season on Friday night against a tough Purdue squad.
This is going to be an interesting matchup. The Illini are playing some good basketball, but the Boilermakers are a well-coached team looking to improve their NCAA tournament seeding.
It is going to take a B+ or better game out of the Illini to beat Purdue. Could we make it three in a row?
Here are three keys for the Illinois basketball team to beat the Purdue Boilermakers
1. Backcourt defense has to be solid
Illinois has turned the tides and has been winning lately. After dropping three in a row and eight out of 13 games, the Illini have finally found a groove again.
This has been a long time coming. Illinois is healthy and starting to play well, but there is one noticeable difference in how we are playing now compared to what we looked like just a couple of weeks ago.
Illinois’ defense has improved greatly. We took a huge gut punch when Morez Johnson Jr. went down with a broken wrist. But what has struggled a lot was the backcourt defense. Kylan Boswell wasn’t playing up to his potential, and Illinois had health issues with Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn and Tre White.
Those issues are now resolved, and Illinois was able to lock down both Iowa and Michigan. We held them to 61 points and 73 points, respectively. Those two defensive outings were incredible, and we need that again against Purdue.
This isn’t your father’s Purdue squad. They don’t have a dominating big man like Zach Edey anymore. Purdue has the great ability to strike with two talented guards in the backcourt in Braden Smith and Fletcher Loyer. It seems these two have been around since the Bush administration, and they are hitting teams with everything they have.
Smith is averaging 16.3 points per game this season while Loyer is at 14.1 points per game. They just dismantled Rutgers by combining for 46 points and shot 14-of-25 from three-point range. Locking these two down will be huge for Illinois in the game on Friday night.