Illinois basketball had a monster weekend, taking down one of the best teams in the game.
Beating then-No. 4 Purdue is a massive feat no matter the location, but the fact that the Illini went on the road in West Lafayette and accomplished this goal is beyond impressive.
Behind Keaton Walger’s 46-point performance, Illinois moved to 17-3 on the season and 8-1 in the Big Ten. It also sent the Boilermakers and Illini in two different directions when it comes to the AP Top 25.
In the most recent release of the rankings, Illinois continued their rise in the national spotlight, moving up two spots to No. 9 in the country. On the flip side, Purdue went tumbling, landing at No. 12 in the country.
This is not the highest the Illini have been ranked this season, though. We started 3-0, and Illinois climbed to No. 8 after a win over then-No. 11 Texas Tech.
Saturday’s result was encouraging for the Illinois basketball, as a tough road is still ahead
This was the first big game without Kylan Boswell. The Illini had already played Maryland, but the Terrapins aren’t good, so it was tough to gauge where we were as a program.
Purdue is an elite team that will have a chance to go deep in March. So, having the Illini face off against that good of a program without Boswell really spoke volumes to how good this team can be this season.
Illinois needed this win, too. We have two road games against top-seven opponents in the next couple of weeks, at No. 5 Nebraska and at No. 7 Michigan State, so getting one tough road matchup out of the way and it being a win is a huge bonus.
This program is going to continue being tested for the rest of the season. So far, we have passed the biggest test. If we continue passing tests, Illinois has a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament in the crosshairs.