Illinois hands Purdue worst defeat in Mackey history

By Paul Trembacki
Sports Editor

Although Purdue stayed surprisingly close for the first 27 minutes of Saturday's game, the better-than-expected effort was still not enough to prevent the undermanned Boilermakers from losing 82-61 to Illinois Saturday.

The 21-point loss was Purdue's biggest ever in Mackey Arena, which opened in 1967. The team had lost by 19 twice before.

But Gene Keady wasn't disappointed with the effort.

"I thought our kids played as well as they could as far as the 'e' part, the effort part," Keady said. "(Illinois is) an older team, a more experienced team, playing very well on the road."

The Boilers (13-9, 5-6 Big Ten) were playing without junior captains Rodney Smith and John Allison, the team's top two rebounders and shot blockers and No. 1 and No. 3 scorers, respectively. Both players have broken feet.

Purdue's second-leading scorer, right-handed sophomore Kenneth Lowe, was playing with a sprained right wrist.

So instead of giving up, Purdue's lone senior, Carson Cunningham stepped up and scored a game-high 25 points on 8-of-17 shooting.

"I started telling myself this week that we're all going to have to take it on ourselves to do something more," Cunningham said. "We all just need to try to do as best we can with the situation."

The situation may have gotten worse. Junior guard Maynard Lewis was poked in the eye and left the game with 17:03 to play and did not return. Keady said doctors will examine the eye further.

Lewis' departure came right after Purdue cut Illinois' lead to five points on a Cunningham bank shot.

Purdue got to within five twice more but after a Cunningham 3-pointer made the score 46-41, seventh-ranked Illinois (19-5, 9-2) went on a 20-7 run to take a 22-point lead and clinch their 10th win in 12 games.

The Boilers need to win at least one more game before they can qualify for the NIT. Their next contest is with Ohio State at 6 p.m. Wednesday in Mackey Arena.

"We can't feel sorry for ourselves and get down about (the loss)," Cunningham said. "Each one of us has to take it on our shoulders to do something more."

Cunningham, who was icing a sore shoulder after the game, tried to carry the team, but his play wasn't enough to overcome Purdue's lack of frontcourt depth.

Playing with only three players taller than 6-3, the Boilers got outrebounded 36-22 and couldn't handle the likes of Sergio McClain, Brian Cook and Marcus Griffin, who totaled 34 points inside for the Illini.

Cook led Illinois with 17 and forward Robert Archibald came off the bench to score 11 and add a game-high seven rebounds.

Purdue's three big men, sophomore Adam Wetzel, freshman Kevin Garrity and freshman Brett Buscher, combined for five points, eight rebounds and 11 fouls in 71 minutes.

"It's easy to get down on people," Cunningham said. "But our big guys are young and they've never been in this experience.

"I just want to try to be positive with them and help them because I know how people reacted to me when I got here. We just need to support each other and try to grow up."

Cunningham was wearing a Detroit Pistons hat in honor of former Boiler Brian Cardinal, who plays for the NBA squad. Cardinal, who played for Purdue from 1996 to 2000, was in town for the game because of the NBA All-Star break.

The Tolono, Ill., native, was key to Purdue's nine-game winning streak over Illinois, which ended Saturday.

"He's probably hurting as much as we are," Keady said. "I'm sure he's happy his dad (Illinois trainer Rod Cardinal) finally beat Purdue … but he's not happy we got beat."

No. 7 ILLINOIS 82, PURDUE 61

ILLINOIS (19-5, 9-2 Big Ten)

Cook 6-9 2-2 17, McClain 2-6 4-6 9, Griffin 3-7 2-4 8, Bradford 2-9 2-2 8, Williams 4-8 2-2 10, Melton 0-2 0-0 0, Mast 0-0 0-0 0, Cross 0-0 0-0 0, Archibald 3-7 5-6 11, Johnson 1-1 4-4 6, Harrington 2-5 0-0 6, Howard 0-0 0-0 0, Krupalija 3-4 1-1 7. Totals 26-58 22-27 82.

PURDUE (13-9, 5-6 Big Ten)

Buscher 1-2 0-0 2, Lewis 1-5 0-0 2, Wetzel 1-4 1-2 3, Lowe 2-6 6-7 11, Cunningham 8-17 6-7 25, Deane 4-7 0-0 9, Parkinson 0-0 0-0 0, Marshall 3-4 0-1 9, Best 0-0 0-0 0, Garrity 0-0 0-1 0. Totals 20-45 13-18 61.

Halftime–Illinois 36, Purdue 30. 3-point goals–Illinois 8-18 (Cook 3-3, Harrington 2-4, Bradofrd 2-5, McClain 1-3, Melton 0-1, Williams 0-2), Purdue 8-17 (Marshall 3-4, Cunningham 3-7, Lowe 1-2, Deane 1-2, Lewis 0-2). Fouled out–Wetzel. Rebounds–Illinois 36 (Archibald 7), Purdue 22 (Buscher 5). Assists–Illinois 17 (Williams 5), Purdue 12 (Deane 4). Total fouls–Illinois 21, Purdue 19. A–14,123.

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Sports editor:
Paul Trembacki

Assistant sports editor:
Anne McLaren

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