Team hopes to regroup after blowout loss to Illinois

By Paul Trembacki
Sports Editor

After Purdue's 82-61 loss to Illinois Saturday, Kenneth Lowe said the Boilers aren't giving up yet.

"We just need to stick together as a team," said Lowe, who played with a sprained wrist on his right (shooting) hand and still scored 11 points Saturday.

"We're a team here. We win as a team; we lose as a team. We've got to stick together and come back and practice hard and get ready for Wednesday for Ohio State."

On Saturday, Purdue stuck together and stayed surprisingly close for the first 27 minutes, but the better-than-expected effort was still not enough to prevent the undermanned Boilermakers from losing to the powerful Fighting Illini.

The 21-point loss was Purdue's biggest ever in Mackey Arena, which opened in 1967. The team had lost by 19 twice before. The Boilers (13-9, 5-6 Big Ten) have lost three in a row and six of eight. They are 9-4 at home.

"We haven't defended our home court well … and we need to defend our home court because it's so hard to win on the road in the Big Ten," Lowe said.

The Boilers, who need one win to guarantee a .500 finish, host Ohio State (16-8, 7-5) at 6 p.m. Wednesday.

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 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.

In their absence, Purdue's lone senior and lone healthy tri-captain, 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 do something to do as best we can with the situation."

The situation almost got worse. Junior guard Maynard Lewis was poked in the eye and left the game with 17:03 to play and did not return. On Sunday, a team official said Lewis' eye is OK and he will practice Monday. Purdue was off Saturday.

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, No. 7 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.

"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 front court depth.

Playing with only three players taller than 6-3, the Boilers got out-rebounded 36-22 and couldn't handle 6-foot-11 Robert Archibald, 6-foot-4 Sergio McClain, 6-foot-10 Brian Cook and 6-foot-9 Marcus Griffin, who totaled 45 points inside for the Illini.

Cook led Illinois with 17 and 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, seven 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."

Boilers beat Buckeyes

Freshman contributes double-double in win

Team hopes to regroup after blowout loss to Illinois

Illinois Frontline Proves Challenging for Purdue

Golf team places 13th at invitational

Track team displays strong performances in most recent outing

Senior weight thrower sets new Boilermaker record at Iowa State

Senior wins final match; Purdue loses to Illinois

Tennis team splits matches against Miami, Illinois State

SPORTS DESK PHONE:
(765) 743-1111 ext. 251

Sports editor:
Paul Trembacki

Assistant sports editor:
Anne McLaren

To send a letter to the editor, please email opinions@purdueexponent.org