Illinois Frontline Proves Challenging for Purdue

By Greg Doddridge
Staff Writer

Brian Cook of Illinois wasn't trying to exploit the fact that Purdue was without leading frontline men John Allison and Rodney Smith on Saturday.

"No, we really didn't care who was playing. We knew it was Purdue against Illinois. That's all that mattered to us," said Cook, who led the Fighting Illini in scoring with 17 points as Illinois (19-5, 9-2) defeated Purdue (13-9, 5-6) 82-61 Saturday in Mackey Arena.

However, his teammate Sergio McClain (9 points) said part of the team's strategy was to look to the frontline.

"We just tried to shove the ball down low," said McClain, who had nine points.

"We did a good job of getting Cook involved and (Robert) Archibald and (Marcus) Griffin. And once we established that, it just opened it up for us."

The Illini, who got eight points from Griffin and 11 from Archibald, had to wait a half before they could attack the frontline as effectively as they would have liked. Both Purdue and Illinois managed only six points in the paint in the first half.

"The first half we didn't take advantage of their injuries. We weren't as much of a low-post presence as we should have been," said Illinois coach Bill Self.

In the second half, the Illini scored 24 points in the paint on 12-of-18 shooting (67 percent), while Purdue scored six points in the paint on 3-of-8 shooting (38 percent). The Illini also outrebounded Purdue in the second half, 20-10. The other aspect of Illinois' post dominance was the foul count.

Purdue post players Adam Wetzel, Kevin Garrity and Brett Buscher committed 11 of Purdue's 19 post fouls, which resulted in 14 of Illinois' 22 free throw points. Those three also only accounted for five of Purdue's points. Wetzel said the team received some bad calls in the game.

"It wasn't really that they were physical and we weren't," Wetzel said. "They were getting a lot of calls and we weren't. They're first in the league so they're going to get some calls."

For the rest of the season, Wetzel said, the Boilers need to play better, smarter and harder.

"I think that's all you can do," he said. "If you don't get the calls, you don't get the calls."

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