More problems arise for Illini
What happened at Purdue apparently didn't stay at Purdue for Illinois.
The Illini's heated locker-room scene after their loss to the Boilermakers on Saturday had ramifications that carried over to their visit to Ohio State on Tuesday night.
Illinois played without senior center Shaun Pruitt due to "a team matter," yet the visitors fought and earned a chance to pull off a huge Big Ten win in the final minute at Value City Arena.
The Illini trailed by 15 points with 6:27 to go, but rallied to get within 3 after a full-court-press steal that led to Brian Randle's putback with 33.4 seconds left.
"I thought something might go our way," said Illinois coach Bruce Weber.
That's when the Illini's season-long luck regained its grip.
Ohio State's Kosta Koufos missed a pair of free throws with 32.8 seconds left that could have enabled Illinois to secure the game's first tie, but the Buckeyes' Dave Lighty outmuscled Calvin Brock for the rebound.
Brock then fouled Lighty, who nailed both free throws to ensure Ohio State's 64-58 victory and give him a team-high 16 points. The Buckeyes (13-6, 4-2) never trailed in the final 36 minutes as they snapped a three-game losing streak.
Junior forward Rodney Alexander sparked Illinois (9-11, 1-6) with a career-high 20 points and 11 rebounds off the bench.
Randle, who made just 1 of 11 shots in the first half, rallied to finish with his third consecutive double-double. The senior forward posted 13 points and 10 rebounds in 38 minutes.
The Illini outrebounded Ohio State 33-29, including a whopping 17 offensive boards, despite playing without their leading scorer and rebounder.
Pruitt, who wore sweats and sat near the end of the bench, saw his streak of 86 consecutive starts come to a end.
His run was the fourth-longest in school annals behind Cory Bradford and former teammates James Augustine and Dee Brown.
"It's just a team matter, you know, just a family matter," Weber said. "We've handled it internally."
Apparently there's no guarantee Pruitt will get to play in Illinois' next game, which is Northwestern's 7 p.m. visit on Sunday.
"Hopefully he handles it right and gets back with us," Weber said. "Because obviously we need him, you know, to be successful. But we need him to have a great attitude if we're going to be successful also."
Here's where it gets interesting: Pruitt wasn't the only member of the usual Illinois traveling party in an unaccustomed role.
Strength and conditioning coach Jimmy Price, who sits on the bench for every game, was not present in Columbus, Ohio.
Price and Pruitt allegedly had words after the Purdue game, the incident that seems to be the incentive for Tuesday's punishment.
Without Pruitt available, Illinois relied almost exclusively on 3-point shooting and ferocious offensive rebounding against Ohio State's matchup zones.
Though Weber wanted his guys to feed Randle flashing into the lane, Illinois shot 3-pointers on its first three possessions and finished 9-for-25 on 3-pointers for the game.
Illinois wound up shooting 35 percent for the night to Ohio State's 55 percent.