Illinois plays tough but falls to No. 4 Purdue
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - When's the last time Illinois lost a Big Ten game by 10 points and left the arena feeling not quite happy, but ...
"The right word is we're satisfied with our loss," said Illini freshman guard D.J. Richardson. "We lost, but we did what we're supposed to do."
Illinois took it to No. 4 Purdue most of Saturday afternoon and trailed by just 1 point with 3:42 to go, but the Boilers' late run allowed them to emerge with a 75-65 victory at ear-splitting Mackey Arena.
Purdue (23-3, 11-3) won its ninth game in a row because it outscored the Illini 24-3 at the line and 20-7 in second-chance points.
"Old-fashioned Big Ten. Hard-fought," said Illinois coach Bruce Weber, who picked up a technical with 29 seconds left that summed up his late frustration with the 22-12 foul disparity.
"They obviously played very well. I thought we played as well as we have (all year). I just told them not to hold anything back - to play with a lot of courage.
"I was very proud of my guys. If we play with that intensity, we'll be fine the rest of the year."
Junior point guard Demetri McCamey tied Illinois' single-game record with 16 assists while junior forward Mike Davis stacked up 16 points, 12 rebounds and a career-high 5 blocks.
The Illini (17-10, 9-5) led for most of the first 32 minutes and took their last lead with 7:35 to go when McCamey found Davis on a back cut for a monstrous dunk.
From there, Purdue sixth man Keaton Grant took over. With the game knotted 56-56, the senior guard swished an open 3-pointer to trigger a six-minute stretch where he scored 10 of his season-high 15 points.
Illinois focused on slowing Robbie Hummel (22 points, 12 rebounds), E'Twaun Moore (18 points) and JaJuan Johnson (5 points), which meant they couldn't stick with Grant on the 3-point arc, too.
"Grant's the difference-maker the last three games," Weber said. "You can cheat on some of the guys, but when he comes in there and makes some shots it really makes it tough to guard them."
Most of the way, though, Purdue's defense came up wanting. The Boilers kept hounding McCamey in the frontcourt, so he'd use screens or his quickness to forge an open path to the basket.
Once in the lane, he'd kick the ball to Davis or Mike Tisdale (12 points) or D.J. Richardson for open jumpers.
At halftime, McCamey owned no points but a career-high-tying 11 assists as the Illini led 35-32.
After halftime, McCamey managed "only" 6 points and 5 assists as the Boilers changed the way they defended him.
"I think we just kept him in front (of us) more than anything," Grant said. "We made him take tough shots. We guarded the ball screen a whole lot different than we did the first half."
After splitting four consecutive games against top-15 foes, the Illini feel better than they have all season.
"Everybody's in the locker room saying we've got to get better and everybody's positive," McCamey said. "Nobody has their head down. Nobody was crying. That's a good thing.
"Now we've got to go tweak some things in practice and get a 'W' at Michigan."