Injuries thin Illini lineup, but players left come through

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) - The first to go down was point guard Tracy Abrams, out for the season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament. Then Rayvonte Rice broke his hand. And now Aaron Cosby is out with a torn retina.

The list of injured players is growing, leaving Illinois with a short bench and limited options. Judging by Wednesday's win over Purdue, Illinois (13-7, 3-4 Big Ten) could be essentially a seven-player team until Cosby returns. And that rotation - just the latest in a string of Illini adjustments this season - will be young.

"We've changed our team and our lineup several times since the spring," coach John Groce said. "I thought guys really bought in to the next-man-up philosophy."

All three of the injured players are would-be starters and replacing them has led to tinkering. Some of it has worked, some of it hasn't:

- Abrams' injury over the summer robbed Illinois of its first-choice point guard, leaving Ahmad Starks and Jaylon Tate to share that role, with mixed results. Both have proved to be adequate providers but neither is a serious scoring option, making barely 30 percent of their shots.

- Rice's broken hand in early January cost Illinois its leading scorer - 17.2 points a game - and top rebounder until sometime next month. Sophomores Malcolm Hill and Kendrick Nunn have each turned in big games to help fill the gap. On Wednesday, it was freshman Leron Black's turn. He scored 15 points and had 13 rebounds. And Illinois has gone 3-2 without Rice.

- If Rice is healthy, Cosby would likely be on the bench as he struggles through a season-long shooting slump. With Rice out, he had been a starter before he suffered the eye injury last weekend against Indiana. He had surgery this week and is out up to two weeks, Groce said.

Without those three, only seven players played serious minutes in the 66-57 win over Purdue - starters Black, Hill, Nunn, Tate and Nnanna Egwu, along with bench players Starks and Maverick Morgan. Those two played 23 and 12 minutes, respectively. Beyond them, the bench contributed two minutes.

Among the starters, only Egwu is a senior. Black is a freshman and the rest are sophomores.

The limits of the available bench players became apparent late Wednesday.

Playing a Purdue team whose rotation includes 7-2 Isaac Haas and 7-0 A.J. Hammons, the 6-10 Morgan was mostly on the bench in the final, tense minutes. He is, along with Egwu, one of only two true big men on the roster but he has seldom been on the floor in key moments.

With both Egwu and Black, who sometimes plays center, carrying four fouls, the 6-6, 230-pound Hill was forced to guard the 261-pound Hammons. Hill said he had never before been asked to guard anyone that big, skilled and athletic.

"He's a big-time player, and he covers a lot of ground, too," the sophomore said. "Boxing him out wasn't easy."

It worked out as Illinois out-rebounded Purdue. Egwu added seven boards to Black's 13. And neither Haas nor Hammons had a big effect on the game.

"Those two guys just played so much harder than anybody else who played today," Boilermakers coach Matt Painter said of Black and Egwu.

Egwu said he believes Illinois has the players to keep that kind of effort up, even short-handed. But Groce is eager to see the run of injuries end.

"The main thing is to get some of those guys healthy and hopefully we can get a couple of them back," he said.