Bit of a strange game for Purdue tonight. It is pretty meaningless on a larger scale, but still a good test.
Purdue at Illinois: MASTER DISCUSSION THREAD
- Thread starter Travis Miller
- Start date
Same old needs....
Can we hit enough 3s on the road.
Can we hit foul shots.
Can we minimize TOs
With one new issue....
Can Edey stay out of foul trouble. Usually not an issue, but I think TSJ will try to make it one, on his aggressive drives.
Can we hit enough 3s on the road.
Can we hit foul shots.
Can we minimize TOs
With one new issue....
Can Edey stay out of foul trouble. Usually not an issue, but I think TSJ will try to make it one, on his aggressive drives.
Good evening ladies and gentlemen. Tonight, it's the #3-ranked Purdue Boilermakers (26-3; 15-3) making the trip to Champaign-Urbana to take on the #12-ranked Iliinois Fighting Illini (22-7; 13-5) in the State Farm Center. Tip is scheduled for approximately 7:00 pm (Eastern time) with television coverage on Peacock.
Projected Starting Line-ups:
Purdue - Zach Edey, Trey Kaufman-Renn, Lance Jones, Fletcher Loyer, and Braden Smith
Illinois - Quincy Guerrier, Coleman Hawkins, Marcus Domask, Ty Rodgers, and Terrance Shannon Jr.
_______________________________
This game has been circled on the calendar for a while and is the penultimate game of the conference season for both of these teams. Illinois has a game at Iowa this weekend, and Purdue hosts Wisconsin on Sunday. The top two conference teams going at it for the second time with Purdue looking to clinch the outright conference championship and #1-seed in the upcoming Big Ten Tournament after having clinched a share of the title over the weekend. Illinois is looking to continue its late season charge and stay alive for a share of the conference title.
Purdue won the first match-up at home, 83-78 in January. Illinois played that game without Terrance Shannon Jr., who will make the Illini that much more formidable tonight, as he will definitely draw a lot of attention from Purdue's defense - opening even more opportunities for Marcus Domask and Coleman Hawkins, particularly. Domask had a game-high 26 last time around, and Zach Edey was limited to 10 points in only 23 minutes due to some foul difficulties. Trey Kaufman-Renn had his best game of the year with a team-high 23 points.
Illinois brings a three-game winning streak into this matchup, and they are sizzling on offense - scoring 87+ in eight of their last nine (and 85 in the other @ Maryland) while averaging 91.67 points. Illinois is 12th in KenPom rating (3rd in offense, 103rd in defense) and 57th in adjusted tempo. So, it goes without saying that the Illini rely more heavily on offense. Terrance Shannon Jr. leads the way with 22 points per game, followed by Marcus Domask at 16 points per game, with Coleman Hawkins chipping in with 13.3 points a contest. They are a formidable offnsive rebounding team as well, with a conference best 12.9 per game. Quincy Guerrier leads them on the glass with 6.7 rebounds per game, and Hawkins averages 5.8 rebounds per game. The Fighting Illini hit 47.3% of their field goals, 35.4% of their three-point FG attempts, and 74.3% of their free throws. Coleman Hawkins (a candidate for all defensive team) leads with 1.6 steals and 1 block per game.
As many have stated - this is a stern challenge for Purdue - only the second time all year they've been an underdog. The three losses have been in conference on the road with some recurring indicators - lack of consistently good shooting and turnovers. Those will certainly be litmus/indicators tonight. Two other keys may be whether or not Zach Edey gets into similar foul trouble and how well Purdue can close off the offensive glass for the Illini. Lately though, where Illinois has ventured into trouble has been with its defense. They've given up 80+ in five straight games, even with a 4-1 record to show for it. Their opponents shoot 43.0% from the floor, 34.1% from three, and attempt 17.4 free throws per contest. A patient, focused Purdue squad should be able to score, and if Zach Edey is able to maintain his presence in the game - he should get his scoring opportunities.
Can the Boilers execute efficiently enough and get the key stops to prevail? This would be a huge step if they could knock off the Illini on the road. They will have to bring the best effort of the season and demonstrate a lot of poise in what is to be an electric atmosphere for Illinois' senior day.
We shall see, starting in a couple of hours or so.
Boiler Up, my friends...
Projected Starting Line-ups:
Purdue - Zach Edey, Trey Kaufman-Renn, Lance Jones, Fletcher Loyer, and Braden Smith
Illinois - Quincy Guerrier, Coleman Hawkins, Marcus Domask, Ty Rodgers, and Terrance Shannon Jr.
_______________________________
This game has been circled on the calendar for a while and is the penultimate game of the conference season for both of these teams. Illinois has a game at Iowa this weekend, and Purdue hosts Wisconsin on Sunday. The top two conference teams going at it for the second time with Purdue looking to clinch the outright conference championship and #1-seed in the upcoming Big Ten Tournament after having clinched a share of the title over the weekend. Illinois is looking to continue its late season charge and stay alive for a share of the conference title.
Purdue won the first match-up at home, 83-78 in January. Illinois played that game without Terrance Shannon Jr., who will make the Illini that much more formidable tonight, as he will definitely draw a lot of attention from Purdue's defense - opening even more opportunities for Marcus Domask and Coleman Hawkins, particularly. Domask had a game-high 26 last time around, and Zach Edey was limited to 10 points in only 23 minutes due to some foul difficulties. Trey Kaufman-Renn had his best game of the year with a team-high 23 points.
Illinois brings a three-game winning streak into this matchup, and they are sizzling on offense - scoring 87+ in eight of their last nine (and 85 in the other @ Maryland) while averaging 91.67 points. Illinois is 12th in KenPom rating (3rd in offense, 103rd in defense) and 57th in adjusted tempo. So, it goes without saying that the Illini rely more heavily on offense. Terrance Shannon Jr. leads the way with 22 points per game, followed by Marcus Domask at 16 points per game, with Coleman Hawkins chipping in with 13.3 points a contest. They are a formidable offnsive rebounding team as well, with a conference best 12.9 per game. Quincy Guerrier leads them on the glass with 6.7 rebounds per game, and Hawkins averages 5.8 rebounds per game. The Fighting Illini hit 47.3% of their field goals, 35.4% of their three-point FG attempts, and 74.3% of their free throws. Coleman Hawkins (a candidate for all defensive team) leads with 1.6 steals and 1 block per game.
As many have stated - this is a stern challenge for Purdue - only the second time all year they've been an underdog. The three losses have been in conference on the road with some recurring indicators - lack of consistently good shooting and turnovers. Those will certainly be litmus/indicators tonight. Two other keys may be whether or not Zach Edey gets into similar foul trouble and how well Purdue can close off the offensive glass for the Illini. Lately though, where Illinois has ventured into trouble has been with its defense. They've given up 80+ in five straight games, even with a 4-1 record to show for it. Their opponents shoot 43.0% from the floor, 34.1% from three, and attempt 17.4 free throws per contest. A patient, focused Purdue squad should be able to score, and if Zach Edey is able to maintain his presence in the game - he should get his scoring opportunities.
Can the Boilers execute efficiently enough and get the key stops to prevail? This would be a huge step if they could knock off the Illini on the road. They will have to bring the best effort of the season and demonstrate a lot of poise in what is to be an electric atmosphere for Illinois' senior day.
We shall see, starting in a couple of hours or so.
Boiler Up, my friends...
Pshaw ... It will be a great game for the players to watch and get FREAKING fired-up for the big dance
Loyer - Stay locked in - Jones make a few threes - Heide give us some solid minutes - Smith be Smith - TKR always starts well and he had a huge game vs Illini last time - give us 10 - Edey just be officiated fairly and he gets 30 plus - Gillis take a charge from Shannon
Fletch with a nice pull-up! He'll have to score some to stay on the floor.
Boilers can't have too many of those exchanges.....wow.
Zachen Attachen! Hawkins should have picked up another one.
Zachen Attachen! Hawkins should have picked up another one.
Great defense from Heide, and another chance kills Purdue with a triple....goodness gracious.
Need to rebound. They are good enough on offense with one crack. Edey is off. This is gonna be timeout territory soon
Kelly saves wearing out that pea and high knees is thinking about his next move. Physical play has Zach out a bit farther than he should. Some poor passing by Purdue and I’ll quicker to ball. Why didn’t cam dunk it ?
