National Basketball Association
Illinois 66, Purdue 57
When: 9:00 PM ET, Wednesday, January 21, 2015
Where: State Farm Center, Champaign, Illinois
Officials:
# Pat Driscoll, # Tom Eades, # Lewis Garrison
Attendance:
12965
By SportsDirect Inc.
Illinois 66, Purdue 57: Freshman Leron Black posted his first double-double with 15 points and a season-high 13 rebounds as the host Illini downed the Boilermakers.
Malcolm Hill contributed 18 points, six rebounds and four assists for Illinois (13-7, 3-4 Big Ten), which improved to 3-2 since losing leading scorer Rayvonte Rice for approximately six weeks with a hand injury. Kendrick Nunn added 14 points and seven boards while Nnanna Egwu tallied 11 points, seven rebounds and a career-high tying five blocks for the Illini.
Jon Octeus and Rapheal Davis scored 14 points apiece for Purdue (11-8, 3-3), which has dropped 10 of its last 11 conference road games. Vince Edwards chipped in with 11 points, but the Boilermakers could not overcome a 5-of-21 effort beyond the arc or 17-point disadvantage (21-4) at the foul line.
Purdue led by as many as nine with 5½ minutes left in the opening stanza before Nunn, Hill and Black combined to score all the points for the Illini during a half-ending 15-4 surge to take a 32-30 lead into the break. Neither team could build more than a four-point edge over the first 15-plus minutes of the second half and the lead switched hands seven times until five points from Hill ignited an 8-0 run to force a timeout by the Boilermakers with 3:58 remaining.
Davis halted the run with a 3-pointer and Edwards added another triple with 1:16 left to answer four free throws from Illinois, but Black hit a critical jumper from the right baseline as the shot clock was winding down to increase the Illini advantage to 62-55 with 43 seconds to go. Egwu added a breakaway dunk moments later and Jaylon Tate sank a pair of free throws with less than 10 seconds to preserve the victory.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Purdue had won four of its previous five in Illinois. … Egwu recorded all five of his team’s blocks to give him 179 for his career, surpassing Deon Thomas (177; 1991-94) for the most in school history. … The Boilermakers have yet to hold a halftime lead in Big Ten play.
Top Game Performances
Purdue |
|
Illinois |
Rapheal Davis 14 |
Scoring |
Malcolm Hill 18 |
Vince Edwards 6 |
Assists |
Jaylon Tate 6 |
A.J. Hammons 7 |
Rebounds |
Leron Black 13 |
Vince Edwards 2 |
Free Throws Made |
Malcolm Hill 6 |
Jon Octeus 2 |
Steals |
Nnanna Egwu 3 |
A.J. Hammons 4 |
Blocks |
Nnanna Egwu 5 |
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
Purdue
|
57 |
40.0 |
5-21 |
4-9 |
12 |
30 |
5 |
4 |
10 |
Illinois
|
66 |
35.0 |
3-10 |
21-24 |
13 |
37 |
5 |
8 |
9 |