No. 15 Illini Grind Out 66-58 Home Win Over Purdue

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Illinois didn’t make most of its free throws, had several offensive lulls and a quiet night from All-American Ayo Dosunmu.

Despite all those unfortunate events, the No. 15 Illini opened the 2021 calendar with the statistic they value the most: win. Illinois’ defensive persistence and Purdue’s overall offensive ineptitude allowed the Fighting Illini (8-3, 4-1 in Big Ten Conference) to secure a 66-58 win.

In a game that was almost made for his playing style, Illinois got a double-double from senior undersized wing Da’Monte Williams (12 points and 10 rebounds) in 32 minutes of action.

"We challenged Da’Monte and in the last game, I didn’t like his intensity of going to the glass and so what does he do? He went out and got 10 rebounds,” Underwood said. “He’s grown into a huge factor on a winning college basketball team.”

The Illini survived a stretch from the end of the first half to the first four minutes of the second half where Purdue (7-5, 2-3) scored 19 unanswered points to take a 39-33 lead with 15 minutes and 50 seconds left in the contest.

Illinois missed 13 of 22 attempts from the foul line but got 17 points off Purdue turnovers. The Illini defensive effort forced Purdue’s perimeter players to shoot a combined 4 for 19 from the field and only gave up 20 points inside the paint.

“I was absolutely not the free throw coach today and I’ll get to the bottom of who was in charge of that,” Underwood said. “That's a mental edge that we got to get back to."

Andre Curbelo provided a spark of the Illini’s bench with eight points and six assists in 28 minutes as he continues to prove to be one of the most dynamic freshman guards in the nation.

“He gives us a little bit of a different dimension because the floor opens it and you just can’t trap him,” Underwood said of his freshman guard. “He changes the game and he did it on both ends of the floor today.”

Purdue attempted to counter Illinois’ defensive intensity on the ball and outside the 3-point arc by feeding 6-foot-10 center Trevion Williams but the 260-pounder was neutralized by Illini big man Kofi Cockburn. Williams finished with 14 points but needed 14 shots to get that total.

Cockburn posted his seventh double-double in 11 games this season with 14 points and 10 rebounds despite the 7-foot Jamaican native missing all six of his free throw attempts.

Ayo Dosunmu, the preseason All-America candidate for Illinois, went scoreless in the second half after posting 14 first-half points. Dosunmu, who was named Big Ten Conference co-player of the week on Monday, went the final 16 minutes without a field goal attempt but was also able to affect the game for others with three second-half assists.

Purdue finished the game without a field goal for the final four minutes and 11 seconds and the 58 points is the third time this season the Boilermakers posted under 60 points in a road game.

Illinois will be back in action Thursday evening at Welsh-Ryan Arena at No. 19 Northwestern in a matchup of two in-state programs near the top of the conference standings.