The end came about 5:30 p.m. Central Standard Time.
Illinois’ nine-game losing streak against Purdue had finally ended.
After a slow start, No. 7-ranked Illinois pounded Purdue 82-61 on Saturday. It was the largest margin of defeat for the home team in the 33-year history of Mackey Arena.
“Good!” said Illini forward Lucas Johnson, when he was told. “That streak was our blackboard material for the week. The only guy on this team who had beaten them was [assistant coach Rob Judson] and he did that when he was a player back in the ’50s.”
Well, actually, Judson played from 1977-80.
Nevertheless, Saturday still wasn’t Illinois’ most impressive victory of the year and it was far from its easiest. Center Marcus Griffin continued to struggle on offense with eight points and three rebounds in 20 minutes, Purdue guard Carson Cunningham broke loose for a game-high 25 points and the Boilermakers were down just 36-30 at halftime.
Otherwise, Illinois (19-5, 9-2 Big Ten) calmly kept things under control to stay a game in front of Michigan State (8-3) in the Big Ten race.
Iowa and Wisconsin both lost to fall 2 1/2 games out of first and thin the list of contenders, but coach Bill Self wasn’t ready to celebrate anything–except a satisfying road victory. The Illini have road games remaining against Indiana, Ohio State and Minnesota. “We’ve put ourselves in a position to control our own [future],” Self said. “But I’m not counting on much help. It’s still too early to say we’ve separated ourselves from anybody.”
Brian Cook scored 17 points to help the Illini run away from the short-handed Boilermakers (13-9, 5-6), who were playing without leading scorer Rodney Smith and leading rebounder John Allison. Smith and Allison had been averaging 26 points and 11 rebounds between them. Adam Wetzel and Brett Buscher combined for only five points and seven rebounds in their place.
Robert Archibald added 11 points and a game-high seven rebounds for the Illini, and point guard Frank Williams had 10 points and five assists.
Capitalizing on Illinois’ edge in size and experience under the boards, Cook scored 10 of his points after halftime, including five in a deciding 17-4 run. Cook also hurt Purdue from the outside, making all three of his three-point attempts.
“It was just going down for me,” he said. “The guys were able to get me the ball and I just went to work. We didn’t care who they played [started] today. All that mattered is that it was Illinois against Purdue.”
Cook has hit for double figures in seven of the last eight games.
“Brian’s confidence level is sky-high right now,” said Self. “One reason is that he’s shooting the ball extremely well. Our other big guys have been more effective because he makes people guard him on the perimeter.
” Now he’s playing with a lot of confidence.”
So are the Illini. Self staved off an emotional letdown after Tuesday’s all-important win over Michigan State with a timely halftime reminder to his team.
“After [Purdue] made that run [10-4 to close the first half],” said junior guard Cory Bradford, who extended his NCAA streak to 88 games with a three-pointer, “he told us that great teams don’t that let that happen.”
Saturday’s drought-busting win was the clearest indication yet the Illini may finally be taking that lesson to heart.
“Anything can still happen,” said Williams, who wore a flak jacket to protect a sore chest muscle. “We’ve got a lot more games on the road and they’re all tough ones. We believe we can win the Big Ten now, but we’re not done yet.”
