Rich McBride led all scorers, putting 19 points on the board in Illinois’ 18-point victory. McBride hit three treys and finished perfect from the free-throw line.

“Once I knocked one or two down I started feeling pretty good about myself, so I started going for it,” McBride said. “I’m trying to be as consistent as possible to take the pressure off Dee and James. I want to be a factor out there.”

McBride shot 60 percent from the floor and had two rebound and two assists. Saturday marked his second-best scoring performance of the season; the junior put 21 on the board in Illinois’ 84-46 win against Tennessee-Martin on Dec. 30.

“He felt a little confident,” Weber said. “He had a couple freshmen guarding him at different times, got them in the paint, got a pull-up jumper. He got to the free throw line and he made them too, so that’s even better.”

Win streak

By beating the Boilermakers on Saturday, the Illini tied Southern’s Salukis for the longest home winning streak in the nation. It is a record that extends back to the days when Matt Painter – Purdue’s head coach – led Southern Illinois.

Illinois, Gonzaga and Southern Illinois each boast 33-consecutive home wins.

The Illini are 90-3 at the Assembly Hall since the 1999-2000 season.

Dominant defense

Illinois’ defense again played a key role in the win, as Purdue shot 38 percent from the field, more than 10 percent below their season average. The Boilermakers connected on just 19-of-50 shots.

“I thought their pressure was a little too much for us,” Painter said. “They would get a couple turnovers or force us into a couple of bad shots two or three possessions in a row, and we simply just ran out of timeouts.”

Purdue grabbed just 29 rebounds to Illinois’ 43. The Illini nabbed 26 defensive boards, while the Boilers had just nine offensive.

“The boards was definitely key again,” Weber said. “You win by 14 and you’ve got 17 offensive rebounds, that’s eight more possessions compared to them.”

Moving on up

James Augustine and Dee Brown are quickly ascending several Illinois record charts, including closing in on the career-wins title. Saturday marked the seniors’ 107th career win, tying them with former teammate Roger Powell, Jr. for second place. Augustine and Brown are now just four wins short of surpassing another former teammate, Nick Smith, who sits in first place with 110 career wins.

On Saturday, Brown also moved to sixth on Illinois’ all-time scoring list, with 1,659 points, and Augustine moved to 24th with 1,221 points. The record for most career points belongs to Deon Thomas, who scored 2,129 points when he played for the Illini from 1991 until 1994.

Quote of the game

“He’s been great to me. I said in the paper, he would still be here (head coaching at Purdue) if I wasn’t involved in coaching. I wouldn’t be at Purdue if he wasn’t involved. He’s either helped me or hired me at every job I’ve had in my career. He’s a very good coach, he’s done a great job.

“He’s done a better job this year than he did last year, in my opinion. It’s unbelievable where they are right now, 19-2, almost having 20 wins before February. With a bye week already. He’s a good coach and a good person.”

– Purdue coach Matt Painter on his mentor, Bruce Weber