After suffering its first Big Ten loss of the season at Michigan State on Saturday, Illinois (12-6, 4-1 Big Ten) returns to the Assembly Hall on Tuesday to take on No. 13 Purdue (14-3, 2-3).

And with the return of students and the Orange Krush, the Illini are expecting a boost from the home crowd.

Junior guard Demetri McCamey has already gotten texts saying, “We’re back and we’re gonna cheer you on” from fellow students.

“(Tuesday) night it should be rocking,” McCamey said. “We know the crowd’s going to be there (Tuesday), so we just have to bring the energy and the defensive mindset to win this game.”

The Boilermakers enter Champaign on a three-game skid that began with their first loss of the season at Wisconsin on Jan. 9 and continued against Ohio State and at Northwestern last week.

For junior forward Bill Cole, Purdue’s struggles serve as a reminder of the depth of the conference.

“The Big Ten is just such a grind,” Cole said. “Every single game is a tough game. You can’t really take any games off. Every team plays good at home, every team knows they need to win on the road, so it doesn’t matter where you are. You’re going to get a tough game.

“I’m sure that they’re experiencing that more than anybody right now, and they’re going to come out like a wounded animal, just try to knock us out from the start,” Cole added.

Purdue’s offense boasts two of the leading conference scorers in juniors Robbie Hummel and E’Twaun Moore. Coming off a 24-point performance at Northwestern, Moore averages 21.2 points in conference play to lead the Big Ten. The guard averages 16.6 points and seven rebounds in all games this season.

But the Boilermaker who draws perhaps the most attention is Hummel. The 6-foot-8 forward averages 17.5 points and is coming off a 20-point game at Northwestern. Hummel is tied for second in scoring in conference contests, averaging 20.4 points.

“He’s one of those players that can do literally everything on the floor,” Cole said of Hummel. “He’s tall, he’ll bring the ball up the floor, he’ll post up, he’ll shoot threes. He’s like a utility man, he does it all.”

But head coach Bruce Weber has a plan for defending the Purdue star.

“I think we’ll rotate a variety of people on him and just try to keep him off balance,” Weber said. “We’ll use a guard, we’ll use a forward. It depends on who else is in the game, I think that’s the big thing.

“He’s going to get some stuff, we just got to not let him just go crazy — him or Moore,” Weber added. “But we got to make sure the other guys don’t step up and have huge games.”

A win Tuesday will require more than just stopping Hummel and Moore. The Fighting Illini will be looking for a return to form by junior Mike Tisdale. After averaging 20.3 points in Big Ten play before Saturday, the center was limited to just two points due to foul trouble.

“Keeping Tisdale in the game has got to be something that he’s got to learn to deal with and can’t get the cheap touch fouls, and he’s got to deal with people,” Weber said. “He’s a marked man, he’s a good player, and when we throw it to him we’re pretty effective and people are going to fight him in the post. And he’s got to deal with that and not get some little retaliation fouls or touch fouls.”