Only 15 minutes separated Illinois from two vastly different paths with the game tied at 40 in the second half of Sunday’s matchup against No. 25 Purdue.
If Illinois outscored Purdue in that stretch, it would earn the fourth seed in the Big Ten Tournament, giving the Illini their first bye in the conference tournament since 2007. If Illinois couldn’t keep up with Purdue, it would face the uphill battle of having to win four games in four days as the sixth seed in the Big Ten Tournament.
As the matchup against Purdue ended on Jan. 2 in an overtime loss, Illinois (16-12, 9-7 Big Ten) just couldn’t finish off the Boilermakers (21-8, 10-6), being outscored 36-25 after the game was tied and finishing the regular season with a 76-65 loss on Sunday.
“I’m proud of the team for the start of the second half and the energy and the effort we played with for much of the game,” Illinois head coach Matt Bollant said. “We were up three, had opportunities and just didn’t make very good decisions in transition, turned the ball over and took some rushed 3’s that weren’t the best decisions. We talk about playing hard; I think we did that really well today. We played together, but we didn’t play real smart.”
Illinois’ seniors Karisma Penn and Adrienne GodBold scored 23 and 18 points, respectively, but Purdue’s 51.8 percent shooting from the field, along with four double-digit scorers, proved to be too much for the Illini. After outscoring Purdue 28-8 in points off turnovers in its last meeting, Illinois was outscored 24-18 in that department on Sunday.
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After losing three of its last four games to end the season, Illinois finished in a fifth-place tie with Michigan. The Wolverines earned the fifth seed in the Big Ten Tournament because they own the tiebreaker after defeating the Illini on Feb. 7. As the No. 6 seed, Illinois will face No. 11-seeded Wisconsin on Thursday. Illinois swept Wisconsin this season for the first time since 1999-2000. With a win, Illinois will face No. 3-seeded Purdue, which beat the Illini by four on Jan. 13.
“I’ve played on the first day every time I’ve been to the Big Ten Tournament,” Penn said. “I think my sophomore year we got pretty far, so I don’t think it’s as big of a deal as everybody makes it.”
“Third and fourth place get byes, which is huge going into the Big Ten Tournament,” Bollant said after Illinois beat Indiana on Feb. 23. “Not that you can’t win four games in four days, but it certainly is taxing and very difficult.”
With Purdue leading 20-19 with 7:02 remaining in the first half, neither team had a lead larger than four at that point.
The Boilermakers then went on an 11-4 run to take a 31-23 lead at the 3:58 mark, giving Purdue its largest lead of the half.
Illinois entered halftime with a 36-32 deficit behind 53.3 percent shooting by Purdue. Illinois kept it close by going 7-of-7 from the stripe compared with Purdue’s 0-for-1 free-throw shooting in the first half.
After turning the ball over 34 times against Illinois on Jan. 2, Purdue committed only nine turnovers in the first half on Sunday, leading to only 12 Illinois points. Purdue, meanwhile, scored 20 points off 12 Illini turnovers in the first half.
Illinois completed its comeback after Penn drained two free throws to tie the game at 40 with 15:19 remaining in the game.
Although Purdue got its lead back after a 5-0 run, Illinois responded with an 8-0 run of its own to take a 48-45 lead, its first lead since early in the first half.
Purdue charged back with a 15-2 run to take a commanding 60-50 lead with 7:52 remaining in the game and ultimately won by a score of 76-65.
With the loss, Illinois may need a solid showing in the Big Ten Tournament to earn its first berth in the NCAA tournament since the 2002-03 season. ESPN’s Charlie Creme had Illinois as a nine seed and 37th overall on his S-curve in his latest Bracketology, although this was before the Illini’s last two losses. Despite the rough stretch to end the season, Bollant is confident his team can make a run.
“I feel good about our team, as far as our growth,” Bollant said. “We finished tied for fifth in the Big Ten. Obviously we’re not thrilled with the last week. We let two opportunities go, but if we play good basketball, we could make some good things happen.”
Michael can be reached at [email protected] and @m_dubb.
