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Fighting Illini Stifle Boilermakers 63-37

Casey Abbett
/
WBAA

Though the rosters are the same no matter where they play, when the Purdue men's basketball team takes their home court in Mackey Arena, they have been a much different team.

They’ve scored more at all levels, defended better, rebounded with more tenacity and played with more energy.

Sunday’s game was played in Champaign, Illinois.

The 63-37 defeat represented Purdue's lowest point total of the season so far.

It started from the opening tip, as Purdue missed its first ten shots from the field, falling to an 11-0 deficit they were never able to overcome.

No Boilermakers scored in double figures. Illinois, one of the nation’s top rebounding teams, grabbed 12 more boards than Purdue.  And Purdue, which shoots just 27% from three-point range away from home on the season, was even worse Sunday, making just 3 of 17 of their shots from distance. In fact, the Illini held Purdue to an overall shooting percentage even worse than their season total from outside, as the Boilers made only 25% of their attempts.

Purdue falls to 9-6 and 2-2 in Big Ten play. The Boilermakers travel to Ann Arbor to play the 12th-ranked Michigan Wolverines Thursday.

Casey Abbett is a senior at Purdue from LaCrosse, Indiana, and has been been interning as a sports reporter for WBAA since his freshman year.