Illini clawed from 24 down.
www.stltoday.com
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Illinois clawed all the way back, but it couldn’t seal the deal in its regular-season season finale.
Illinois trailed by 24 points early in the second half, but Matthew Mayer tied it with 1:17 left. No. 5 Purdue then handled the game down the stretch, starting with a clutch bucket by Zach Edey, handing Illinois a 76-71 loss on Sunday.
The Illnii faced deficits of 13 with 11:26 left and 10 with 6:18 left. Each time they rallied. Then when the game was tied, Illinois had a turnover from Terrence Shannon Jr. and an airballed 3 by Mayer while the Boilermakers closed the deal at the free throw line.
The Illini got into their hole from the opening tip, with the Boilermakers scoring the game’s first 11 points. Purdue went on a 14-2 run with Edey on the bench and outscored Illinois 26-7 to end the first half with a 21-point lead.
Illinois had 11 first-half turnovers, five from Shannon. He struggled at point guard early, getting his pocket picked bringing the ball up multiple times by Purdue guard Brandon Newman. Illinois finished with 15 turnovers while Purdue had 23 points off those miscues.
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Mr. Epps has been in a scoring slump , for sure , but his ball handling was severely missed yesterday as the results above show how important Mr . Epps is to the illini squad.................................He really really is..............................