That felt like the biggest Illini win since Iowa State in the tournament and against Iowa to win the B1G championship... in my head, I truly did not believe we'd win, especially when we got down 11 in the first half.
Heck, I am going to watch the game again today. I love this team. It would not surprise me if Wagler "only" scores 11 points next game but flirts with a triple-double-- it was incredible the way he resisted jacking up heat check shots and just let the game come to him. I am still stunned by what we witnessed yesterday, lol.
Credit also goes to Jake (so solid, what a great pickup from Mercer of all places), Tomi (he loves to hit big 3s near the end of games), Ben (he did hit some big 3s yesterday and played his role), and Andrej (chased Braden around for most of the game). Mirkovic might be my favorite player on this team, though. I love his attitude and I love he is big enough to defend players like TKR but can hit threes, pass, and bring the ball up the court. He cracked me up matter-of-factly saying he'd kill himself if he didn't play without even a hint of a joke/smile.
On Purdue: Braden Smith was phenomenal. Did Loyer even play in the second half? Painter always seems to pull him lately against us and it feels like it really hurts their offense when he's not out there hitting threes and flopping (although Jack Benter appears to be his heir apparent for the flopping). Nobody had the guts to ask Painter about Loyer in the press conference. Oh, and I feel compelled to note that Cluff is a dirty player... the refs let him get away with so much shoving, often just enough to affect a particular play.
I wonder how many Purdue fans are fearing they are going to turn into Marquette next year. No, I don't think there will be a dropoff that bad, but they lose their big three plus Cluff. Mayer will be a good PG next year but he's nowhere near as good as Braden Smith.
. Love that result and it was nice being on the other end of a late OOB play.
