Illini Shut Down Boilermakers

In a dominating performance fitting from a top 25 team, Illinois used a stifling defense to run away with the game in the second half.

Mike Davis had a great game for Illinois with a double-double made up of 14 points and 16 rebounds. The game was sealed when Illinois went on a 23-6 run late in the second, a stretch in which Purdue made just one field goal. The Boilers were once again without preseason Big Ten POY Robbie Hummel. Why do they even name a preseason POY? And now...guessing!

Anyway, the win keeps Illinois within two games of Michigan State in the Big Ten standings and with three games the Illini should win coming up, they could get even closer to MSU before the two teams meet March 1st.

This is the first real statement game for the Illini since entering the top 25 a few weeks ago. They had some good wins, and some bad losses, but a blowout of Purdue even without Hummel is a very good looking win.

Next up for the Illini is a date at Northwestern Thursday night, followed by another road game at Indiana, and then Penn State at Assembly Hall where the Illini have a ten game winning streak going.

Statement Week For Illinois Basketball

Remember when Illinois lost a record 19 games last season? I don't. Especially after the past 8 days. Even though the team was 10-1 I was skeptical. They hadn't beaten anyone I had heard of, and the one chance they had to play someone decent (Clemson), they lost. It looked like Illinois was going to be a good defensive Big Ten team fighting for that last Big Ten NCAA berth come March.

Well that has all changed in the last week. Two enormous nationally televised wins against Mizzou and Purdue have put the Illini on the national radar. Are the Illini the best team in the Big Ten? Probably not, but they are legitimate contenders. In a conference known for low road winning percentages, Illinois showed a lot of toughness winning in overtime in West Lafayette last night.

This team has the elements to successfully execute Bruce Weber's three guard quasi-motion pick-roll offense. Four players are averaging 12 points and Chester Frazier is finally becoming the pass-first point guard who takes care of the ball that the Illini need. This balanced and efficient offense is the perfect complement to what has been a lights out defensive team. The weaknesses in the backcourt mostly consisted of an inability to score and McCamey's lackadaisical defensive approach. Well both of those problems seem to have evaporated. It also looks like Alex Legion will be a big contributor on both ends of the court as he slowly earns more minutes. Davis and Tisdale, thought to be too inexperienced and soft, have proven that they are anything but. Both look like they will be solid contributors and showed last night that they can defend the paint as well as any of the big boys in the Big Ten.

All that being said, I am getting a little ahead of myself. The Big Ten is no joke, and even though it is not very strong at the top, it is a solid conference and the road will not be easy. Teams like Wisconsin, Michigan State, Michigan, Purdue, and the emergence of Tubby Smith's Gophers will all be tough Ws. Regardless, Illinois has shown it can play tough on the road against the cream of the crop.

A 4 seed? A 5 seed? Maybe that's dreaming, but it is a real possibility. Thank god the Big Ten schedule started, I was getting bored of watching Illinois play Tulane, Hawaii and Eastern Michigan.

Today's Links-Too Many Links Edition

• Illini get a big win against Purdue on the road. They're on the map.
• The Hawks streak finally ends against the Wings, but hopefully will just be a minor bump in the road. I guess they didn't have a lot of 'kills' tonight.
  
• Apparently Drew Gooden is going to start blogging. Welcome to the blogosphere Drew. Unfortunately his first post wasn't very interesting, but hopefully he'll write some crazy stuff soon.
• Fake Ron Turner press conference following the Bears game.
  
• Worst columnist predications of 2008. Hilarious.
  
• The Denver Broncos fired Mike Shanahan. It appears no NFL coach is safe these days.
• Looks like the Cubs are about to deal Marquis to the Rockies for Luis Vizcaino, but mostly they'll be getting $5 million dollars in salary relief.
• Babich and Orton don't have much job security either. Apparently Angelo is interested in Marinelli too.
  
• So Hinrich will be coming back sooner than we thought. Obviously that's a good thing, but with the glut of guards, it may cause more problems than it solves.
• Did the Heat disrespect the Bulls the other night? It appears they did.