The #1 Purdue Boilermakers defeated the #9 Illinois Fighting Illini by a final score of 83-78. Purdue’s leading scorers were Trey Kaufman-Renn with 23 points and 4 rebounds, Lance Jones with 17 points and 2 rebounds, and Braden Smith with 14 points and 6 assists.

1st Half
Purdue came flying out of the gates to start the game, going on a 20-4 run. After Purdue’s dominant start, Illinois started to hit their shots, making the game 24-17. Purdue was very dominant in the 1st half, with TKR and Braden Smith leading the way with almost 30 combined points. Zach Edey was held to only 2 points in the first half, sitting the final 8 minutes with foul trouble, but Edey’s presence was not missed, Trey Kaufman-Renn was cooking, he was hitting every shot and most importantly hitting all of his 6 free throws in the first half. Purdue led Illinois 47-32 at halftime.

2nd Half
To start the 2nd half Purdue came out with the same intensity as the 1st, putting their lead to 21 at one point. But Illinois was not going to give up, Marcus Domask was using his size difference to score easy and contested buckets at the rim, and he scored almost all of his points in the paint. Illinois started hitting their shots in the 2nd half, Luke Goode and Quincy Guerrier both started showing up and scoring, and Marcus Domask was still cooking Purdue’s guards. Near the end of the game, Illinois was closing the lead, but Edey and Gillis were both grabbing every miss and not allowing many second-chance points for Illinois, Edey had 15 rebounds and Gillis had 8 rebounds. With under 2 minutes to go, Lance Jones was called for a flagrant foul after he tried to box out Quincy Guerrier and he jumped over him and fell hard on the ground, after review they called a flagrant foul on Jones. The Refs were bad at the end of the game, with bad calls, long review times, and calling weak fouls. Purdue hung on to win a close game against Illinois with a final score of 83-78, the refs almost ruined this game.

Player Of The Game: Trey Kaufman-Renn
TKR scored his season high in points with 23, this was his 2nd highest scoring game of his career, scoring 24 against New Orleans last season. Trey was dominant in the paint and kind of reminded me of Trevion Williams with all of his post moves. Trey was playing like it was his final game, he was tipping every rebound, and going up aggressively for rebounds while shooting. With Edey not playing as many minutes because of foul trouble, this was TKR’s time to shine, he took his opportunity and did not disappoint. Trey ended with 23 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 assists. This is a great sign for Purdue in the future when Edey doesn’t play well or is in foul trouble.

#1 Purdue plays Nebraska on Tuesday, January 9th at 9:00 PM EST @ Pinnacle Bank Arena (Nebraska)

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