No. 13 Purdue handles Illinois 63-54
Posted: Thursday January 14, 1999 12:59 AM
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Hand to hand: Purdue's Jaraan Cornell (22) wacks the ball away for Illinois' Damir Krupalija AP |
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) -- After not playing at home for a month, Purdue coach Gene Keady was willing to accept any victory.
The 13th-ranked Boilermakers gave him one Wednesday night, beating Illinois 63-54 despite getting only seven field goals in the second half.
"A win's a win. It wasn't pretty but I'll take it. Illinois is a good team but they're young," Keady said. "There were deflections off of heads and feet, but we just did not come up with the loose balls most of the time. But we won the ballgame and we were happy with that."
Jaraan Cornell hit four 3-pointers and scored 12 of his 17 points in the first half when the Boilermakers took the lead for good.
The Boilermakers (14-3, 2-1 Big Ten) had played five straight games away from Mackey Arena since defeating La Salle in the championship game of the Boilermaker Invitational on Dec. 12. The lengthy absence was caused by a snowstorm that twice postponed a Jan. 2 visit by Minnesota.
The game was tied four times before Purdue pulled away for good with a 12-2 run which included two 3-pointers by Cornell. Brian Cardinal, who had 16 points, hit two free throws to start the run with 8:40 left in the first half and the run ended on a 3-pointer by Cornell with 4:02 remaining that made the score 27-17.
Illinois (8-8, 0-4) fell behind 38-21 when Purdue scored the first six points of the second half, but got back into the game while hitting nine straight shots. However, the Illini were only 13-of-31 for the half.
"Purdue had a pretty good handle on the game. At the end of the first half and in the second half they made a good run," Illinois coach Lon Kruger said. "Gene Keady's clubs do a good job in every aspect of the game and this team has a lot of weapons."
Freshman Cory Bradford, who led the Illini with 15 points, had two 3-pointers to cut his team's deficit to 52-47, but Cornell responded with his fifth 3-pointer of the game. Moments later, Illinois suffered a key loss when Sergio McClain twisted his right ankle and had to leave the game moments after his basket made the score 55-49.
Purdue went on to defeat Illinois for the seventh consecutive time by scoring six of its final eight points on free throws in the final minutes.
Purdue was 7-of-21 from the field in the second half, but got into the bonus with 12:08 left in the game. At one point the Boilermakers were 14-of-16 from the free throw line in the half, but made just three of nine attempts over the final four minutes.
Greg McQuay, who had 13 points for the Boilermakers, had the only basket in that span and missed four consecutive free throws during it.
Illinois had 23 turnovers, while Purdue had 15.
"I think [Michael] Jordan was right on today when he said the young players need patience and guidance. I think he was talking about Purdue," Keady said. "As coaches we need to have patience with the kids. We need to have the guidance to teach them what they need to know."
The Illini have lost four straight and six of seven, but Kruger sees his young team progressing.
"We're going to have fight harder and scratch harder to stay in these games. We're going to be a club that's inconsistent at times, but we're going to have to live with that," he said. "Each game we're starting to learn how to play a little better."
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