Trent Frazier beamed after helping No. 13 Illinois rout host Indiana by 17 points on Saturday.
“That’s why I came to this school, to play in these types of environments with the emotion and the energy,” Frazier said. “It’s always fun to play these types of games, especially a victory.”
If Frazier thought taking on the unranked Hoosiers at historic Assembly Hall was something, just wait until he absorbs the atmosphere that awaits Tuesday as the team visits No. 3 Purdue in a clash for the top spot in the Big Ten.
Good thing the conference-leading Fighting Illini (17-5, 10-2) are well-versed in navigating ultra-hostile conditions.
“Not letting things bother you is one of the biggest things. It’s one of the hardest things to do, actually,” Illinois’ Kofi Cockburn said. “When somebody is screaming at you and telling you how much you suck, it’s one of the toughest things to keep a level head and execute and do what you have to do to win.
“Playing in that crowd and overcoming and winning is tremendous.”
Illinois outscored Indiana 40-21 after halftime Saturday, relying on improved defense and rebounding to go with double-figure scoring efforts from Frazier (23 points), Cockburn (17) and Alfonso Plummer (14).
Winners of four straight, the Fighting Illini pulled away despite being outrebounded 33-30. When Illinois visited Purdue on Jan. 17, the Boilermakers had the edge under the boards 46-39 en route to a 96-88 double-overtime victory.
Frazier said the Illini “try to rebound our behinds off, bring a lot of effort and just defend” each game.
Purdue (20-3, 9-3) stretched its winning streak to five with Saturday’s 82-76 victory against visiting Michigan.
Jaden Ivey led the Boilermakers with 23 points, while Trevion Williams followed with 19 on 7-for-8 shooting off the bench. Williams has finished in double figures in three of the past five games.
“The last couple of games I got off to slow starts and things haven’t been going my way,” Williams said. “When that happens I turn to God; I’m a religious person. We all deserve time to ourselves to reflect. As a senior, I was kind of taking things personal. When you feel you can give more to the team and then you’re not able to do it because of little things like foul trouble or missing a shot. It was just a reality check for me.”
The Boilermakers relied on their size to surge past the Wolverines. Zach Edey had 13 points and nine rebounds as Purdue enjoyed a 32-22 rebounding advantage while outscoring the Wolverines 44-26 in the paint.
“If we kept running them the whole game, their bigs would get tired,” Ivey said. “We got defensive rebounds, we were looking to push it. We did a great job taking what was given to us and executing the play.”
Purdue coach Matt Painter earned the 400th win of his career while helping guide the program to another milestone: Purdue is the first school to notch 1,000 victories in the Big Ten.
Sasha Stefanovic (22 points) and Edey (20 points) paced Purdue in the first meeting with Illinois. Plummer led Illinois with 24 points.
–Field Level Media
