No. 14 Purdue at Illinois

Today

WHERE:

Assembly Hall

TV:

CBS

LIVE CHAT:

Beginning at 12:45 p.m. Eastern on TheBoilingPoints.com

RECORDS:

Purdue is 19-5, 8-3 Big Ten; Illinois 16-8, 6-5

OF NOTE:

Both teams are coming off wins, but Illinois’ last one meant a lot more. The Illini had fallen into a funk, but they beat Minnesota on the road to pump some life back into the team. Along the way, coach Bruce Weber benched seniors Demetri McCamey and Mike Tisdale. Will he do the same today? Purdue swept this series last year, which featured a win in Champaign highlighted by a breakout performance by Purdue guard John Hart. Yeah, that was the game Hart was left out of the scorebook, which resulted in a technical. The Boilers might need another big game from someone unexpected to pull this one out.

Illinois 72, Purdue 64

(Bridges)

– With the way the Boilers have been playing recently, I see this game being an uphill battle the entire time. For whatever reason, Purdue hasn’t been able to start the past handful of games shooting well, and if that happens, I don’t see the Boilers being able to come back. With two senior All-Americans, you would think Purdue could play from behind well enough to win games, but it hasn’t been able to up to this point.

Purdue 62, Illinois 57 (Langdon) What Bridges hasn’t considered is the E’Twaun Moore factor. Yes, he’s been struggling of late, but what’s been his streak-breaker in the past? Playing in the state of Illinois. He dropped 31 on Southern Illinois earlier this season, then 16 on Richmond. Both those games were in Chicago. Last season? Twenty-four at Northwestern and 16 at Illinois. Dude hasn’t scored under double-digits in the state of Illinois since he was a sophomore. Yes, I agree that it will be an uphill battle, but I think Purdue pulls it out.