Illinois Four-Game Winning Streak Is Halted By No. 1 Purdue

Trey Kaufman-Renn scored 23 points to lead Purdue past the Illinois Fighting Illini in a matchup of Top 10 teams

The Illinois Fighting Illini had one plan entering Friday's game against top-ranked Purdue: Don't let Boilermakers star center Zach Edey beat them.

That didn't happen. 

Instead, Purdue forward Trey Kaufman-Renn did. He scored 23 points to lead the Boilermakers to a 83-78 victory at Mackey Arena.  

“Trey Kaufman-Renn, man, I just told him out there in the hall he kicked our butt,” Illinois coach Brad Underwood said. “I think when you play Zach, you can’t play normal. You have to try to make other players beat you and I think there’s some risk with that and we saw that tonight.”

Edey, the reigning national player of the year, was nothing more than a decoy. He finished with 10 points and 15 but wasn't his usual dominant self. It wasn't needed because Purdue had so much balance. They had five players score in double-figures, including Lance Jones' 17 points. 

The Illini were led by Marcus Domask, who had 26 points. Quincy Guerrier also had 18 points and 10 rebounds. They were unable to recover from falling behind 20-4 at the start. They trailed by 21 with 13 minutes but a late charge wasn't enough to keep alive the four-game winning streak. 

"They kicked our butt during that stretch," Underwood said of the slow start. "We've got to cut, but if the best player in the country isn't in the game, you better make hay. We did for a little bit, but you have to sustain that."

Shandel Richardson is the Publisher of Illini Now. He can be reached at shandelrich@gmail.com