Jaden Ivey Takes Over Second Half, Fuels No. 3 Purdue in 84-68 Win Over No. 13 Illinois
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — When calls aren’t going Jaden Ivey’s way, he starts to channel building frustration into his play on the court. After scoring just four points in the first half of a critical Big Ten matchup against No. 13 Illinois, it was time for Purdue’s star sophomore to turn the tide.
Ivey erupted for the No. 3-ranked Boilermakers, scoring 22 of his 26 points in the second half to propel the team to a 84-68 victory over the Fighting Illini on Tuesday night at Mackey Arena. Purdue, now 21-3 on the season and 10-3 in league play, shares the conference lead with Illinois and Wisconsin.
“When I don’t get an obvious call, I kind of get mad and just take it out on the game, for real,” Ivey said. “That’s all I really can do. I just kept playing.”
Before Ivey’s second-half takeover, Illinois (17-6, 10-3 in the Big Ten) pounced on Purdue right from the get go, scoring on six of its first eight shots from the floor, including a trio of 3-pointers. On the flipside, the Boilermakers struggled from deep and hit just four of their 12 attempts from beyond the arc in the opening half.
“I felt like the first half we just didn’t bring the energy,” Ivey said. “They brought the energy with their shots and their physical presence on defense.”
However, before the Boilermakers could fall behind by double-digits, sophomore guard Ethan Morton hit the team’s first triple of the night with 10:14 left in the first half. He scored five straight points and ignited a 14-0 run that pushed Purdue out in front.
A 3-pointer by freshman forward Caleb Furst gave the team its first lead with just over eight minutes to play in the period. Purdue took advantage of a three-minute Illinois scoring drought to go ahead by as many as seven points.
“In a game like that, as a leader I just try to tell people just come into the game and play hard,” Purdue senior guard Eric Hunter Jr. said. “That’s the first thing you have to do is play hard, scrap. Ethan was cutting hard, being in the right place and it ended up working out for him. Same thing for Caleb.”
The Fighting Illini were plagued by foul trouble, and the Boilermakers were 10-13 from the free-throw line before halftime. But Illinois clawed its way back as graduate guard Alfonso Plummer seemingly couldn’t miss on contested jumpers.
Plummer torched Purdue for 14 points on 5-7 shooting in the first half, which included four 3-pointers. Purdue ended the half having shot just 37% from the field and didn’t convert on a shot attempt in the final 3:15 of the opening 20 minutes.
A last-second bucket from sophomore guard Andre Curbelo pushed the Fighting Illini to a 38-36 lead at the break. Trevion Williams scored 10 points to lead the Boilermakers while Mason Gillis added six points and six rebounds.
A poor shooting night didn’t last long as Purdue shot 64.5% from the field in the second half. The team made seven of its first nine shots coming out of the locker room, including a pair of 3-pointers.
Hunter secured the opening basket in the second half and scored all nine of his points within a span of nearly four minutes for the Boilermakers. Illinois only mustered 30 points in the final 20 minutes of play as Purdue jumped ahead and closed out the game.
“He’s a veteran and they went right at us,” Illinois coach Brad Underwood said of Hunter’s scoring burst. “You can’t give the other guys — I call them role players, for lack of a better term — you can’t let him and Gillis and those guys beat you and hurt you. And they did.”
A 14-2 run, spearheaded by Ivey, gave the Boilermakers a comfortable double-digit lead with around 10 minutes left to play. The star sophomore went 9-12 from the field in the second half and was 2-3 from the 3-point line as Purdue led by as many as 19 points.
As Ivey was lighting up the scoreboard, the Fighting Illini struggled to get the ball through the net. Four free throws from junior center Kofi Cockburn were sandwiched within a stretch of nearly seven minutes without a shot falling.
Illinois, after seeing 46.7% of its shots fall in the first half, was just 10-28 from the field in the second. Cockburn was the team’s leading scorer with 18, but Plummer didn’t log a single basket after the break and senior Trent Frazier scored just two points on seven shot attempts.
“We did a better job on Plummer, and then being able to score as much as we did, it set our defense,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said. “I think those pieces really helped us. … That was more important than anything. Just our consistent play on the offensive end kept them out of transition and didn’t allow them to steal any points.”
Ivey, who added six assists and four rebounds to his team-high scoring output, was one of three Boilermakers to finish the game in double figures. Zach Edey added 13 points on 6-10 shooting in 21 minutes on the floor.
The outcome of the game now puts Purdue in the win column in six straight contests, and the team has won nine of its last 10 after starting 1-2 in the Big Ten. The Boilermakers will have a quick turnaround, traveling to Ann Arbor, Michigan, on Thursday for the second matchup in six days with the Wolverines.
Stories Related to Purdue Basketball
- PURDUE, ILLINOIS LIVE BLOG: Purdue basketball was searching for a season sweep against Illinois when the two teams met inside Mackey Arena on Tuesday night. A win gave the Boilermakers their sixth in a row and a share of the Big Ten lead. CLICK HERE
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D.J. Fezler is a staff writer for BoilermakersCountry.com. Hailing from The Region, he is from Cedar Lake in Northwest Indiana and has spent the last two years covering Purdue football and basketball.