WATCH: Purdue Players Following 76-71 Win Against Illinois
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — In its regular-season finale, No. 5 Purdue basketball staved off an Illinois comeback to win 76-71 on Sunday at Mackey Arena.
The Boilermakers led by as many as 24 points, building an advantage through its defense. Junior guards Brandon Newman and Ethan Morton combined for seven steals as the team registered 23 points off 15 Fighting Illini turnovers.
"We take pride in guarding the best players on the other team, whether it's Illinois or any other team in the Big Ten,” Newman said.
Newman led all scorers with 19 points while adding six rebounds and five assists. He had back-to-back steals to start the game that jumpstarted an 11-0 opening run for Purdue.
Junior center Zach Edey managed 17 points on just 6-of-13 shooting while coming down with six rebounds. Freshman guard Braden Smith was the team's third player in double figures with 15 points.
"Just being able to kind of have that, it sets the tone," Smith said. "Not only offensively, but defensively as well. It just gets people involved, getting that crowd kind of involved, and getting everybody on the defensive end of the ball."
With a 26-5 overall record and a 15-5 mark in Big Ten play, The Boilermakers head into the conference tournament with a double-bye and the No. 1 seed.
"It's gotta be the same mindset for us," Morton said. "Obviously, I think the pressure turns up a little bit on everybody as we come into March. But it's nice, you get a taste of it in Chicago next week before the real thing."
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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.