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MINE!. (AP Photo/Robin Scholz)

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You know the deal, its the immediate aftermath of an important game against a conference opponent on national television. It was a close game and that just means the opinions about its ramifications are going to be blown well out of proportion.

• To say the game came down to who could make free throws is both true and misleading. The Illini shot 17-29 and Purdue 27-34. People are going to lay this at the feet of Demetri McCamey for missing 6 of the 19 he attempted. To blame Demetri when he had 28 pts, 9 and 2 steals. Is pretty off the deep end if you ask me. 
• The real problem in this game was how little support there was for Demetri. Mike Davis had the second best point total with 17 points and 15 rebounds, after that its DJ with 12, who had 6 of those in the final minute. For the most part these were the only Illini who were a factor in scoring.
• Speaking of Mike Davis he seemed to have come back from his slump with the aforementioned 17 and 15. If the Illini want to be able to win these Big Ten games they are going to have to have both of their big men playing a lot of minutes and scoring a lot of points because as we have seen there is little viable depth on this team at forward and center. Richard Semrau has vanished, Dominique Keller and Bill Cole are only playing at guard right now.Stan Simpson is not threatening to get any minutes. The best scoring option off the bench as a true forward is Tyler Griffey, and Bruce has only apparently discovered that lately.
• Speaking of offense, the second half of tonight's game demonstrated an entirely new approach to the offense for the Illini. With Bill Cole and Jeff Jordan on the floor the Boilermakers simply collapsed on the perimeter on Demetri allowing opening shots to players that are not real scoring threats. As a result the Illini started driving to the basket as often as they could. Occasionally drawing the foul and going to the line, but for every one but Demetri it seemed to end in a block or bad shot.
• Speaking of the guards, the Boilermakers came back against the Illini with their best defensive guards on the floor, and the Illini could not get early points. When the defensive players cannot defend, what value is there to have them on the court?
• It is very soon going to start to be about the math. But not quite yet. There are still a lot of wins left out there for the Illini to grab before the Big Ten tournament.  The Illini are going to eventually have to get a win against the top half of this league though.
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