Illini can't quite finish as Purdue comes away with the win

On a day when Demetri McCamey tied the school record for assists with 16 (and the highest for the season with any player) and a day when Mike Davis came back from his funk to register a double-double and 5 blocks. When Brandon Paul and D.J. Richardson proved that they are turning the corner on the freshmen wall, When as late as 3 minutes to go the Illini were only down by 1 point, the Illini could not pull this one out.

What do you make of a game when you take the #4 team in the country down to wire on their home court? When you have more players playing well all at once than you have had all year. The final result is the second loss in a row to a team that could very well end up in the Final Four. But to simply chalk this up to the better team playing better when it counts is too much of a cop out. The Illini very well could have won this game, and at several key moments could have kept the Boilermakers from coming back. Several of these mistakes were decisions or miscues, and with 14 turnovers there are plenty to point to.

The Illini too many times were just a little too careless with the ball, including when Davis could not finish under the hoop on a break away or mistimed passes from the guards, or Jeff Jordan picking up his dribble at half court with Kris Kramer six inches away from him.

The other factor that led to Purdue overcoming a 35% shooting day from the field is the 12 offensive rebounds the Illini allowed, while only grabbing 4 O's of their own.  Giving up 22 fouls certainly didn't help either, (with 19 coming before they were in foul desperation mode.)

I am loathe to blame too much on the officials, as most times teams are a much larger factor in winning and losing than anything the officials do, but there were a few times the officials made some questionable calls that made things a bit too easy for the Boilermakers down the stretch. Chris Kramer  did a magnificent job acting when  didn't quite have his position on some of the charges he took, and made a spectacular flailing flop on the "illegal" screen call that more or less put the momentum on the side of the Boilers permanently. (Are we sure he didn't get any offers from Duke?)

That said, we are still going to have to wait for Tyler Griffey and Brandon Paul to learn what a "smart time to foul" is. Answer: never with less than 5 on the shot clock.

Aside from all of the defects in the game I saw, the Illini sure played one hell of a game, as they nearly overcame every one of those aforementioned limiting factors to their victory. They did it by playing some damn inspired offensive basketball. It was some of the most impressive motion offense I have seen since the Deron and Dee days. They ran the ball screen to perfection and finally gave Demetri the shooting support he has been needing for weeks. They were effective to say the least, hitting 50% from the field and from 3 alike.

This was also the game of Demetri's life, and possibly the most important game for anyone scouting him for the next level. 16 assists. Probably 2 fewer than he should have had, given the point blank misses by some of the Illini down low. He sees the court incredibly well, he played all 40 minutes (as did Mike Davis) and knows exactly where everyone is supposed to be. His shot can be taken out of a game with a double team, but he will always find the open man. Is there anything even left to ask of him?

This will not unfortunately be the story of the game. It will be that the Illini left E'Twaun Moore and Keaton Grant open for 3 too often, that they gave up too many offensive rebounds, and that they threw the ball away too often to beat a team as good and as disciplined as Purdue. The only story that matters is that the Illini have dropped two straight, and have to wait a little longer to exhale about getting into the dance.