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Takeaways from Purdue victory over Illinois in B1G tournament

By Blake DuDonis

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - MARCH 06: Purdue Boilermakers guard Karissa McLaughlin (1) falls backwards after colliding with Illinois Fighting Illini guard Brandi Beasley (1) during the game between the Illinois Fighting Illini and the Purdue Boilermakers on March 06, 2019, at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, IN. (Photo by Jeffrey Brown/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
INDIANAPOLIS, IN - MARCH 06: Purdue Boilermakers guard Karissa McLaughlin (1) falls backwards after colliding with Illinois Fighting Illini guard Brandi Beasley (1) during the game between the Illinois Fighting Illini and the Purdue Boilermakers on March 06, 2019, at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, IN. (Photo by Jeffrey Brown/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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A steady, balanced Purdue attack propels them to victory over overmatched Illinois.

INDIANAPOLIS — A scorching hot second quarter by both teams offensively had many wondering if an upset was brewing, but Purdue locked down defensively to put away a feisty Illinois team 72-60 in the first round of the B1G tournament.

Sitting at 8-10 in conference play, Purdue would be forgiven if they bemoaned their luck in falling to the 11-seed, but head coach Sharon Versyp would have none of that kind of talk.

“None of us wanted to be an 11-seed, but we just kept talking about one game,” said Versyp. “Right now, it doesn’t matter who you play in the tournament, it just has to be a clean slate, be very positive, have no doubt, and be very confident.

“We played really well together on both ends of the court.”

Changing defenses, a fourth scorer, the key to Boilermakers pulling away.

After allowing Illinois to shoot 60% from the field in the second quarter, Purdue made some changes in the locker room, changes that ultimately saw them give up just 10 points on 28.6% shooting in the third quarter.

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“We switched some screens on #1 (Brandi Beasley) because she was coming off screens and hitting some two dribble pull-ups, so we adjusted that quite a bit,” said Versyp. “We also flipped into our “1-defense for about five possessions and I think that was when we were able to get on a run a little bit in the third quarter.

In addition to the improved defensive effort, the Boilermakers also got a nice scoring boost from an unlikely source: Lyndsey Whilby. Averaging just 3.6 points per game on the season, Whilby poured in a career-high 14 points in just 17 minutes on 5-of-9 shooting, a welcome boost for a team that needs a bit more scoring moving forward.

Another difficult season for Illinois, but a step forward.

While a 2-16 in conference play is, under all normal circumstances, nothing to write home about, it was a big improvement for Illinois. After going 0-18 a season ago, the Illini were able to beat Minnesota and Wisconsin this season, and found themselves in a lot more close games than previous seasons, a fact not lost on head coach Nancy Fahey.

INDIANAPOLIS, IN – MARCH 06: Illinois Fighting Illini forward Alex Wittinger (35) fires up the jump shot over Purdue Boilermakers guard Abby Abel (2) during the game between the Illinois Fighting Illini and the Purdue Boilermakers on March 06, 2019, at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, IN. (Photo by Jeffrey Brown/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
INDIANAPOLIS, IN – MARCH 06: Illinois Fighting Illini forward Alex Wittinger (35) fires up the jump shot over Purdue Boilermakers guard Abby Abel (2) during the game between the Illinois Fighting Illini and the Purdue Boilermakers on March 06, 2019, at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, IN. (Photo by Jeffrey Brown/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

“It hurts more because we got closer,” said Fahey. “The expectations are wins, and we understand that, but there are things you can’t see unless you come to every one of our games. Even today, when they punched it, there were chances for us to go, ‘OK, it’s done.’ But we kept fighting and that’s all I can ask right now.”

The climb up the Big Ten ladder won’t get any easier with the loss of senior post Alex Wittinger, the program’s all-time leader in blocked shots and rebounds.

“One thing you don’t do is replace,” said Fahey commenting on Wittinger. “Her legacy is fantastic… There’s so much she has done for the program, but you let the new kids step into their roles and let them develop their own legacy.

Purdue’s win means they will now face #6 Nebraska, a team that has beaten Purdue twice.

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