Purdue Basketball: Illinois proves to be no threat to Boilermakers

Jan 8, 2017; West Lafayette, IN, USA; Purdue Boilermakers center Isaac Haas (44) slams the ball over Wisconsin Badgers forward Alex Illikainen (25) in the 2nd half at Mackey Arena. Purdue defeated the Wisconsin Badgers 66-55. Mandatory Credit: Sandra Dukes-USA TODAY Sports /

Purdue basketball flexed their muscles on the interior and dominated Illinois on Tuesday evening.

The Big Ten is an absolute mess this year (in a good way). Whether it’s Maryland’s surprising 4-1 conference record despite starting three freshman, Indiana’s disappointing start to league play, or Northwestern’s rise to the NCAA Tournament bubble, it seems like anything can happen in the 14-team league in 2016-17.

Purdue is a team that has suffered some questionable losses this year, including a loss at home to Minnesota and a road L to a struggling Iowa team.

But on Tuesday, they held serve at home, crushing the Illinois, 91-68, in a game that was dominated by the Boilermakers’ bigs.

Caleb Swanigan had yet another double-double (22 points and 10 rebounds), while Isaac Haas (24 points and six rebounds) had one of his best games of the season.

The Boilermakers also beat Purdue on the glass, 35-28, and shot a highly efficient 60 percent from the field (with most of those makes coming inside the three point line).

Sure, forward Maverick Morgan scored 15 points on 6-of-11 shooting for Illinois, but the Illini had no chances of stopping Swanigan and Haas from the get-go.

See, this is the deal with Purdue. They are massive on the interior and difficult to stop when Swanigan and Haas are both on their A-game. However, Purdue has also drastically improved from beyond the arc this season.

That means you must pick your poison when playing the Boilers. You can either double their big men and let the shooters beat you, or you can let their big men operate 1-on-1 and push them off the three-point line. It’s highly unlikely that you can do both as an opponent.

On Tuesday, John Groce’s game plan consisted of very few double teams in the post. And that’s why Swanigan and Haas went to work. They not only had the size advantage, but the skill advantage.

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Now, this isn’t to say that Illinois isn’t a good basketball team and that their game plan was poor. However, it does show that Purdue might indeed be a different team than they’ve been in years past.

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