Purdue Hands Illinois 73-56 Loss

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) -- The Fighting Illini and Boilermakers were tied at 48-48 midway through the second half, but Purdue showed why its the 14th-ranked team in the nation while pulling away down the stretch for a 73-56 win at Mackey Arena Wednesday night.

Ayo Dosunmu and Andres Feliz led cold-shooting Illinois (10-18, 6-11) with nine points apiece. Illinois shot 32.8 percent overall and 27.6 percent from 3-point range.

Illinois led the back-and-forth game 33-32 at halftime and rallied to tie it at 48 with 9:43 remaining. Then Carsen Edwards and Matt Haarms took over as the Boilermakers scored 12 straight points. Illinois got no closer than nine points the rest of the way.

The Boilermakers held a 36-27 advantage on the boards.

Edwards broke out of a shooting slump to finish with 23 points and Haarms had 21 points on 8-of-8 shooting, 10 rebounds and five blocks for Purdue (21-7, 14-3 Big Ten). The Boilermakers moved into a tie atop the conference with No. 6 Michigan State.

Illinois showed some depth, with 26 bench points to Purdue's two, but still lost its third straight, squandering a chance to earn a signature win.

UP NEXT: Illinois returns home for two games, first on Sunday with Northwestern coming to State Farm Center, and then Senior Night against Indiana on Thursday, March 7.