No. 18 Purdue visits Illinois following Smith’s 23-point performance
Purdue Boilermakers (21-9, 13-6 Big Ten) at Illinois Fighting Illini (19-11, 11-8 Big Ten)
Champaign, Illinois; Friday, 8 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: No. 18 Purdue plays Illinois after Braden Smith scored 23 points in Purdue’s 100-71 win against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights.
The Fighting Illini have gone 12-4 at home. Illinois averages 11.2 turnovers per game and is 8-0 when it turns the ball over less than its opponents.
The Boilermakers are 13-6 against Big Ten opponents. Purdue is eighth in the Big Ten scoring 78.2 points per game and is shooting 49.6%.
Illinois scores 83.6 points, 13.6 more per game than the 70.0 Purdue gives up. Purdue has shot at a 49.6% rate from the field this season, 8.1 percentage points higher than the 41.5% shooting opponents of Illinois have averaged.
The matchup Friday is the first meeting of the season between the two teams in conference play.
TOP PERFORMERS: Kasparas Jakucionis is averaging 15.4 points, 5.6 rebounds and 4.8 assists for the Fighting Illini. Will Riley is averaging 15.4 points over the last 10 games.
Trey Kaufman-Renn is averaging 19.4 points and 6.1 rebounds for the Boilermakers. Fletcher Loyer is averaging 2.9 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Fighting Illini: 5-5, averaging 79.2 points, 36.2 rebounds, 13.6 assists, 4.0 steals and 4.1 blocks per game while shooting 45.5% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 81.1 points per game.
Boilermakers: 6-4, averaging 80.9 points, 28.8 rebounds, 14.4 assists, 7.7 steals and 1.1 blocks per game while shooting 50.8% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 74.7 points.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.