Illinois hosts No. 18 Purdue following Loyer’s 23-point game
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
BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Fighting Illini -3.5; over/under is 159.5
BOTTOM LINE: No. 18 Purdue visits Illinois after Fletcher Loyer scored 23 points in Purdue’s 100-71 victory against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights.
The Fighting Illini have gone 12-4 in home games. Illinois is fifth in the Big Ten with 35.6 points per game in the paint led by Tomislav Ivisic averaging 6.1.
The Boilermakers have gone 13-6 against Big Ten opponents. Purdue is third in the Big Ten with 16.2 assists per game led by Braden Smith averaging 8.6.
Illinois averages 9.3 made 3-pointers per game, 2.1 more made shots than the 7.2 per game Purdue allows. 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 Fighting Illini and Boilermakers square off Friday for the first time in Big Ten play this season.
TOP PERFORMERS: Ivisic is averaging 12.6 points and 7.7 rebounds for the Fighting Illini. Will Riley is averaging 15.4 points over the last 10 games.
Smith is shooting 40.6% from beyond the arc with 2.4 made 3-pointers per game for the Boilermakers, while averaging 16.3 points, 8.6 assists and 2.4 steals. Trey Kaufman-Renn is shooting 64.7% and averaging 21.7 points over the past 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.