Boilermakers’ start stalls Cornhuskers
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NO. 7 PURDUE 92, NEBRASKA 65
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — No. 7 Purdue had a point to prove Friday night, and got right to work.
The Boilermakers opened the game on a decisive 23-4 run in their 92-65 rout over Nebraska. Zach Edey scored 22 points and Jaden Ivey added 17 to lead Purdue’s scorers.
“Looking back at the games we lost, I just felt we were getting disrespect from a lot of people saying we can’t do this or can’t do that,” Ivey said. “I just came out fired up today and I’ve got to do that every night.”
The Boilermakers (14-2, 3-2 Big Ten) have won two straight and six of their last seven. Coach Matt Painter also captured his 183rd victory in Big Ten play, which broke a tie with former Michigan State coach Jud Heathcote for seventh in career wins among conference coaches.
Keisei Tominaga led the Cornhuskers with 11 points. Alonzo Verge Jr. and C.J. Wilcher each had 10 points for Nebraska (6-12, 0-7), which has lost five in a row and 10 of 11 while dropping to 0-4 this season against ranked foes.
But the Cornhuskers never had a chance and never led after getting into early foul trouble and digging that big deficit in the first 71/2 minutes.
“They were in the bonus by the first media timeout in both halves,” Nebraska Coach Fred Hoiberg said. “It’s awful hard to [win] when you’re giving up extra shots to those guys.” ILLINOIS 68, MICHIGAN 53
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Kofi Cockburn scored 21 points and hauled in 10 rebounds to help No. 25 Illinois over Michigan.
Both teams struggled from distance in a foul-plagued first half, combining to go 1 of 20 from three-point range.
DeVante’ Jones led Michigan with 17 points on a 7 of 16 shooting clip. Jones brought the Wolverines back within six points with his jumper with 5:16 left, but from there, Illinois’ Trent Frazier took over.
Frazier scored 16 points in the second half on 5 of 11 shooting, including a stretch where he scored 11 consecutive points for Illinois (13-3, 6-0 Big Ten). He finished with 18 points and seven assists.
Michigan (7-7, 1-3 Big Ten) was without star center Hunter Dickinson due to an undisclosed medical issue.