Issue link: https://read.uberflip.com/i/101670
men���s basketball: news and notes vertime BY BRIAN NEUBERT BNeubert@GoldandBlack.com beginning to Afterofturbulent10 saw Purdue the season that lose six its first games, the Boilermakers have some signs of life lately, riding a season-long winning streak of three games. And the last one was a big one, as the Boilermakers beat 11thranked Illinois 68-61 in Mackey Arena Wednesday night. ���It got a lot of guys��� confidence up,��� guard Terone Johnson said Thursday. ���We haven���t had the season we���ve been wanting to have, but I think if we keep moving forward the way we played (vs. Illinois), we can do some big things.��� It won���t be easy. Next up for Purdue is a trip to No. 18 Michigan State, followed by a visit from eighth-ranked Ohio State. ���You have to have a start,��� Coach Matt Painter said after the FLASH FORWARD Game: Michigan State Location: East Lansing, Mich. (Breslin Center) When: Noon Saturday Notables: No. 18 Michigan State���s coming off a 76-63 loss at ninth-ranked Minnesota to open Big Ten play and drop its record to 11-3. ��� Each of the Spartans��� three losses have come away from home, the others coming against Connecticut in Germany and to Miami in Coral Gables. ��� Keith Appling leads the Spartans in scoring at 14.9 points per game. ��� Freshman Gary Harris averages 12.3. ��� Sophomore forward Branden Dawson has come back surprisingly well off ACL surgery to average 9.6 points and 5.9 rebounds. ��� between them, centers Derrick Nix and Adreian Payne average nearly 15 rebounds. ��� Michigan State is outrebounding opponents by nearly a 40-30 margin. PURDUE scores much-needed win to open big ten game. ���It���s unfortunate we���ve had the struggles we���ve had, but we just have to have consistency. Everybody in our locker room is talented, but we���re trying to have a talented team that���s productive. Sometimes it takes a while to (learn to) play together. ���Hopefully we can build off of this. ��� We���ll see. Having a good win at home is great, but this league is so tough. When you���re going to play another tough game on the road, you have to get those guys to turn around and be able to function in practice.��� PURDUE 68, No. 11 ILLINOIS 61 Jan. 2 ��� Mackey Arena The Boilermakers have needed more from their upperclassmen and their upperclassmen certainly delivered against the Illini. Terone Johnson scored a career-high 25 points, while D.J. Byrd���s 12 second-half points were overshadowed by his effort plays as Purdue opened Big Ten play with a win and ran its winning streak over Illinois to eight games. ���It���s a great win right now and we���ll celebrate right now,��� Byrd said, ���but in the morning we have Tom Campbell D.J. Byrd���s three-point play in the game���s closing seconds against Illinois came moments after he made maybe the biggest play of the season when he dove for an offensive rebound to save a key possession. to wake up knowing Michigan State���s a great team and going there is really tough. They have a packed house almost every night, so it���ll be a challenge for us. ���But we understand that if we play the right way, play hard and just play stronger than the other team, we can get wins like this.��� Earlier in the week, Painter had explicitly said if Purdue���s to find the consistency it���s lacked thus far, it would have to start with Johnson and Byrd. The two veterans displayed such urgency in the conference opener, with Johnson dominating on offense and holding down Illini star Brandon Paul most of the second half and with Byrd not only making a few important secondhalf threes, but more importantly, at least two critical non-scoring plays. With Purdue clinging to a twopoint lead with 20 seconds left after Illinois had chopped a 10-point lead down to next to nothing, Byrd chased down Jacob Lawson���s missed free throw in the corner, lunged to corral the ball and called timeout before sliding out of bounds. On the preserved possession, Johnson in-bounded to him under the basket for a three-point play that iced the game. ���It means a lot,��� Terone Johnson said of the win. ���Coach Paint just said it the best when he said, ���We just went out and did it, so why couldn���t we have been doing it?��� People just stepped out to the occasion. They took coming into the Big Ten season (6-6) kind of personally.��� Key player There���s no choosing between Byrd and Terone Johnson, who were both equally pivotal in the win. GoldanDBlack express ��� volume 23, express 16��� ������ 23