Breakdown: #3 Purdue's win over #13 Illinois

In its biggest game of the season to date, No. 3 Purdue rose to the occasion after halftime and routed 13th-ranked Illinois en route to an 84-68 victory and a share of first-place in the Big Ten.

Our breakdown.

PDF: Purdue-Illinois statistics

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Jaden Ivey had Kofi Cockburn one on one around the basket, spun to drive baseline and had the ball knocked out from behind him. He wanted a foul. There'd be no foul.

As Ivey trotted back down the floor, Eric Hunter nudging him from behind to remind him there was defense to be played, the Boilermakers' superstar sophomore was agitated.

"When I don't get a call, an obvious call, I kind of get mad," Ivey said, "and take it out on the game. That's all I really can do."

That's precisely what Ivey did, during a performance that should put him at the top of the leaderboard for Big Ten Player-of-the-Year if not something more.

He scored 22 of his game-high 26 points and handed out half of his six assists after halftime, as the Boilermakers surged from two down at the break to up as many as 19 thereafter.

During the 16-2 Boilermaker run that blew the game wide open, Ivey either scored or assisted on 12 straight Purdue points.

"The refs bring that out," Hunter joked about Ivey. "They do that for us."

Illinois coach Brad Underwood said he was happy to let Purdue feature its big men as much as it wanted while trying to take away the Boilermakers' shooters.

What he had no answer for was Ivey.

"For anyone who doesn't know what a pro looks like," Underwood said, "that's what they look like."

This wasn't solely the Jaden Ivey Show, as it was Eric Hunter who really spear-headed Purdue's second-half burst.

Alfonso Plummer's H-O-R-S-E shooting and Andre Curbelo's end-to-end bucket at the buzzer positioned Illinois with a 38-36 halftime lead after the Boilermakers had led by as many as seven after trailing by as many as nine.

But Hunter scored nine points in less than four-and-a-half minutes and led a defensive effort that shut Illinois' perimeter water off. After the Illini made seven first-half threes, they were just 1-of-10 in the final 20 minutes.

"My number was called a couple times on those plays," Hunter said, "and I was just ready to attack the rim. I knew we needed a boost those first five minutes."

As much as Ivey's eruption will dominate both headlines and the national college basketball conversation, Hunter's burst swung the game.

"You need to be able to set that tone for the second half," Coach Matt Painter said, "and he was a big part of that."

Then, Ivey took over.

"It makes the game so much easier and also so much more enjoyable to play whenever he's doing things like that," forward Mason Gillis said. "It takes a lot of pressure off our shoulders, to just do simple things while he's putting on a show for everybody, including us. It's a blessing to be able to play with him. I'm glad he's on our team."

Hunter's and Ivey's respective takeovers lifted Purdue following a strange first half in which the Boilermakers struggled to make outside shots, but were buoyed by some of their supporting pieces.

Purdue started 0-for-5 from three, before Ethan Morton connected, then Caleb Furst, then Gillis twice.

The Boilermakers were 4-of-12 in the first half, then 5-of-10 after the break.

Zach Edey scored 13 points for Purdue and Trevion Williams 10, as both battled intermittent foul trouble to the point where Caleb Furst again had to finish out the first half at center, like at Penn State a few weeks back.

Kofi Cockburn scored 18 for Illinois, showing much better against the Boilermakers' size this time around, and Andre Curbelo added 15, but Trent Frazier, Jacob Grandison and Da'Monte Williams were a combined 2-for-14 from three and Plummer (14 points) 0-for-2 in the second half after a 4-of-6 first half.

Purdue's now reset the Big Ten race in its favor, but with that comes an even more acute need to make every game that comes next the biggest game of the season. That's a terrible cliché but absolutely, positively true.

You saw a real competitive edge and ability to rise to the occasion come out of Purdue tonight. These are the two best teams in the Big Ten, and the Boilermakers stomped the Illini after halftime.

Last time Purdue won one of these bloodbaths over Illinois, though, they went to Indiana and couldn't put 40 minutes together. Thursday night at Michigan looms large.

What this win also means: Jaden Ivey is very good at basketball.

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