Matt Painter was fed up.

After seeing Sandi Marcius miss a shot in the post on a play Painter thought Marcius got hammered - a theme in the game, according to the coach - Painter told official Tim Clougherty, "What's he got to do to him?"

Painter wanted a foul call.

Instead, he got a technical.

And then Painter really let it rip.

He raved at Clougherty, quickly drawing technical No. 2 and the automatic ejection. Painter followed Clougherty toward center court, profanity-laced yelling the whole way. With fury in his eyes, Painter appeared ready to pounce. Even when another official tried to usher him into the tunnel off the court, Painter was staring intently at the other.

"You get to that certain point, you want your team to play harder," Painter said of what was boiling up to get him ejected. "You want your team to embrace the physicality of the game, and they weren't. So you're just trying to get your team going."

Expounding on what set him off, Painter talked about not having a physical post player last season and how he'd heard other coaches talk about their posts getting "displaced" from their position. He just didn't have to personally worry about it last season when Purdue didn't have a post threat.

That's not the case now with A.J. Hammons at the forefront of Purdue's offense.

"That's what I was really arguing with him about. Just the whole game, they push and they push and they push," Painter said. "We do have a physical guy now at 280, and you just can't wail on him. So throughout the course of the game, he ignored it."

When Painter left the game, Purdue trailed 64-46 with 8:08 to play. Jack Owens took over for Painter.

The Boilermakers were outscored only 15-13 the rest of the way.

"I felt his frustration, too," senior D.J. Byrd said. "It's a tough loss just because the game could have been so much different if we would have just … it seemed like some of us just didn't try. That can never happen and that's not acceptable."

Junior Terone Johnson said he thought Painter was trying to send a message.

"I think any player that was out there or that was on the bench should look at that as Coach trying to get us to play better and not in a bad way," Johnson said. "That was kind of him trying to get us to wake up."

Pushing hardSandi Marcius hadn't played double-digit minutes in seven games.

He got 12 against the Illini, 10 in the second half with the game out of reach, not thought anyone would be able to tell.

Marcius may have been the most high-effort player of the bunch, not only trying to attack the glass and being aggressive on offense but continually encouraging teammates and trying to gather them in huddles after fouls.

"I thought Sandi played really hard," Byrd said. "He played physical. They hit him, and he hit right back, and that's what we need. That's what we have to do as a team, and we didn't do that (Wednesday)."

Marcius had six points, four rebounds, a block and a steal in 12 minutes. He tied as Purdue's second-leading rebounder - point guard Ronnie Johnson led the team with seven - but had his in fewer minutes. Hammons had four in 24 minutes, and Terone Johnson had four in 34 minutes.

"I thought he played hard. That's what we need," Painter said. "We need A.J. Hammons to do that right from the start. He's been inconsistent in that area. That being said, he might be our most consistent guy. So there lies probably our struggles.

"(But) Sandi came in and played hard and gave us a lift."

Marcius was not available for comment after the game.

GoldandBlack.com Mobile for your AndroidClick GoldandBlack.com Mobile for your iPhoneClick Copyright, Boilers, Inc. 2013. All Rights Reserved. Reproducing or using editorial or graphical content, in whole or in part, without permission, is strictly prohibited. E-mail GoldandBlack.com/Boilers, Inc.Here to view this Link. | Here to view this Link.

Click Click Click Check out GoldandBlack.com on Here to view this Link. | Here to view this Link. | Here to view this Link.

Click Here to view this Link.