Post-game analysis: Takeaways and Wrap Video

• This was not about the volume of points Carsen Edwards scored, it was about the impact and the timeliness and the fit they came in the context of.

This wasn't a player getting hot while hunting shots. It was a player with a very particular set of skills that can make him a nightmare for high-pressure defenses like Illinois. In part because of it, he got in the lane seemingly at will and did what few others in Purdue's personnel mix are geared toward. He got to the rim off the bounce, and so began the parade to the foul line. The past two games in particular, Edwards is dominating games off the dribble, something that often proves useful in March, by the way.

He made jumpers, too — lots of them — but in the context of what Purdue needed to do to exploit Illinois' aggressiveness, it was Edwards and he delivered to the furthest degree.