After missing back-to-back practices and playing only two minutes vs. Penn State due to strep throat, Trevion Williams said Monday that he was due to return to practice on Monday, a day prior to No. 15 Purdue's meeting with Indiana in Bloomington.
"I'm getting myself together, taking my medicine," Williams said. "It's one day at a time."
Matt Haarms moved back into the starting five against Penn State, and Evan Boudreaux rotated in first behind him, but Purdue did put Williams in in the first half, for those two minutes. He secured a rebound and blocked a shot on back-to-back defensive possessions, but otherwise looked drained.
"It didn't feel good to know I couldn't do anything," Williams said. "Mentally, I wasn't prepared. I'd been think about (being ill) a lot. Being able to prepare myself for Tuesday is a big step for me."
That being said, he did do those positive things, despite being severely limited.
Though he's encountered some foul problems lately, Williams had established himself as one of Purdue's focal points offensively, and the interior scoring presence he's provided had been an important element to the Boilermakers' mid-season upswing.
In his absence, Purdue still looked inside to Haarms and Boudreaux, and though their scoring didn't necessarily come in the same manner as Williams' normally does, they did combine for 23 points, a career-high 18 from Haarms.
"I really don't worry about it," Matt Painter said, generally, about player availability. "When you have a good team, everybody has to be able to step up, be able to play. Evan did some good things for us and Matt Haarms had a good game.
"Hopefully Trevion can play ... and help us win down at Indiana."
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