Dec. 21, 2008

Complete Illinois-Purdue Game Notes (PDF)
Streaming Video

Game 12: Purdue (6-4, 0-0) at Illinois (4-7, 0-0)

On The Air
Streaming Video: video.bigtennetwork.com (free)
Radio: Illini Sports Network - WDWS AM 1400 and WDAN AM 1490 (Dave Loane, pbp, Mike Koon, analysis)
Streaming Audio: fightingillini.com live streaming audio (All-Access subscription required)
Livestats: fightingillini.com Gametracker

The Series
Purdue leads 42-16 overall and 16-11 in Champaign
Last meeting: Purdue 58, Illinois 56 on March 9, 2008 in the Big Ten Tournament Championship game

The Coaches
Illinois: Jolette Law, 24-22 overall and at Illinois (second season)
Purdue: Sharon Versyp, 173-90 overall (9th season) and 56-25 at Purdue (3rd season)

Quick Hits
• For Openers: Illinois (4-7) begins Big Ten action Monday night when Purdue (6-4) comes to Assembly Hall for a 7 p.m. tip. The Fighting Illini are coming off perhaps their best outing of the season, as they gave undefeated and second-ranked North Carolina all it could handle on Saturday, before falling 68-59.

• Big Ten Begins: Illinois has won four straight Big Ten openers dating back to the 2004-05 season. The Illini are 11-15 all-time in Big Ten openers after last season's 58-44 victory at Northwestern. Illinois is 5-7 when opening conference play at home, and have won three straight Big Ten openers at home.

• Smith Named to Naismith Watch List: Junior center Jenna Smith has been named to the Naismith Award Watch list. She is one of 50 players named to the list, which is the most prestigious national award presented annually to college basketball's player of the year.

• Tough Slate: Illinois has faced the eighth toughest schedule in the nation thus far according to RealTimeRPI.com. The Illini's 11 opponents have a combined record of 79-35 (.693) though games of Dec. 21. Illinois' seven losses have been to teams with a combined record of 61-14 (.813).

• Young Guns: With seven years of Division I experience on the team this year, Illinois is the fourth youngest team in the nation in terms of least returning experience.

• Pack the Hall Tickets Available: Illinois is attempting to "Pack the Hall" for the Jan. 3 game against Minnesota that will be televised by CBS. Free tickets are available now at the News-Gazette, WDWS/WHMS, the Illinois Athletic Ticket Office, and at both Gameday Spirit stores.

• Law Inks No. 3 Recruiting Class: Jolette Law signed the best recruiting class in school history Nov. 12, the first day of the fall signing period. The class was ranked as high as No. 2 in the nation by ESPN HoopGurlz on signing day, and moved to No. 3 at the end of the early signing period. See page 5 for more information on the recruits.

• Home Sweet Home: Saturday's game against North Carolina in Myrtle Beach was a homecoming for Illinois coach Jolette Law, a native of Florence, S.C. Over 200 friends and family were on hand, decked out in orange, to support Law and the Illini in her first game as a head coach in her home state.

Scouting the Boilermakers
Purdue enters the game 6-4 and has been off for eight days since beating Iona 82-65 on Dec. 13. Monday night's game will be the Boiler's first while not ranked. They were ranked as high as No. 17 earlier this season, but fell out of the top-25 after three straight losses to Maryland, Norte Dame and Valparaiso. PU was the preseason pick to win the conference by the league's coaches after going 19-15 last year and advancing to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

The Boilermakers are led by senior Lindsay Wisdom-Hylton, who is averaging 13.7 points and 9.0 rebounds. The 2007 Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, Wisdom-Hylton sat out all of last season with an injury. Senior forward Lakisha Freeman averages 10.6 points per game, while freshman guard Brittany Rayburn is also in double-figures at 10.3 ppg. Purdue averages nearly 70 points per game (69.5) and leads the Big Ten in three-point shooting at nearly 40 percent (.399).

• The Illinois-Purdue Series: Purdue leads the overall series 42-16 and hold a 16-11 edge in Champaign. Last season, the two teams met three times, with Purdue winning 71-59 in West Lafayette and Illinois winning 63-55 in Champaign in the last game of the regular season. They met again one week later in the title game of the Big Ten Tournament, with Purdue winning a thriller, 58-56, on a buzzer-beater by Lakisha Freeman to give the Boilers the conference's automatic NCAA Tournament bid.

Illini Put A Scare into No. 2
Illinois gave second-ranked North Carolina a scare on Saturday at the Carolinas Challenge in Myrtle Beach. The Illini led for most of the game and held the high-powered Tar Heel offense to its lowest output of the season. Here are a few notes from the game:

• Illinois' nine-point second half lead (32-23) was the largest deficit of the season for the Tar Heels.

• The Illini held UNC to its lowest point total this season (68). The previous low was 73 vs. Ohio State. UNC entered the game averaging 88.2 points per game, fifth-best in the nation.

• UNC's 23 first-half points was its lowest output of the season in half. Their previous low was 31.

• Illinois led for 27 of the first 30 minutes before falling behind in the final 10 minutes.

Smith is Double Trouble
• A Model of Consistency: Junior All-American Jenna Smith has scored in double-figures in all 11 games this year and in 19 straight games dating back to last season, the second-longest current streak in the Big Ten. In all, she has scored in double-figures in 47 of the last 48 games dating back to her freshman year.

• Double-Trouble: Smith had her second double-double of the season on Dec. 10 against Milwaukee with 20 points and 12 rebounds. She now has 24 double-doubles for her career, which is tied for second among the Big Ten's active leaders, and is fifth on the Illinois career list.

• On the Rebound: With nine boards against North Carolina, Smith moved into the top-10 of the UI career rebounding list. Heading into Monday's game against Purdue, the junior has 645 boards, 35 shy of Alicia Sheeler's ninth place total of 680.

• Jenna Reaches 1,000: Smith went over 1,000 career points when she poured in 29 during the season-opener at IPFW on Nov. 14. Smith is the 22nd player in school history to reach the milestone and is the seventh fastest to do so, accomplishing the feat in 66 games. Smith now has 1,180 points in her career and ranks 16th on the Illinois all-time scoring list. Next on the list is Lisa Bradley, who ranks 15th with 1,192 career points.

• Block Party: Joining the 1,000-point club isn't the only milestone Smith surpassed during the opening weekend. Her five blocked shots against Eastern Illinois not only tied her career-high, but also put her over 100 career blocks. She currently ranks fourth on the Illinois career list with 118 blocks, and the school record of 156 career blocks is well within reach of the junior center. She needs just one block to move into third place on the list alongside Ann Henderson.

• JennaSmith13.com: Stay up-to-date on Smith's season and her quest for All-America and Big Ten Player of the Year honors at jennasmith13.com. The site will be updated throughout the season with videos, photos, stats, news and much more.

Simpson Stealing the Show
• Tops in the Big Ten: Junior forward Lacey Simpson leads Big Ten and ranks 15th in the nation in steals per game (3.55). Her nine steals in the season-opener vs. IPFW set a new career-high and equaled the second most in a game in school history, just short of Shavonna Hunter's school record of 10. She has already climbed all the way to seventh on the UI career steals list and is just three shy of 200 for her career.

• Milestones Approaching: Simpson is close to reaching a multiple career milestones. The junior needs three steals to reach 200 for her career, and she is 21 rebounds shy of 500 career boards. She also needs 13 blocks for 100 in her career and three three-pointers for 50 career treys.

• All-Around Player: Simpson does it all for the Orange and Blue. She ranks in the top-10 in the conference in seven different categories, leading the way in steals and ranking fifth in offensive rebounds (2.64), sixth in minutes played (35.00) and seventh in rebounds per game (8.2).

• Picking Up Where She Left Off: After stellar performances at the 2008 Big Ten Tournament and WNIT, Simpson has stepped her game up even more this season. She nearly had the second triple-double in school history with 17 points on 8-of-9 shooting, nine rebounds and nine steals in the season-opener. Then in the Nov. 16 win over EIU, Simpson tallied a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds. On Dec. 6 against Bradley, she had another double-double, the sixth of her career, with 10 points and 10 boards.

McCully Emerging
• Beating the Buzzer: Point guard Lydia McCully hit a 15-foot jumper from the right elbow with 3.4 seconds left to give the Illini a 63-61 victory at Milwaukee on Dec. 10. It was the first game-winning shot for the redshirt freshmen, who finished the game with 13 points.

• Iron Woman: McCully has been a constant on the court for the Orange and Blue this season. She has played all but 11 minutes in the last nine games and leads the Big Ten in minutes played per game (37.73). She played the full 45 minutes in the overtime game vs. Montana and has played all 40 minutes in three other games.

• Triple Threat: McCully has emerged as a third scoring option to complement Jenna Smith and Lacey Simpson. She has scored double-figures in seven of the last nine games, including a career-high 15 points against South Dakota State. One night later against #10 Maryland, she hit 4-of-7 from three-point land for 12 points. She leads the team from downtown on the season, hitting 13 threes at a 33 percent clip, and is third on the team in scoring at 9.7 points per game.

Breakout Blinn?
Freshman guard Macie Blinn has shown flashes of being a dynamic scorer for the Orange and Blue. She exploded for 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting in her third career game against Missouri and then hit 3-of-5 from downtown for 12 points in Illinois' recent win over Milwaukee, showing signs of becoming an outside threat for the Illini as Big Ten season approaches.

Illinois in the NCAA Rankings
In the Dec. 15 NCAA rankings, the Fighting Illini rank 17th in the nation in fewest fouls committed at 14.6 per game. Individually, Lacey Simpson ranks 15th in the nation in

"Pack the Hall" On Jan. 3
Illinois has announced it will attempt to "Pack the Hall" for it's January 3 game against Minnesota that will be televised nationally by CBS. Free, full-color commemorative tickets for "Pack The Hall" are available for pickup now at the News-Gazette, WDWS/WHMS, the Illinois Athletic Ticket Office, and at both Gameday Spirit stores while supplies last.

The game will be Illinois' first women's basketball game on CBS since 2002, when the Illini played Mississippi State at the United Center. It will also be the first time since 1998 that Illinois has hosted a women's basketball game broadcast by CBS at Assembly Hall.

Looking Ahead
Illinois will have a few days off for the holidays before heading to Happy Valley for a match-up with Penn State on Dec. 28 at Noon ET. The game vs. the Nittany Lions will be televised live on the Big Ten Network. The Illini will then return home for a pair of Big Ten games, Jan. 1 vs. Wisconsin, and then the "Pack the Hall" game Jan. 3 against Minnesota.