CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - No. 22/22 Illinois fell at home to Purdue, 62-52, at State Farm Center on Thursday night.Â
Makira Cook led all scorers with 19 points, her 13th-consecutive game in double figures. Cook also grabbed five rebounds and two steals.
Brynn Shoup-Hill tallied 10 points, five rebounds, including four on the offensive glass, and two steals.
Kendall Bostic grabbed 10 rebounds, her third straight game with double-digit boards, and made two blocks, her 13th consecutive contest with at least one block. Genesis Bryant recorded 11 points, hit a three for the 16th game in a row, and led the team with five assists and three steals.
The Illini finished with 11 steals, the first time they reached the double-digit mark since Dec. 29.
Illinois (16-5, 6-4) returns to State Farm Center on Sunday for National Girls and Women in Sports Day, taking on Michigan State (11-9, 3-6) at 5 p.m. CT.
QUOTES
Kendall Bostic
On learning from the loss:
"We had a really good practice yesterday. The energy was all there. Everyone was doing well, so we're working on it, just trying to figure out kind of what it is and how to get over it quickly. Obviously, it's not producing the outcomes we want. I think it's just something within ourselves as a team that we need to figure out. I think we need to hold ourselves accountable individually and as a group, but we'll get through it. We'll be fine, and we'll be back to how we're doing."
On playing as the hunted rather than the underdog:
"Teams have a different mentality coming into play you. Initially, a lot of the teams were still kind of like, 'Oh, it's Illinois from last year.' I feel like we've earned a little bit of our respect now, so these teams know this is a different team, and they come in with a different mentality. We got to be able to match that. Coming in and being the underdog is very different than coming in and being the hunted. It's a whole different kind of mindset, so I think we've just got to be able to shift gears a little bit and stay in that mindset. I feel like we kind of got away from it a little bit. Initially, once we got ranked, we were like, 'Oh yeah, we're ranked,' which is great, but we got to be able to maintain that for the rest of season. The season's long, and we can't just do it for three weeks and pick and choose when we want to."
POST-GAME NOTES
Player Notes:
- Kendall Bostic scored five points and grabbed 10 rebounds.
- Has grabbed at least seven rebounds in 13-straight games.
- Tallied her 14th game with double-digit rebounds
- Recorded a block for the 12th-consecutive game.
- Genesis Bryant scored 11 points, secured five rebounds and dropped five assists.
- Has four games with five assists in her last seven.
- Makira Cook scored 19 points and tallied five rebounds.
- Led the team with 11 points at the half.
- Has scored in double-digits in 13-straight games.
- Brynn Shoup-Hill scored 10 points on 3-for-6 shooting.
Team Notes:
- Illinois won the opening tip and later scored the first points of the game, a jump shot from Genesis Bryant, 54 seconds into the contest.
- Illinois was held to its lowest first-half point total of the season at 25. The previous low was 29 at Butler.
- Started 1-for-17 from 3-point range and finished 3 for 9 after that.
- Had 11 steals, their first game with double-digit steals since Dec. 29th at Wisconsin.
- Forced 15 turnovers, scoring 12 points off those turnovers.
Misc. Notes:
- Starters: Makira Cook, Genesis Bryant, Adalia McKenzie, Brynn Shoup-Hill, Kendall Bostic for the seventh-straight game. Illinois is now 5-3 with this unit.
- The Illini moved to 16-5 on the season.Â
- Illinois moves to 6-4 in Big Ten play.
- Illinois is 9-2 in home games this season.
- Shauna Green is now:
- 16-5 at Illinois
- 6-4 in the Big Ten
- 143-55 as a Division I coach
- 172-80 overall
- Against Purdue record: 19-65 (84th meeting)
- 13-26 when playing in Champaign.
- Shauna Green vs. Purdue: 1-1
- Uniforms: Illinois is now 5-3 when wearing orange uniforms.
- Night game record: Illinois is now 6-2 in games played after 5 p.m.
