Sophomore point guard Sergio McClain wobbled out of Mackey Arena on crutches Wednesday night.
Illinois’ season is wobbling as well. The Illini may have lost more than their fourth straight Big Ten game–and seventh in a row to Purdue–Wednesday night. They may have lost one of their leaders for a while.
With 5 minutes 33 seconds to go, McClain appeared to suffer a sprained right ankle when he hit the floor hard after a fight for a rebound under the Illinois basket. McClain’s ankle was heavily wrapped by trainer Rod Cardinal.
No. 11 Purdue (14-3, 2-1), leading 57-49 at the time, went on to a 63-54 victory. The Boilermakers were led by Jaraan Cornell with 17 points and by Brian Cardinal, Rod’s son, with 16.
“We don’t know how bad (McClain’s ankle) is,” said Rod Cardinal. “We won’t know till we see it in the morning. We’ll keep him wrapped, see how he feels. It looks like a mild to moderate sprain. We hope he’s back for Michigan State on Saturday. Hopefully it won’t be more than a couple of days.”
McClain bravely vowed to be in the lineup against the Spartans. “I may not play much,” he said. “But I’ll play.”
For a team already short on ballhandlers, McClain being sidelined would be a cruel blow. The Illini committed 23 turnovers Wednesday with McClain. .
With Cornell hitting five three-pointers and Cardinal diving all over the place to get four steals and five assists, Illinois (8-8, 0-4) suffered its sixth defeat in its last seven games and dropped Lon Kruger’s record against Gene Keady to 0-6. How unusual is that? Kruger has a winning record against every other Big Ten team except Wisconsin (2-2). Illinois’ last win at Mackey Arena was Jan. 20, 1996 (71-67).
Comfortably in front 32-21 at intermission, Purdue made that lead hold up despite some poor passing and ballhandling and even poorer shot selection in the second half. The Boilermakers enjoyed a 16-point lead (38-22) with 18 minutes to go, but their offense was stopped dead when Illinois went to a zone.
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“We went to a zone to change the tempo a bit,” Kruger said. “We also did it at the time Purdue was playing not to lose. The zone created some offense for us.”
“Michael Jordan was asked about young players today,” Keady said. “He mentioned two things: that they need patience and guidance. I think he was talking about Purdue. Our passing is just ridiculous.”
Led by their only double-figure scorer–Cory Bradford with 15 points–the Illini crawled within 52-47 with 7 minutes remaining, but the rally died there.