CBB: Illinois at Purdue (4:00 PM ET, ESPN)

The Big Ten title remains up for grabs amongst a handful of teams, and games today and tomorrow will have a big impact on the shape of the eventual final standings. In Saturday’s big contest, Illinois travels to Purdue to take on the 4th ranked Boilermake

2010-02-19

The Big Ten title remains up for grabs amongst a handful of teams, and games today and tomorrow will have a big impact on the shape of the eventual final standings. In Saturday’s big contest, Illinois travels to Purdue to take on the 4th ranked Boilermakers. Purdue comes off a huge win at Ohio State and should be a sizeable favorite for the contest. Get the latest price and key game information on the Sportsbook.com LIVE ODDS and GAME MATCHUP pages.

Considered as relevant as having an Indian for a mascot until a few years ago after three Big Ten losses in the middle of January, the Fighting Illini (17-9, 9-14-1 ATS) and the departed Chief Illiniwek have proved they are not done yet. The light bulb has gone on for Demetri McCamey after a lackluster start and he’s become the team leader. Coach Bruce Webber benched McCamey and more recently Mike Davis and Brandon Paul and each has responded positively, with more assertive play on both ends of the floor, bringing Illinois into title contention, one loss behind leaders Purdue and Michigan State. The Illini lost to the Boilermakers 84-78 earlier and are 25-10 ATS revenging a loss where opponent scored 75 or more points.

Purdue (22-3, 13-12 ATS) has also overcome a three game losing streak in Big Ten play to work its way back into virtual tie with Michigan State, winning eight straight (5-3 ATS). The Boilermakers are back to playing team basketball and their “Big Three” of Robbie Hummel, JaJuan Johnson and E’Twaun Moore, are delivering like Dominoes. Coach Matt Painter has everyone on the same page, understanding their roles and the defensive intensity has returned, along with greater precision on offense. Purdue is 12-3 ATS in February at Mackey Arena.

The home team in this series is a mere 7-6-1 ATS since Feb. of 2002, with the road team 5-1 ATS in last six meetings.

The StatFox Power Line shows Purdue by 11, and this is what Steve Makinen had to say about this game in the StatFox Platinum Sheet: I truly believe that Purdue is going to find a way to puts its name on the Big Ten’s regular season title this year, and the next three games will be big in making that happen. I expect the Boilermakers to get wins in all of those. In recent years, HC Matt Painter’s team has played its best in February: Painter is 12-3 ATS (+7.7 Units) in home games in February games as the coach of PURDUE. The average score was PURDUE 69.5, OPPONENT 57.8 - (Rating = 1*). As you can see, the average win is about 12 points, and you figure those are mostly or all conference games. Purdue is on a different level than Illinois despite the closeness in record in Big Ten play and will prove it here.

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