No. 3 Purdue men’s basketball defeats No. 12 Illinois 77-71

CHAMPAIGN, Illinois — Zach Edey had 28 points and 8 rebounds The No. 3 Purdue men’s basketball team beat No. 12 Illinois 77-71 in the second half on Tuesday night to become the first team in 17 years to win back-to-back Big Big titles. Ten regular season titles.

Fletcher Loyer added 16 points for the Boilermakers (27-3, 16-3), who captured at least part of their second consecutive conference title with a victory over Michigan State on Saturday night.

The previous Big Ten team to win back-to-back regular-season titles was Ohio State in 2006 and 2007.

Braden Smith had 13 points and 6 assists for Purdue, increasing the score to 7-0 against ranked opponents this season. Mason Gillis came off the bench and scored 10 points.

Purdue took the lead 67-66 with Loyer’s three-pointer with 3:08 left.

Marcus Domask led Illinois (22-8, 13-6) in second place with 20 points. Coleman Hawkins played with 13 points and 9 rebounds.

Quincy Guerrier scored 12 points, Terrence Shannon Jr. for Fighting Illini. He scored 11 points on 3-for-13 shooting; Including 4/0 from three-point range.

Edey scored 18 points in the first half, shooting 13/9, and the Illini closed the first half ahead 40-34. Purdue didn’t take its first lead until Gillis’ 3-pointer with 10:11 left to put the Boilermakers ahead 56-54.

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Purdue: All three of the Boilermakers’ losses came on the road in Big Ten games at Northwestern, Nebraska and Ohio State. Beating Illinois, which had lost just twice at home all season, was an impressive addition to Purdue’s glittering resume.

Illinois: Shannon did not play in Illinois’ 83-78 loss at Purdue on Jan. 5. This was one of six games he missed while serving a university suspension for a rape charge at Kansas. Foul trouble kept Shannon on the bench for most of the first half Tuesday and he didn’t have much of an impact on the game.

Next

Purdue: Sunday vs. host Wisconsin.

Illinois: Plays at Iowa on Sunday.