D.J. Richardson scored 18 points and Illinois opened up a big first-half lead that buried Purdue 79-59 on Wednesday night.
The win was the third straight for Illinois (18-8, 5-7 Big Ten), which is clawing its way back into the postseason picture. The other wins were resume-builders over No. 1 Indiana and then-No. 18 Minnesota.
A dunk by Tyler Griffey with 8:46 remaining put Illinois up 64-46. The margin was too much for a Boilermakers team that had already tried to dig out of a 16-point first-half hole.
Purdue has lost four of its last five games to fall to 5-and-7 in the Big Ten and 12-and-13 overall. The Boilermakers go to top-ranked Indiana on Saturday.
Griffey scored 12 points and Joseph Bertrand had a career-high 12 rebounds.
Terone Johnson led Purdue (12-13, 5-7) with 18 points. Boilermakers coach Matt Painter was ejected for arguing with officials with just over eight minutes to play.
NCAA Top-25 Basketball ("USA Today" Rankings)
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#1 Duke Blue Devils 73, North Carolina Tar Heels 68
#2 Indiana Hoosiers 76, Nebraska Cornhuskers 47
#4 Miami-Florida Hurricanes 74, Florida State Seminoles 68
Connecticut Huskies 66, #7 Syracuse Orange 58
Charlotte 49ers 71, #10 Butler Bulldogs 67
#16 Oklahoma State Cowboys 91, Texas Tech Red Raiders 67
#18 New Mexico Lobos 54 Fresno State Bulldogs 48
#21 Notre Dame Fighting Irish 82, DePaul Blue Demons 78 (OT)
#24 Colorado State Rams 66, #22 San Diego State Aztecs 60
Northern Iowa Panthers 61, #23 Creighton Bluejays 54
#25 Memphis Tigers 93, UCF Knights 71
