Good evening everybody. Illinois basketball is back on the road, and so is the News-Gazette Media contingent (tonight ... yours truly Scott Richey along with Bob Asmussen). Road games, of course, have not been good to the Illini the last two years. Illinois won just once away from State Farm Center in Big Ten play last year at Rutgers and has just one true road conference win this season earlier this month at Ohio State.
Can the Illini make it two tonight in West Lafayette, Ind., against Purdue? History is against them. Illinois hasn't won on the Boilermakers' home court since 2008, and Purdue is not only unbeaten at home this season but also has a better than .