March 9, 2001
Big Ten Tourney Audio
| Format | Date | Player/Coach |
 | 03/09/01 | Purdue Coach G. Keady Postgame press conference following 83-66 loss to Illinois in 2nd Round of Big Ten Tourney. |
| 03/09/01 | Purdue Players Postgame press conference following 83-66 loss to Illinois in 2nd Round of Big Ten Tourney. |
| 03/08/01 | Purdue Coach G. Keady Postgame press conference following 91-77 win over Minnesota in 1st Round of Big Ten Tourney. |
| 03/08/01 | R. Smith and C. Cunningham Minnesota postgame press conference. |
By RICK GANO
AP Sports Writer
CHICAGO (AP) - Balance and depth, staples that earned Illinois a share of the Big Ten regular-season championship, carried the Illini into the tournament semifinals Friday.
Frank Williams scored 13 points and dished out a season-best 11 assists as No. 4 Illinois shot 54 percent and cruised to an 83-66 quarterfinal win over Purdue.
The Illini (24-6) will play Indiana in Saturday's semifinals. The Hoosiers beat No. 23 Wisconsin 64-52 earlier Friday.
Marcus Griffin scored 14 points, and Cory Bradford and Sean Harrington 13 apiece for the top-seeded Illini. Brian Cook added 10 points, and he and Griffin grabbed nine rebounds each.
Williams, who played 30 minutes without a turnover, showed why he was the league's player of the year during a 16-5 first-half run that put the Illini in command.
After Cook made a sweeping hook shot from his hip, Williams hit an off-balance fallaway jumper from the side of the lane.
Then, following Bradford's third 3-pointer of the half, Williams came up with beautiful back-to-back passes to Damir Krupalija, who dunked on the first and hit a layup on the second to help the Illini build a 16-point lead.
Just to show how in control he was, Williams picked up the ball in the second half after he'd been fouled and, without looking, flipped it over his head and straight into the basket. The shot brought the crowd to its feet, even though play had been stopped and the bucket didn't count.
Harrington, who led the Big Ten in 3-point shooting at 46 percent, and Bradford, who earlier in the season had his NCAA record of consecutive games with a 3-pointer stopped at 88, connected on three treys apiece in the first half as Illinois took a 47-33 lead.
The Boilermakers (15-14) will now await a call from the NIT, their string of eight straight NCAA tournament appearances almost certainly over.
Purdue's Maynard Lewis, who scored a career-high 22 points in an opening-round win over Minnesota, was held to five. Joe Marshall led Purdue with 13 points as the Boilermakers shot just 35 percent.
Boilermakers coach Gene Keady was hit with a technical foul six minutes into the game when he became incensed after a foul call on Purdue following a scramble for the ball.
Illinois led by one at the time and then went on a 10-3 run.