The Skyhawk men’s basketball team took a break from early Ohio Valley Conference action to head to Big Ten country for its most challenging road trip of the season as they visited Purdue on December 28 and nationally-ranked Illinois on December 30.

The trip marked the seventh and eighth games in the Skyhawk program’s history that the team has played against a Big Ten team. The Skyhawks entered action with an 0-6 record against teams from that conference and saw that record drop to 0-8 after falling short against Purdue, 62-54, and being overmatched by Illinois, 84-46.

Against Purdue, the Skyhawks were able to calm their nerves in the second half after trailing 33-18 at the break. They began the game much like they began the game at Louisville, holding an early lead as large as 10-5 before the Boilermakers brought in four fresh players off the bench and claimed the lead for good.

Senior Cleve Woodfork stepped up in a huge way after the intermission, carrying the team with 17 second-half points after being held scoreless through the game’s first 20 minutes.

Woodfork’s performance and the team’s accuracy from the free-throw line allowed the Skyhawks to make a run in the second half. They connected on 17 of 19 attempts from the line in the game. Also helping the upset-minded Skyhawks’ cause was a 14-0 advantage in points off turnovers. They forced 20 Purdue turnovers while committing only 15 themselves.

Along with forcing turnovers, their defense held the Boilermakers to 32 percent shooting in the second half.

“I was really pleased with our defensive effort tonight,” Skyhawk head coach Bret Campbell said.

Two nights after holding their own against Purdue, the Skyhawks faced much stiffer competition as they traveled to Champaign, Ill. to face fifth-ranked Illinois.

The atmosphere of Purdue’s Mackey Arena, while more intimidating than that of the Elam Center, was nothing compared to the hostile crowd of over 16,000 that filled Illinois’ Assembly Hall with a deafening decibel level throughout the game.

The crowd got into the game from the beginning as the Fighting Illini showed why they are one of the top teams in the nation.

Rich McBride opened the scoring with a three-pointer, which proved to be the start of an amazing shooting performance. McBride went on to connect on 7-of-10 three-point attempts for the game, including 6-of-8 in the first half alone.

The threes accounted for all 21 of his points. The Skyhawks were harassed into committing 15 first-half turnovers.

To make matters worse, the Skyhawks shot only 18 percent from the floor and were held without a field goal until a three-pointer by Justin Flatt made the score 27-4 with 9:13 remaining in the first half. On the other end of the floor, the Fighting Illini made 63 percent of their shot attempts, led by McBride’s 6-of-9.

“They jumped up and made shots right away on us and then we couldn’t stop the bleeding,” Campbell said.

McBride’s teammates were also impressed with the shooting touch of the junior guard.

“I think Rich has done a good job of playing defense, asserting himself, passing the ball, and now shooting the ball is coming in,” said senior forward/center James Augustine. Augustine finished the game hitting 8-of-9 field goals for 19 points. He had a special game of his own as he pulled down his 854th career rebound in the first half to become the school’s all-time leader.

The Skyhawks held Illinois’ leading scorer, point guard Dee Brown, to five points. Brown still did plenty of damage by dishing out ten assists and hitting a three-pointer to end a 10-0 Skyhawk run to start the second half. His shot sparked a 17-5 Illinois run to push the lead to 72-32 with 9:32 remaining.

The road trip served as a homecoming for several Skyhawk players. Freshman point guard Spencer Harris, who is sitting out the rest of the 2005-06 season as a redshirt, is a native of Bluffton, Ind. Forward Will Lewis is a native of Fort Wayne, Ind., while guard Jared Newson hails from Belleville, Ill. Newson scored 13 points and pulled down eight rebounds in the Skyhawks’ loss at Illinois.