FASTBREAK: Purdue outlasts a shorthanded Illini in double OT 96-88.

On Monday afternoon, No. 17 Illinois dropped their first Big Ten game of the season at home against No. 4 Purdue in double overtime by a final score of 96-88.

With Andre Curbelo making his return to the Illini's rotation for the first time since late November, Illinois was able to force double overtime despite serious foul trouble in their frontcourt with Kofi Cockburn fouling out and Omar Payne not playing much after halftime.

With the loss, Illinois moves to 6-1 in Big Ten play and are now tied with Michigan State atop the Big Ten standings. Illinois gets back into action on Jan. 17 at Maryland.

Orange and Blue News' Alec Busse breaks it all down below.

Coming into the game on Monday, Illinois hadn't shot it very well from the perimeter in the previous four games, and that continued into the first half against Purdue. Alfonso Plummer and Jacob Grandison went a combined 2-for-11 from the field.

Since the Illini's COVID pause, Plummer has made just 4-of-21 from three-point land coming into Monday's contest. Not only is he not making the trey, but he's also passing up open three-point looks in favor of mid-range jumps, which is just a poor decision. Opponents have started to run Plummer off the line and they have made his looks more difficult, but he'll need to start making shots again for the Illini to look like the offensive thread we saw in December.

Grandison missed three layups in the first half and had one of them blocked by Zach Edey at the rim. Grandison hasn't been as potent of a volume shooter as Plummer this season. But his lone three-point attempt in the first half came when Purdue was on the backstretch of a 17-0.

Despite the ugly shooting in the first half, Illinois was able to catch a little bit of fire in the second half making 5-of-14 from three-point land while also making 48 percent of their shots overall.

Both of Illinois' top two post players, Kofi Cockburn and Omar Payne, experienced foul trouble on Monday. Cockburn was called for two fouls in the first half and Payne was called for three, including a technical and flagrant one after a short altercation with Purdue's Trevion Williams.

Making matters worse for the Illini as Kofi Cockburn being called for two more personal fouls before the first media timeout of the second half. The first was on the defensive glass after he and Zach Edey got tangled up under the rim and the fourth was under the Illini's rim with 17:23 left in the game.

With both Cockburn and Payne out, Illinois opted to play Benjamin Bosmans-Verdonk early in the second half. Bosmans-Verdonk was giving up serious size to Edey, one of the nation's biggest players. But Bosmans-Verdonk played harder than anyone and was able to keep the Illini in the game with some hard-nosed defensive against both Edey and Williams throughout the second half of the game and overtime. Without, Bosmans-Verdonk, Illinois likely doesn't force overtime on Monday let alone have kept it within striking distance in the second half.

Illinois was going to need Kofi Cockburn to play like the All-American big man he was recognized as lat season and before this season started. But Cockburn mostly struggled against Purdue's 7-foot-4 sophomore Zach Edey. Edey finished the game with 20 points and eight rebounds and he really owned Cockburn in the paint with a deep bag of post moves and a quality touch around the rim.

Offensively, Cockburn finished with just points on 3-of-9 shooting and he was only able to grab rebounds on the glass.

Cockburn's foul trouble hurt Illinois for much of the second half where he played just eight minutes total before fouling out in the overtime period. The Illini's big man has now struggled against Arizona and Purdue's bigs this season at State Farm Center and the Illini just can't afford that in big games.

Andre Curbelo returned to the Illini's rotation for the first time since Nov. 23. Curbelo came off the bench for Illinois, but he still was able to score 16 points in regulation including a game-tying bucket with 14 seconds left in the game.

Curbelo scored 14 of his 16 points in regulation in the second half and was one of the biggest reasons why the Illini were able to force overtime. Many doubted whether this Illinois team was better with or without Curbelo, he loudly silenced those doubters on Monday afternoon.

The sophomore point guard finished the game with 20 points on 8-of-15 shooting from the field and six rebounds to go along with three assists and zero turnovers. But in the end, it wasn't enough as the Illini fell short.