WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — There's been a lot of basketball history that's played out at Mackey Arena in the heart of the Purdue campus. But no one has ever seen a game like Saturday, where Illinois freshman guard Keaton Wagler scored 46 points in No. 11 Illinois' 88-82 upset win over No. 4 Purdue.

No opponent has ever scored 46 points at Mackey. The previous record was 39, done twice.  Idaho State's Willie Humes, an Indiana native, scored 39 on Dec. 11, 1969, and  Michigan State's Sam Vincent tied the record with 39 on Jan. 10, 1985.

Wagler scored those 46 points on just 17 shots. He was 13-of-17 from the floor and went 9-of-11 from three-point range. The Illini hit 18-of-38 three-pointers as a team. Wagler had 24 of the Illini’s 39 first-half points, including the first 14.

"It's a crazy thing that I never really thought I would do," Wagler said. "But I just let the game come to me. It was my night and I think my teammates knew that, too."

Purdue (17-3, 7-2 in the Big Ten) lost for the second time in five days, and blew a late lead in both games. They lost at UCLA 69-67 on Tuesday despite being up six with 1:33 to go. On Saturday, they got outscored 20-9 in the final 4:16.

"Hats off to him," Purdue coach Matt Painter said. "(Ohio State's) Evan Turner came in here one time and played pretty well. That was probably one of the most impressive performances — if not the most impressive performance — we've had in Mackey Arena from an opponent."

Wagler, a 6-foot-6 freshman from Shawnee, Kan., did it all taking defenders off the dribble and hitting several step-back. threes and burned through defenders up and down the Purdue roster. Nothing Purdue tried defensively seemed to work. 

Illinois (17-3, 8-1 in the Big Ten) should move into the top-10 this week. They are tied for second in the conference with Michigan and Michigan State, and trail unbeaten Nebraska by one game. The Illini play Washington at home on Thursday, then have a huge showdown with Nebraska on Sunday in Lincoln.

The Boilermakers were led by senior guard Braden Smith, who had 27 points and 12 assists, and played 37 minutes with just one turnover. Purdue tied a school record with just three turnovers in the game. He is now No. 12 all-time in career assists. (See updated list below)

Purdue became the first team in the Stathead database era (20 years) to shoot over 56.0 percent from the field, score 80 or more points and have three or fewer turnovers and lose. 

The Boilermakers don't have much time to get things fixed. They play arch-rival Indiana on Tuesday night in Bloomington.

Here is the list of the top-20 all-time assist leaders in NCAA history, as of Thursday, Jan. 15:

1,076 — Bobby Hurley, Duke (1989-93)
1,038 — Chris Corchiani, N.C. State (1987-91)
1,030 — Ed Cota, North Carolina (1996-2000)
1,009 — Jason Brickman, LIU-Brooklyn (2010-14)
983 — Keith Jennings, East Tennessee State (1987-91)
972 — Steve Blake, Maryland (1999-2003)
960 — Sherman Douglas, Syracuse (1985-89)
956 — Tony Miller, Marquette (1991-95)
954 — Aaron Miles, Kansas (2001-05)
950 — Greg Anthony, Portland/UNLV (1987-91)

947 — Doug Gottlieb, Notre Dame/Oklahoma State (1995-2000)
943 — Braden Smith, Purdue (2022-present)
939 — Gary Payton, Oregon State (1986-90)
934 — D.J. Cooper, Ohio University (2009-13)
902 — Cameron Langley, North Carolina A&T (2017-22)
902 — Orlando Smart, San Francisco (1990-94)
894 — Andre LaFleur, Northeastern (1983-87)
893 — Chico Fletcher, Arkansas State (1996-2000)
890 — Cassius Winston, Michigan State (2016-20)
884 — Jim Les, Cleveland State/Bradley (1982-86)

Tom Brew is the National Editor-in-Chief at Roundtable Sports. You can follow him in Twitter (X) @tombrewsports

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