WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — When Illinois freshman Keaton Wagler walked into the visiting locker room at Purdue on Saturday night, he was met with a blinding spray of water from his ecstatic teammates.
Wagler said he was hyped. But Illini forward David Mirković swears even then — as Wagler celebrated the greatest individual performance by an opponent at Mackey Arena — that the guard was calm and collected.
“He was just cold,” Mirković said. “That’s what he is. He plays cold, chill.”
For months now, coach Brad Underwood has praised Wagler for his maturity and ability to be unfazed by the moment as he has stepped up in his first season to lead the No. 11 Illini. On Saturday night in Illinois’ biggest win of the season, Wagler again showed it.
Wagler scored an Illinois freshman record 46 points on 13-for-17 shooting to help knock off No. 4 Purdue 88-82. He hit nine 3-pointers — also an Illinois record — and 11 of 13 free throws. It was the most points scored in a road win over a Top 10 opponent in AP Poll history, according to the Illini.
Underwood said the performance “was like nothing I’ve seen in my 39 years, especially in a Top 5 or Top 10 matchup.” Wagler scored Illinois’ first 14 points, had 24 by halftime and then coolly helped the Illini close out the game with a jumper and two free throws in the final 18 seconds.
“But that’s the beauty of Keaton,” Underwood said. “The one impressive thing is he takes the emotion out of it in a venue with 15,000 people — all against him — and he just plays. He just took what the game gave him.”
It was Illinois’ ninth straight win and its first road win over a Top 5 team since March 2, 2021, at No. 2 Michigan. Underwood also notched his 100th Big Ten victory as Illinois coach.
The Illini have had important wins against ranked teams this season — against then-No. 11 Texas Tech in November, then-No. 13 Tennessee in December and then-No. 19 Iowa earlier this month. But none was this big — at the home of a Purdue team that was ranked No. 1 in the preseason and is led by all-Big Ten returnees Braden Smith and Trey Kaufman-Renn.
Illinois did it in its second game without veteran guard Kylan Boswell, who suffered a fractured right hand in practice Monday and is out until mid-February.
“The ceiling is national championship,” Wagler said. “That’s our goal. That’s been our goal since the beginning, and this just proves we’re a contender for that.”
Wagler’s play is a big reason why.
Wagler said the most he ever scored in a high school game playing for Shawnee Mission Northwest in Kansas was 32 points in a tournament in Quincy, Ill. He had a previous high of 23 with Illinois at Ohio State.
In the Illini’s win Wednesday against Maryland, he had just 13 points on 4-for-12 shooting.
“It didn’t really affect me,” Wagler said of the previous outing. “I know how good of a shooter I am. I came in here with confidence knowing we were a player down. I needed to step up against Purdue. It’s super hard to win here, and I just came in here playing confident and let what happens happen.”
Wagler made four straight 3-pointers on his 14-point run to start the game and added another two before halftime, several well beyond the arc.
“Shooting stepback 3s from 4 or 5 feet behind the line and making them? Props to him,” Purdue center Oscar Cluff said.
Illinois needed the performance to combat the Boilermakers, who shot 63% in the first half and 13 minutes into the game had made 77% of their field-goal attempts.
Smith, the reigning Big Ten Player of the Year, was directing it all, niftily throwing no-look passes to total eight points and seven assists in the half. At one point, after the Illini had cut their deficit to six points, Smith had a steal and threw behind his back to C.J. Cox for a fast-break layup.
Purdue led 43-39 at halftime after a Wagler 3-pointer. But the Boilermakers missed their first three shots of the second half to help Illinois pull to a 46-43 advantage. Wagler had a 3-pointer and a fadeaway and Jake Davis added a rebound and a basket for the lead.
It was a back-and-forth game from there.
Illinois took the lead for good during a stretch of four straight 3-pointers from players other than Wagler. Tomislav Ivišić had two, Davis one and Mirković another as the Illini went up 82-77.
But Wagler even had an impact on those 3s with two of his four assists, including a cross-court pass to Davis, who knocked it down with the shot clock expiring.
“He’s so gifted at everything,” Davis said. “He’s a great scorer. He’s a great passer. But one of his most valuable traits is he makes the right decision all the time.”
Davis had eight points and two assists. Mirković finished with 12 points and eight rebounds as Illinois outrebounded Purdue 33-19.
Mirković played despite twisting his ankle in practice Friday. He said he slept only four or five hours because of the pain and was having trouble walking to breakfast.
“Coach came to me at breakfast and said, ‘Adrenaline is the best drug,’” Mirković said. “‘And when you come out there and see 14,000 drunk fans cussing at you, you’re going to be good.’ And it was like that. When I came on the court, my ankle just stopped hurting me.”
Smith led Purdue with 27 points — including a 3-pointer and two free throws in the final minute — and 12 assists.
Underwood attended his postgame news conference with a towel around his neck after the water-infused locker-room celebration.
“The locker room was trashed,” Davis said. “We did our best to clean it up, but it was trashed.”
And unlike Mirković, Davis saw some of Wagler’s stoicism melt away with the revelry.
“He was lit in the locker room,” Davis said. “He was yelling a lot.”