Boilers’ starting lineup still up in the air

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Updated: March 16, 2012 8:21AM

The idea that who finishes a game matters more than who starts a game rings true.

But there’s also something to who is indeed part of that starting unit.

And Purdue has used eight starting lineups this season, including a different one in six straight games, with 10 players opening games.

Two-thirds of the way through the conference schedule, it remains to be seen who the Boilermakers (16-9, 6-6 Big Ten) will start against Illinois (16-9, 5-7) on Wednesday night in Champaign. They’ve had success going small, starting to come to the realization that employing a more productive offensive group makes more sense, as this team has been unable to defend to the level of past editions, a departure from the program’s traditional identity.

But with 7-foot-1 sophomore standout Meyers Leonard at center for the Illini, Travis Carroll, Jacob Lawson and Sandi Marcius should see more minutes for Purdue, even if the Boilermakers do play much of the game with Robbie Hummel at the five. Carroll played just three minutes in Sunday’s win against similarly undersized Northwestern, and neither Lawson nor Marcius played. But in Purdue’s 75-60 win against Illinois on Dec. 31 at Mackey Arena — one of the Boilermakers’ best games of the season — potential NBA Draft lottery pick Leonard had just seven points and six rebounds in 24 minutes, with Carroll playing 21 minutes and Lawson 18.

“I think we mix it up some,” said Purdue coach Matt Painter, who admittedly has not had a starting lineup this much in flux at this stage of a season. “It just depends on whether we start the game this way or not. Do we think it’s best to stop them, or do we think it’s best to go against them offensively? I think at times we’ll play both ways — and that’s how we’ve been playing. We’ve been playing both ways during the course of a game, no matter how we start. Just because we might start bigger doesn’t mean we stay that way, and vice versa.”

Senior point guard Lewis Jackson has come off the bench in each of the last two games. Painter said he would “evaluate” the situation, with Anthony Johnson, who the Boilermakers need to get “jump-started,” having started the last two games, including going 0-of-5 in nine minutes against Northwestern.

“It’s kind of weird. Truthfully, any competitor will tell you they want to be out there, they want to start,” said Jackson, a native of Decatur, Ill. “But it’s been a good experience for me, because I’ve actually embraced it and I’m doing a good job, so it’s just showing me that I can handle any role, whatever Coach wants me to do.

“I just have to do what I need to do to help this team win.”

A win for Purdue against Illinois — which has lost six of its last seven games, with coach Bruce Weber seemingly on the proverbial hot seat — would be significant, putting it in position to finish with at least a .500 record in the Big Ten. The Boilermakers have won six straight games in the series against the Illini, including their last two trips to Assembly Hall.

“We’ve tried to separate ourselves,” said junior swingman D.J. Byrd, who followed up a career-high 24 points at Ohio State with 20 against Northwestern. “There’s kind of a conglomerate of teams in there with the same record, with Northwestern, Iowa and Minnesota, and Illinois coming up. We’ve been able to take care of Iowa (season sweep) and Minnesota (won only game) and Northwestern (season sweep) as of (Sunday) night, so Illinois is another team we need to take care of.”