When Illinois suspended star Terrence Shannon Jr. last month, it was easy to be dismissive of the Fighting Illini. Reasonable even. After all, the All-America guard is Illinois’ leading-scorer, one of its top distributors, a solid defender and the centerpiece of its aggressive attack.

Heck, even Chicago Sun-Times columnist Steve Greenberg dropped Illinois from No. 9 in his Week 8 AP Top 25 poll to unranked a week later following the suspension — Shannon faces a rape charge in Lawrence, Kansas, stemming from an alleged incident there in September. Greenberg didn’t think the Illini could produce the same high-caliber results that saw them start the season 9-2 with marquee wins over Final Four contenders Kansas and Florida Atlantic.

Greenberg has taken his share (and more) of online insults from Illini fans in the days since and seems to be taking it in stride, but he also wants to see more of this new Illinois team before rendering final evaluation. But so far so good. The new-look Illini don’t seem to have missed a beat, as of yet, blitzing Fairleigh Dickinson and Northwestern in back-to-back games since Shannon’s suspension, the latter win against the Wildcats so convincing — by 30 points late Tuesday night — that it leads one to believe Illinois can still be the top threat to Purdue’s Big Ten supremacy.

Speaking of which …

No. 9 Illinois is at top-ranked Purdue on Friday night in Mackey Arena. Although the Boilermakers have already lost a Big Ten game this season, an overtime thriller at Northwestern in early December, Purdue is still the team to beat in the league. The Boilermakers feature the country’s best and most influential player in center Zach Edey, with two sophomore guards in Braden Smith and Fletcher Loyer who have provided better perimeter balance this season, plus a supporting cast that fits what Matt Painter wants to do.

It’s a tough matchup for darn near everyone in the country and certainly most in the Big Ten. But if there’s one team that can stop Purdue’s pursuit for a 2nd straight conference championship, it’s Illinois. Even without Shannon, who is averaging 21.7 points per game, the Fighting Illini still have pieces to win in the Big Ten — Northwestern coach Chris Collins called Tuesday night’s blowout loss “a butt-kicking in every sense of the word” — and they might stack up particularly well against Purdue. Illinois has size everywhere, with the physical strength of Quincy Guerrier and Dain Dainja at least being able to check Edey inside, although the Illini duo are at a significant height disadvantage.

But more than the interior matchup, it might be elsewhere that Illinois can use size to its advantage. While it plays without a true point guard, it also doesn’t have a starter shorter than 6-6, with a backcourt of Ty Rodgers, Marcus Domask and Luke Goode that can take a physical toll on opponents. They checked NU All-America point guard Boo Buie into a 6-of-14 shooting night Tuesday, with 4 turnover and no assists. It’s the kind of backcourt size that has given Smith and Loyer problems during the last season-and-a-half.

Shannon’s absence had added a bit of mystery to the Illini attack, as well. With him on the floor, an opponent knew where the ball was going, at least late in a possession. Not now. Tuesday night, Domask scored 32 points to lead the onslaught, his 2nd gigantic outburst in a big game, after he had 33 in the early December victory over FAU. But he’s not the only capable option. Forward Coleman Hawkins has proven over the years that he can get hot, and Guerrier is averaging 11 points per game. Perhaps Utah Valley graduate transfer Justin Harmon will be the beneficiary of more playing time, in place of Shannon, after he scored 20 points in 29 minutes off the bench vs. Northwestern.

Illinois isn’t a particularly great perimeter shooting team, especially now without Shannon, but it makes up for it by a relentless attack on the basket, a reason the Illini are averaging 84 points per game. Can Purdue keep up? It’s been better against similar opponents this season, as evidenced by wins over Alabama and Arizona over the past several weeks.

If Illinois beats Purdue in Mackey Arena on Friday night — hey, the Illini beat NW by 30 after the Wildcats beat the Boilermakers by 5 (but we all know transitive property doesn’t work in sports) — then it would hand the Boilermakers their 2nd Big Ten loss in only 4 games and stake a legitimate claim as a contender. Purdue gets a return trip to Champaign in early March.

But we’ll know more about this Big Ten race, whether it’ll be competitive or not, late Friday night.