Thursday night the Indiana Hoosiers welcomed in the No. 4 Purdue Boilermakers to Assembly Hall for an intense battle between Big Ten teams from Indiana. Here is a break down of what led to the game and how the game turned out.
The Lead Up
Indiana Hoosiers
Coming into this game the Indiana Hoosiers were 13-4 overall and 4-3 in Big Ten play.
They began the new year with a frustrating 61-58 loss to the Penn State Nittany Lions who has not been very good this season. They followed that up by bouncing back and absolutely destroying the No. 13 Ohio State Buckeyes 67-51. Following a dominant 73-60 victory over the Minnesota Golden Gophers they went on the road and lost 83-74 to a solid Iowa Hawkeyes team.
Before they could worry about Purdue they had to bounce back against the Nebraska Cornhuskers who were winless in Big Ten play. Nebraska played Indiana tough, but they once again came up short. Indiana came away with the 78-71 win to improve to 4-3 in Big Ten play.
Purdue Boilermakers
On the other side, the Purdue Boilermakers were 15-2 and 4-2 in Big Ten play as they entered this game.
They started the new year welcoming in the No. 23 Wisconsin Badgers. This was predicted to be a very tough battle and it was until the very end, but Purdue came up just short as they lost 74-69. They then went on the road to Penn State where they were forced to battle to the end again. This time though they walked away with a 74-67 win. After back-to-back extremely hard fought games they took on the Cornhuskers who were no match as Purdue claimed the much needed 92-65 victory.
That Nebraska game would prove to be the Boilermakers only freebie for the time being in January. Their next stop was in Illinois against the No. 17 Illinois Fighting Illini. When the matchup started, Illinois was the last remaining unbeaten team in the Big Ten at 6-0. After fighting tooth and nail in a game that went into double overtime Purdue came away with the 96-88 victory.
Matchup History
Not only is this a battle between two Big Ten teams, but it is also a battle between two schools from Indiana, separated by only 112 miles.
In this long standing rivalry Purdue leads the series 21-18 since the start of the century. Most importantly though, the Boilermakers have held a nine game win streak since February 9, 2017. Their average margin of victory during this streak was nine which shows how close it has been time after time.
Both teams came into this game playing extremely well and looking to assert their dominance over the other. Yet, Indiana was ready to snap the streak before it got to double digits.
The 40 Minute Battle
First Half
In the first three minutes Purdue started on a 7-0 run, but then the fight began. The Hooiers were able to knock down a few shots and bring it within five at 13-8.
Unfortunately at the 14:24 mark the Hoosiers leading scorer Trayce Jackson-Davis (19.5 points per game) picked up his second foul and went to the bench. It was time to see if they could stay in the game without him and who would step up in his place. The answer was extremely surprising.
Rob Phinisee averages 4.6 points per game, but in this game he played as if he is one of the best in the conference. He started his day with a block and that was apparently all he needed to set fire. Over the next five minutes he went 5-5 for 13 points to single handedly bring the deficit to within one at 22-21. He could do no wrong. He finished the first half 7-9 with 17 points.
At the 6:23 mark Mason Gillis extended Purdue’s lead back to 24-21. After that it all went the way of the Hoosiers who finished on a 16-4 run to go to halftime with a 37-28 lead.
Second Half
Purdue started the second half much better than they finished the first half. 2:45 into the half the Boilermakers cut the lead to 43-42, a 14-6 run. That run was highlighted by Purdue’s star Jaden Ivey who accounted for 11 of the 14.
Following that run the Hoosiers quickly extended the lead to 50-42, but the Boilermakers kept coming back. The trend continued and as soon as Purdue cut it down Indiana pushed it back up. Fortunately for Purdue the tides began to change in the final minutes.
At the 3:38 mark, Ivey hit a big two point shot to tie the game at 63-63. After a span of over two minutes where neither team could knock down a shot, Gillis made a layup to give Purdue a 65-63 lead with 1:11 remaining.
With half a minute left Indiana looked to Phinisee to make a play and he was unable to connect on a three, but during a fight for the ball Purdue knocked it out keeping it with the Hoosiers. Following a quick timeout, the ball was inbounded to Phinisee who caught, shot and drained home a go-ahead three pointer, the biggest shot of his career.
Following two successful Jackson-Davis free throws the Hoosiers were up 68-65. Purdue had six seconds to try and tie.
Ivey leads Purdue in points per game with 16.4, but in the first half he only contributed two. There were plenty of questions surrounding his quiet play but his 11 early second half points looked very familiar. He was able to step up like he has all season and contribute 19 second half points.
The man who carried the team for the majority of the second half was called upon in the final moments. Ivey got the inbound, raced down the court and hoisted up a three. The ball was in the rim, but rolled out and Hoosier fans flooded the court.
For the Indiana Hoosiers this was an incredibly meaningful game. They snapped their losing streak to Purdue, moved up in the Big Ten standings and took down a Top-5 team for the second time in the last year when they beat No. 4 Iowa on January 21, 2021. Not to mention this is a candidate for game of the year in college basketball. Both of these teams are proving to be dominant forces in the Big Ten and as the season heads into the final month and a half they will provide plenty of entertainment.
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