No.5 Purdue vs. Biggest Rival No.17 Indiana

Fifth-placed Purdue will look to avenge the loss that recently hounded the boilermakers when it hosts rival No. 17 Indiana in West Lafayette, Indiana, on Saturday night.

The Hoosiers (19-9, 10-7) were then No. 1 Purdue 79-74 on Feb. 4 in Bloomington, Indiana. It was the first of three consecutive losses in four games for the Boilermakers (24-4, 13-4), and Indiana defeated their state rivals for the second time in a row.

The Hoosiers have never played Purdue with the Boilermakers ranked #1, and have beaten a top-ranked team for the first time in a decade.

Since then, however, Indiana has been a struggling team competing for one of the top seeds at the next Big Ten tournament.

The Hoosiers have lost two of their last three games and were utterly underwhelmed Tuesday night in an 80-65 loss to Michigan State.

Trace-Jackson-Davis led the Hoosiers with 19 points, seven rebounds and five assists, but Indiana fell behind late in the first half and was in double digits for most of the second half.

“As the game went on, they beat us. I don’t like that,” Indiana coach Mike Woodson said after the game.

Woodson called his defense “nonexistent” as the Spartans gave Michigan State Guards Tyson Walker, 23, and AJ Hoggard, 22, more than 20 points each. The Hoosiers need that result to improve to reflect what they did against Purdue in the first place.

The matchup between Jackson-Davis and Purdue star center Zach Eadie lived up to the hype at the first meeting, with Jackson-Davis scoring 25 points and Eadie finishing with 33 points and 18 rebounds.

However, it was the Indiana State defense that helped the Boilermakers turn the ball over 16 times, ultimately tipping the result in their favour. This did not happen against Michigan State University.

“I thought I wasn’t in control of the ball,” Woodson said of his defense against Michigan State. “I was pretty good at that.” “I thought their guards had given way to our guards.”

Guard play was very important to the Boilermakers. They were able to reverse their recent struggles a bit with a more efficient 82-55 win against Ohio State last Sunday.

Purdue basically got more out of the backcourt and more than offensive end Edie.

David Jenkins Jr., Brandon Newman, Fletcher Royer and Ethan Morton combined to go 16-for-7 from 3-point range, complementing Edie’s 26 points and 11 rebounds. Mason Gillis scored 10 rebounds. He performed well and scored 7 goals.

“What I like is literally doing anything on offense to help us as the last man,” Morton said. “So it feels good to hit shots. Stay aggressive, reduce turnovers and just play simple.”

Purdue’s balance was fully demonstrated in the second half against the Buckeyes, ballooning their 9-point lead to a 31-point lead at halftime. The key going forward is to carry over the same effect to games with tougher competitors.

“The first five minutes is something we’ve always considered very important in the first and second halves,” Eddie said. “Just come out and set the tone.”

–Field level media