Indiana Hands Purdue Their Second Loss of the Season
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Bloomington, Indiana (PSF) - In one of this season’s most anticipated games, the Indiana Hoosiers defeated the nation’s number one team in the Purdue Boilermakers with a final score of 79-74. Indiana controlled their lead throughout the course of the game, holding off a late Purdue comeback.
Home-court advantage has proven to be crucial in college basketball this season, and Indiana’s Assembly Hall was sold out and at full capacity for this huge game. The Hoosiers were able to capitalize on the crowd noise and momentum to knock off Purdue, and the storming of the court ensued.
The story coming into this game was the matchup between each team’s star player: Purdue center Zach Edey and Indiana forward Trayce Jackson-Davis. Both players showed out posting impressive stats for their respective teams. Edey posted another huge double-double with 33 points and 18 rebounds, along with two assists and three blocks. Jackson-Davis had 25 points, seven rebounds, five blocks and an assist playing 39 of a possible 40 total minutes.
Up 3 with 4.1 seconds left, Indiana freshman Jalen Hood-Schifino broke away from Purdue’s full-court press for a dunk that sealed the victory for the Hoosiers. It capped off Indiana’s best performance of the season as they shot 52.6 percent from the field against one of the best defensive teams in the nation. Their 79 points was noteworthy as Purdue hadn’t given up more than 70 points in 24 consecutive games.
The Boilermakers heavily outrebounded the Hoosiers at 38 to 22, but Purdue’s 16 turnovers were too much to overcome against the hot recent play of the Hoosiers who have now won seven of their last eight games after also defeating Rutgers in the competitive Big Ten Conference.
Despite their loss to Indiana, Purdue remained the number one team in the nation in this week’s AP Poll. Indiana, ranked 21st at the time of their win over Purdue, moved up three spots to #18 in this week’s rankings. ESPN’s Joe Lunardi also has kept Purdue at the number one overall one seed in his latest Bracketology projection, while Indiana is currently a five seed.
