(#1) Re-Live It: Feb. 8th 2020 Purdue @ Indiana.
Welcome to the first iteration of our new series “Re-Live It”.
The Scene: Normally, when I go back and watch games or highlights, I like to pick the big games Purdue has played at home. Preferably ones that I was at! But this game is different, and it may be because of a bit of recency bias. I think it is very apt because, for every game that Purdue just dominates, I also love games where no one seems to care that Purdue is playing well, that there is something more important and I just want to scream at the TV or broadcasters that they should be talking about how well Purdue is playing.
I couldn’t think of a better place to start this series than this game against the Indiana Hoosiers for that reason. What better game to cover than the most recent? On February 8th, 2020 the Purdue Boilermakers traveled south on I-65 to Bloomington, IN to take on the Hoosiers. At this point in the season, this team has been inconsistent and generally, every game was a head-scratching moment. There were blowout wins over good teams (Virginia, Michigan State, Wisconsin, and Iowa) but there were also some very frustrating losses (Texas at home, a blown lead @Marquette, @Nebraska, a 37 point offensive performance @Illinois, and another home loss again to Illinois)
The Question(s): So after watching all of these games, were the Boilers going to be able to keep up with IU? Purdue had won 8 of the last 9 and 5 straight over Indiana. Were they going to be able to keep the streak alive? Then the news that every Hoosier fan wanted to hear was starting to percolate. The rumor that Bob Knight was finally going to make an appearance in Assembly Hall for the first time in 20 years. You could just feel that the IU administration was doing all they could to will their team to finally beat Purdue.
The game was on The Mothership (ESPN) and they knew that they had some of the best viewership numbers they would have in years. From the tip of the ball, all us Purdue fans could do was listen to Dick Vitale go on, and on, and on…. and on about his feelings about “Robert Montgomery Knight”.
Well, we all saw what happened to answer these questions!
The Video:
The First Half: Purdue started the game a little slow including multiple empty possessions, including some silly turnovers, and really struggled to get clean looks. After IU went up 5-0 Eric Hunter did what he seems to do, hit a big shot, his 2 threes to start the Purdue scoring seemed to jump-start the Purdue offense and they seemed to settle into the game. The game, as many of the recent matchups, was fairly sloppy and Purdue came away with some timely turnovers to get out into the fast break and get some easy points.
One of my personal favorite moments is the run Purdue made after IU managed to take a 3 point lead before the Boilers rattled off a 12-0 run to end the half. And my favorite moment was how silent the crowd became seeing Purdue slowly build a lead I’m sure many of their fans thought couldn’t be closed. It reminded me of a quote from Vincent Edwards. He was asked whether he preferred to make a shot to make the fans go crazy and get loud or to make a shot and quiet an opposing crowd who had gotten excited. He responded with the latter. That answer was this game, every time the Hoosiers made a run and their crowd became excited Purdue would calmly make a tough series of shots or plays that would immediately put their buts back in their seats. We see a lot of that in the first half, but the second half is where I take immense satisfaction in this phenomenon. After the Boilers took their lead into the locker room, that’s when the circus began.
Bonus Halftime!: One of the few concessions I’ll make about Bob Knight is this, he led IU to multiple National Championships and for that IU fans will always have that to lord over us until Purdue finally gets one of their own. With that said, the circus that erupted at halftime of this game was almost sad. There were 17,000 people in Cream and Crimson seemed to be crying because a man who they held on a platinum pedestal lumbered his way onto the court. It was sad to see a man who pretty clearly was struggling, paraded out onto the court to be shown to the world. It never really felt genuine to me. But hey, ESPN loved it.
The Second Half: As the second half kicked off, it was clear that this IU content segment wasn’t going to end anytime soon. When Nojel Eastern drove to the rim for a wide-open layup to begin the half, it helped calm my nerves for how the second half would go. Unfortunately, IU immediately answered with a potential momentum-shifting 5-0 run before Sasha hit a short jumper to quiet the crowd. THEN! He immediately hits a big 3 after an IU miss to really take the wind out from under their sails. Suddenly the lead was 11 again and IU didn’t seem to have enough to keep up.
I think one of the few things I heard Vitale say that I agreed with was around the (16:50) mark. He comments on how the crowd seemed so reserved and quiet. This is why I feel like even though they were there, they just saw Bob Knight in the flesh again, and they were playing their rivals at home. It felt like they were wondering whether or not they could actually win this game! That is amazing to me and would have been unthinkable not even 5 years ago. The crowd went on runs with the team and seemed to fade with them as well. To put it into the perspective of Mackey, I feel like there are rarely moments where the crowd fades away from the game. I know during my time in the Paint Crew we were always ready to explode and show that we were behind the team no matter what. So, to see the seemingly opposite reaction here really intrigued me.
I want to take an intermission of the 2nd half for my thoughts on a very frustrating thing that happened. There were multiple occasions where ESPN interviewed previous IU basketball players for an extended period of time, forcing everyone who wanted to watch the game, to listen to these past players ramble on about how Knight changed their lives. This really got to me because there is a game going on, and they could/should be talking about that. These interviews were when I decided I needed Purdue to win so that after all of this parading and celebrating this IU program, they still went and lost by double digits to their biggest rivals.
As the game passed the 8-minute mark I really felt secure in Purdue winning the game, IU just couldn’t seem to make the shots necessary and Purdue just continued to play efficient, confident, and extremely hard. The defense never became lax, they never got lazy. Evan Boudreaux did what he does and takes charges and just always seemed to be in the right place to get key rebounds.
By the U4 timeout, the crowd was effectively out of it and some fans began to filter out of the crowded gym to try and beat traffic. Even when IU did score, the crowd never really seemed to believe that it wouldn’t be enough. From here it was just enjoyment for Boiler fans as they once again took care of business against IU. I never identified with a Dickie V. statement more than when he said, “Well, it’s not a rivalry then! It’s no longer a rivalry! It’s a mismatch!”. I believe that some Purdue fans have begun to think the same, beating IU is almost more of a formality as of now, and many may even consider Michigan State or Maryland a bigger rival for now.
The clock hits zeroes and Boilermakers win!
Final Stats:
Individual Stats:
Eric Hunter Jr. - 12pts/5reb/2ast/2stls in 33 mins
Most consistent play and always seemed to be in the right spot
Aaron Wheeler - 11pts/3reb/2ast/1stl/3-3 3pt FG in 16 mins
At least for one game seemed to put it together to torch IU
Sasha Stefanovic - 10pts/4reb/1ast/1blk - in 28 mins
Hit some timely shots in the 2nd half to keep IU at bay
Nojel Eastern - 8pts/3reb/5ast in 30 mins
Solid outing for the defensive stalwart
Matt Haarms - 8pts/3reb/1blk in 16 mins
Decent game for the Dutch big man
Isaiah Thompson - 8pts/1reb/2-2 3pt FG in 12 mins
Had back-to-back possessions to make every IU fan shake their head
Trevion Williams - 6pts/4reb/2as/2stl/2blk in 24 mins
Not the most impressive individual stats but he was everywhere in the Box Score.
Jahaad Proctor- 6pts/1ast/1stl in 17 mins
He played within himself and helped set the tone early.
Evan Boudreaux - 5pts/4reb/1ast in 24 mins
Joined the list of memorable dunks against IU with his dagger Dad Dunk down the stretch.
Tommy Luce - Never lost to IU and for that, he is the King.
Team Stats:
Purdue Boilermakers:
FG/FG%: 25-52/48.1%
3pt/3pt%: 8-16/50%
FT/FT%: 16-24/66.7%
Indiana Hoosiers:
FG/FG%: 22-51/43.1%
3pt/3pt%: 7-21/33.3%
FT/FT%: 11-14/78.6%
The Result: Looking at the stats, it was a very balanced scoring effort, which at the time was nice to see. Eric Hunter Jr (EHJ) led the way with 12 points including two threes to start the game to keep IU from running away with it from the start. It was great to see Aaron Wheeler break out of his shooting slump to go 3-3, as well as a couple of hustle plays in the second half. Trevion Williams filled the stat sheet while taking up space down low. Isaiah Thompson didn’t seem fazed in his first trip to Assembly, it must be nice having PJ on the bench to help him prepare. Sasha hit some timely shots in the second half to keep IU from getting too close. Also, who could forget Evan Boudreaux and his Dad Dunk to put the dagger in their heart in the closing minute of the game.
As the game started you could feel how badly the sold-out crowd wanted this game. From their first basket, you knew that they were all thinking the same thing, “We can win this one! We can break the streak”, at least that’s what I assume they were thinking. Purdue didn’t let themselves be caught up in all of that and silently took care of business in Bloomington and walked out of there with a 74-62 win to extend their dominance over the Hoosiers. Their fans left once again seeing Purdue win in their “Famous” gym on the day where their beloved coach came home.
There really is something to be said for how this team just doesn’t seem to be intimidated to go into Assembly Hall and just beat IU. To most members of this team, that is what they do. Tommy Luce went undefeated against the Indiana Hoosiers and officially became the King of IU. During a season when Purdue couldn’t seem to figure out what they were. They were ready for everything that IU could throw at them.
Why this game: It really boils down to what this game was as a whole. This game from the beginning of the broadcast was an IU centered broadcast. It wasn’t until after the halftime show and well into the second half for the broadcast to really talk about Purdue and how they were doing everything they needed to do to win.
I love re-watching this game because IU fans will always refer to this game as one that “doesn’t matter” and that the fact Bob Knight came home meant the actual result didn’t matter.
But we Purdue fans know differently. We know that they say this because they know that Purdue is currently a better program and even in a down year for the Boilers, on the day their messiah came home, Purdue walked into their building and did what Purdue just does. Beats IU. As of now (April 13, 2020) it has been 1,514 days and counting since IU last beat Purdue in Men’s Basketball.
It may not be my favorite game against IU that will show up in this series but I think it perfectly encompasses my feelings about that team in Bloomington.
And for that, I’ll relive this one as many times as I can!
How do you feel?
Leave a comment below or tweet at me your thoughts on how you felt watching this game! As well as if you enjoy re-watching old games to re-live them!
What’s Next!: The next game I will be covering is an older basketball game that every Boilermaker fan will remember because of a very special performance. I’ll be looking at 2011 and #2 Ohio State was coming to Mackey Arena, and E’twaun Moore was ready for them.
