Welcome to one of the games that helped put Purdue back on the map in relation to college basketball nationwide. The 18th ranked Boilermakers welcomed 8th ranked Michigan State Spartans to the unwelcome confines of Mackey Arena. It was a top-20 showdown and Purdue was ready for a fight. This happened while I was a student at Purdue and it is probably easily in my top 3 favorite games I attended as a student.

The Scene: As mentioned in the introduction, this was a game that needed to introduction for Purdue. It was a chance to knock off a top-10 team at home. Purdue had not gotten a win vs a top-10 team since 2011, also the fact it was the Spartans added insult to injury as Purdue was nursing an ongoing 7-game losing streak to MSU. Also, add in the recent woes of previous seasons for the Boilers, this was a chance to prove that their ranking in the top-25 was no joke and that they were serious. Mackey was sold out and everyone was ready, I know I was.

The Questions: There were a few questions hovering around this game. Would Purdue be able to hang around with this top-10 Spartan squad? MSU had NPOY hopeful Denzel Valentine as well as a slew of highly touted players surrounding him. Purdue used their size to perform on defense, but this was a tier above most teams. There were also questions surrounding the offense for the Boilers. Purdue featured a lineup and rotation of 7-footer AJ Hammons, 7’2 Isaac Haas, and the future double-double machine Caleb Swanigan. They would anchor the interior, but would they be able to stay with the more athletic Spartan bigs? Would they be able to find a rhythm on offense? The strength of this Boiler team was definitely the interior and they would need help from the guards to keep their offense balanced and force MSU to play balanced defense.

The Video: Watch along as you read!

The First Half: It feels weird to re-watch this game as well as write about it as it happens when I was there in person. Arrive early and leave late was my and my friends’ strategy for watching games in the Paint Crew. We tried to sit as close as we could to the court as possible so we could be right there when it was happening. The crowd was electric during this game as it always is when a highly ranked team comes to town.

Purdue won the tip and the game is underway! AJ Hammons immediately shows why he was one of the best bigs in the Big Ten by hitting a jump hook on the first possession and Purdue leads 2-0! On the ensuing defensive possession, you can see the level of energy that Raphael Davis was going to bring to this game, as he blankets his assignment. A steal and transition basket pushes the lead to 4-0 before Michigan State makes its first on a Valentine jumper. Raphael Davis showing he will be aggressive on both ends of the floor tonight as he drives to the basket on back-to-back possessions. Hammons makes his presence felt on the other end of the floor already having 2 blocks.

With 4 minutes gone in the game Davis hits his first three to put Purdue up 9-4. The pace of this game is so much faster watching it back than it was during the game. Before you know it, a defensive stop and Davis decides to call his number again and bangs home his second three, and Mackey is rocking! You can feel that this is going to be a special game. 14 minutes remaining in the first half and Davis knocks down another catch and shoot 3 and Boilers lead 15-7! 7 minutes have been played and there have been no breaks in the game, and you can tell the energy of the crowd mixed with the pace of play that everyone on the court was tired. Then with 13 minutes remaining in the half is probably my second favorite series of plays from this game. Caleb Swanigan takes an entry pass and backs his man down for a strong drop-step move, MSU attempts to push the ball in transition before Vincent Edwards makes his presence felt by blocking the layup and the ball lands on Valentine to give the ball back to Purdue!

We see a slew of new players coming out of the break as the starters get a well-deserved rest. Being in Mackey for that first 7:30 of game time was what sets this game apart for me as a fan, it got the crowd into it early. All the fans wanted was to see that the Boilers had what it takes to win and they did that. Since the first media timeout came so late into the half, nothing much happens between then and the next one as we see a couple of offensive fouls before Isaac Haas draws a foul to send the game back to a media break. After such a furious start, it was a much different feeling to see the game slow down like that.

Raphael makes up for that by immediately draining another 3 off an assist from Haas! He’s not missing on it’s energizing this team and you can feel it through the screen (At least I can). Some more calls slow the game down as we near the 10-minute mark Purdue leads 20-10 and Raphael Davis has 16 points while MSU is sitting at only 10. Sophomore Dakota Mathias then deems it was time to introduce himself and cans a catch and shoot 3 from the right-wing! Another defensive stop and we reach my biggest “I wish” moment of the half. After the defensive rebound Purdue pushes the ball and it ends up in the hands of Kendal Stephens and he rises from almost the same spot as Mathias, the ball goes about as far down without going through I’ve ever seen. If that goes in, I fully believe it would have registered in the top 3 loudest moments in Mackey Arena history. Purdue would have gone up 26-10 on the number 8 team in the country with the roof collapsing under the sound. (We didn’t know that the real roof blowing moment was coming up, but if this shot falls, every Purdue player would have felt invincible)

At about 9 minutes to go in the half, MSU still can’t buy a basket and Purdue leads 23-10 still. We are greeted with a Robbie Hummel showing and we love it! Since the opening 7.5 minutes, the pace has slowed a lot due to some fouling happening on both sides and fans (and players get a bit of a break to catch their breath) MSU finds some offense and Purdue gets a bit sloppy with some quick, pretty bad, turnovers and Purdue’s lead is cut to 25-14. A couple of minutes have gone by and the offenses have settled down a bit and there have been some ugly possessions for both teams. AJ Hammons breaks the drought with 6:40 left in the half. Let’s take a brief moment to appreciate Hammons’ stat line so far in this game because he is stuffing the stat sheet, 6pts/3reb/3ast/4blks. That’s a stat line many would be proud to have in a game and he’s done it in 14 minutes, impressive.

Right about the 6-minute mark AJ Hammons picks up a foul on a defensive rebound and must come out. The next offensive possession by MSU sets up the moment that blew the roof off of Mackey in this game. A couple of hard-fought and physical offensive rebounds by MSU have the fans calling for a foul before this happens:

Watch that again a few more times and tell me Mackey isn’t special. Now watch it again just because you want to.

A blown dunk gets a nice Bronx cheer from the crowd before Raphael Davis puts them over the top by hitting another 3 in transition. This was the moment I knew I wouldn’t be able to speak for a week or longer. Everyone in the Paint Crew, and probably most of the crowd, was ready to run through a brick wall because of this sequence. This was the sequence that cements this game and moment as one of my favorites of all-time.

I’m not going to go much into much more on the first half because this was the epitome of the first half, Davis going absolutely nuts and the crowd is so willing to exert their will on MSU.

• 4-minute mark: 34-20 Purdue

• 3-minute mark: 36-22 Purdue

  • MSU has had some really head-scratching turnovers in this stretch.

• 2-minute mark: 40-25 Purdue

  • Good to see Purdue keep pace with MSU here and not let them close the gap at all going towards the half.

• 1-minute: 42-30 Purdue

During the last minute, Purdue played some of the best defense of the game forcing a shot clock violation showing the audience what playing for Purdue is about and I for one appreciate this culture a lot.

Johnny Hill scores a driving layup with 3 seconds left to send us to halftime up 46-30!

Halftime Thoughts: I feel like I say this a lot during big Purdue games, or most Purdue games for that matter; but, I was over the moon at halftime of this game. I was already so tired and the adrenaline of watching this game live was getting to me. My voice was already gone but that didn’t matter as I was still finding ways to yell at the top of my lungs. I spent halftime resting and doing everything I could to find some form of data signal on my phone to try and read social media to see what people were saying about the game! When that didn’t work, I returned to imagine how amazing it would feel to complete this blowout and be the talk of the town of the college basketball world! We know that’s not exactly how it went, but we didn’t know that yet! Then, as it always happened, halftime was over and the ball was in play again! On to the second half!

The Second Half: When the second half was starting, the confidence that had accumulated throughout the first half had waned and I remember that the nerves began to come back as I fully knew that MSU was more than capable of coming back from this. When all is said and done, it is only a 16 point lead and 20 minutes to play. We’ve seen it all before.

The second half starts pretty slowly as there are a few fouls called as well as some empty possessions by both teams. AJ Hammons does continue to impose his will on defense as he gets up to his 6th block telling MSU that they better not put up a shot near him. We pass the 17-minute mark with the Purdue lead at 12, 50-38 after a Denzel Valentine 3.

Then as we near 16 minutes there is a rough sequence for Purdue. A no-call on a rebound where PJ Thompson was knocked to the floor leads to another Valentine 3. While that shot is going up (and in), there is an off-ball foul called against the Boilers giving MSU the possession again. Valentine then drains another 3 off of the inbound play and all of a sudden Purdue’s lead is down to 6. This is where you could feel some of the nervous energy rising in the crowd as all of a sudden, Purdue’s nice and comfortable lead wasn’t as comfortable as fans realize they couldn’t just coast to an easy win over a top-10 team. Thankfully, Raphael Davis hits a long 2 to help stop the bleeding a bit, but only for a moment as MSU comes right down and hits a short jumper of their own.

After a flurry of scoring and high-level defense in the first half, the second half seems to be marred by foul calls and missed shots. Purdue and their offensive limitations start to show more prominently as they can’t seem to get many clean looks at the basket. Thankfully, the Spartans seem willing to settle for some off-balanced shots of their own and can’t seem to score from anywhere else but the line. We reach the Under-12 media timeout and Purdue’s lead sits at 6 with the score sitting at 56-50. With that said, MSU was heading back to the free-throw line for 3 shots. MSU’s Alvin Ellis hits all three and the score sits at 56-53 Purdue.

We hit the 10-minute mark with the Spartans scoring in transition to pull within 1. Purdue immediately goes back inside to AJ Hammons as he spins towards the middle and scores while getting fouled, he makes the ensuing free-throw to push the lead back to 4. But, some empty Purdue possessions end with MSU getting out in transition leading to a dunk and they tie the game at 59 all. At this point, I was extremely nervous because after such a great offense to begin the game, it seemed like Purdue couldn’t buy a bucket in the second half. No one for the Boilers could seem to get anything going and it was hurting Purdue greatly.

The dam finally burst with 7:39 remaining in regulation when Matt Costello, the MSU big man puts in a layup to pull the Spartans ahead 61-60, and every Purdue fan is now feeling like their great night has turned as sour as could be. Purdue was able to retake the lead on the next possession to finally put a shot through. The two teams continue to trade baskets/free-throws the next few possessions. Ryan Cline bangs home a big three to put Purdue up 65-63 before a great offensive session from the Spartans ties it again at 65. With just over 5-minutes remaining Raphael Davis makes a rare poor defensive decision leading to a wide-open three for Matt McQuade to push MSU up 68-65.

After a 1-of-2 trip to the free-throw line for AJ Hammons, Valentine makes a circus shot to push the MSU lead to 4 as we hit a media timeout. An offensive foul on the immediate Purdue possession gives Michigan State the ball back looking to extend their lead, but it’s not to be as AJ Hammons gets his 7th block to stop an easy score, MSU then turns the ball over back to Purdue. With 3:30 remaining the MSU bigs start to have issues guarding Purdue’s bigs sending Hammons back to the line looking to close the gap, where he makes both to pull the Boilers within 2.

Purdue was such a good rebounding team this year, which makes the next MSU possession so frustrating when the Spartans pull down 3 offensive rebounds. Luckily for Purdue, they come up empty after a quick timeout by Tom Izzo. A missed three by Swanigan puts the ball back in the Spartans hands where Kenny Goins gets fouled and makes two free-throws to push the lead to 72-68 MSU. Now with 2-minutes to, Purdue has the ball and has to find an answer to keep the game within reach. They have struggled the entire second half to get good looks at the basket, but this was a possession that mattered and you could feel it. It almost goes wrong with a missed three that is rebounded by Swanigan. Off the rebound, the ball is swung across the court and back to Caleb as he lays it in to pull Purdue back to within 2. The crowd rises to their feet and the Boilers need a stop.

This is where Raphael Davis makes a play that a senior leader needs to make. As MSU is getting into their offensive possession, they run a baseline rub with Valentine and Forbes crossing along the baseline. Raphael Davis knows this is coming, gets up into Forbes, and is knocked down by the crossing Denzel Valentine. An illegal screen is called and the possession goes back to the Boilers! They got the stop they needed, but could they get the crucial bucket to pull even, or even take back the lead? With the game on the line, the ball is entered down to Hammons on the block where he attempts to dump the ball down to Caleb cutting to the basket where it is knocked free and out of bounds. The original call was that it was off Purdue giving the possession to Michigan State. Seeing this live in person, I thought that that was it. That was Purdue’s chance to take advantage of the momentum and they blew it. Luckily, since there was less than 2 minutes remaining, the refs reviewed the play and actually overturned the call giving the ball back to the Boilers.

1:22 remaining in regulation. Purdue goes down on the block to Caleb Swanigan. He takes a dribble, steps into the lane, and puts in a left-handed hook to tie the game! The crowd explodes! There is still 1 minute on the clock and MSU has the ball, but not for long, Matt Costello challenges AJ Hammons in the lane and is denied by Hammons. AJ is able to corral the ball and with 40 seconds remaining, Purdue has an opportunity to take the lead! They obviously had to go down on the block and take advantage of their size inside, where the strength of this team lies. Unfortunately Purdue struggles heavily on this possession where the shot they get is an almost 30 footer by Caleb Swanigan. AJ Hammons actually gets the rebound but is unable to get the ball up in time and actually turns it over on a shot-clock violation……. yeah.

That left 9.7 seconds left and MSU has the ball with the chance to spoil the game for Purdue. Valentine receives the inbound pass, dribbles down to the right-wing where he takes a very poor fade-away step-back three that falls well short, and to overtime we go!

Overtime! Going to overtime was a weird feeling as a fan because of the range of emotions going through everyone’s head regarding the final minute of regulation. There was relief that MSU didn’t win at the buzzer, the excitement that they came back to send it to OT, and also frustration that the Boilermakers’ last possession was as bad as it was. But, as the teams head back out onto the court for the extra five minutes of game-time, you realize it doesn’t matter because the Paint Crew starts up a chant. “WHOSE HOUSE? OUR HOUSE? WHOSE HOUSE? OUR HOUSE…” and you would realize that how regulation ended didn’t matter. There were 5 minutes on the clock and the team needs their help to pull through!

Overtime is almost an extension of the second half as both teams struggle to score to begin the extra time. with 3:50 left, Denzel Valentine misses a driving dunk and Vincent Edwards is fouled as he drove baseline on the other end of the floor where he makes both to put Purdue ahead by 2. The crowd rises to their feet again to energize the defensive possession. The Boilers play excellent defense forcing an awkward shot and Vincent Edwards is fouled on the rebound sending him back to the line with 3:15 remaining. Edwards goes 1-2 and the lead is 3. At this point in the game, MSU hasn’t scored in six and a half minutes of game time. That doesn’t change on the next possession as AJ Hammons is fouled on the rebound sending the senior to the line. The last 2 fouls had also fouled out 2 of the Spartans’ big men. Hammons makes 1-2 at the line and with 2:50 remaining the lead is 4! If Purdue gets a stop here, I believe that would have been it. Unfortunately Bryn Forbes hits a tough jumper for MSU’s first points of OT. AJ instantly responds with a mid-range hook shot to keep the lead at 4. After an awkward possession where MSU retains the ball, they call a timeout with 1:38 remaining. During the timeout, the officials review the previous shot by Forbes and change the call to a made three instead of a 2 instantly cutting the Boilermakers’ lead down to 3.

After the timeout, Denzel Valentine makes another circus shot driving across the lane to cut the lead to 1. Weirdly enough, at this point in overtime, I was less worried about losing the lead. Having played basketball for my whole life, I knew that once in overtime, whoever gets out to the lead first can be so much more relaxed than the team that was trailing. Couple that with MSU being the higher-ranked team, giving them more pressure to overcome the deficit, it puts Purdue in a much better position to play loose and dictate the action. Vincent Edwards sure dictated the action on the next Purdue offensive possession as he drives to the basket with 1:12 left to score through contact for a chance at a three-point play to extend the Purdue lead to 4! He does knock down the free-throw and the Purdue crowd can feel the win coming as we near the 1-minute mark. MSU scored on a defensive breakdown and Purdue takes possession with 50 seconds remaining. Overtime seems to imitate the end of regulation as Purdue has a poor possession that results in Raphael taking a very deep contested two that was nowhere close to going in. MSU pulls down the rebound and calls timeout with 21.3 seconds remaining. They needed a two to tie or a three to take the lead.

Out of the timeout, Denzel Valentine makes an elite move to get around his defender and score over three Purdue players to tie the game. The only downside to this, is that it left plenty of time on the clock for Purdue’s final possession. With the game tied Purdue calls timeout with 6.7 seconds remaining.

Out of the timeout, Raphael Davis takes a hand-off from AJ Hammons when the unthinkable happens. Denzel Valentine, who just made an All-American play on the other end of the floor, tries to go over the screen and fouls Davis on the hand-off. This foul call sent social media in a frenzy going both ways arguing that the official either, “Can’t make that call to decide the game. It needed to be settled on the court!”, and, “That’s a foul in the first minute, so it’s a foul in the last minute. He has to call that.”. I fall somewhere in the middle because I do agree that it’s a rough foul to call when everyone is expecting a potential game-winning shot. That being said, that was a foul and would have been called at almost any other point in the game. Add on the fact that every eye in the arena was focused on the ball that closely and it’s going to be called.

Davis goes to the line with two shots to try and win the game. He makes the first, which then begs the age-old question, do you miss the second one on purpose? I’m never in this camp and you try and make both. The second shot goes up and rolls off the side of the rim, where it falls right towards Vincent Edwards, who taps the ball out where it ends up in the hands of AJ Hammons who cups the ball as the final horn sounds! The Boilers had done it! They did just enough to hold on and get a great win as they continue to re-establish themselves near the top of the Big Ten.

This ended up an instant classic that saw our Boilers end up on top. It was the first Top-10 win for Purdue since 2011. This was a game I’ll never forget what it was like to see it live.

Final Stats (ESPN)

Individual Stats

• Raphael Davis: 24pts/7reb/2ast/2stl/2blk/ 6-8 3PT

• AJ Hammons: 19pts/13reb/3ast/8blk

• Vincent Edwards: 9pts/4reb/3ast/1blk

• Caleb Swanigan: 8pts/4reb/ Final 4pts to send it to OT

Team Stats:

Purdue Boilermakers:

• FG%/3PT%: 26-60(43.3%)/8-16(50%)

• Free Throws: 22-29 (75.9%)

• Rebounds: 42

• Assists: 15

• Steals: 2

• Blocks: 11

• Turnovers: 16

Michigan State Spartans:

• FG%/3PT%: 29-76(38.2%)/11-28(39.3%)

• Free Throws: 12-15 (80%)

• Rebounds: 39

• Assists: 24

• Steals: 5

• Blocks: 5

• Turnovers: 9

The Results: The results outside of this one night in February of 2016 are limited. This was an impressive win for a Top-20 program over a top-10 program at home. This wasn’t a major upset in most instances because Purdue was a program on the rise after struggling for a few years before. It did help build the confidence of a growing team and fan base that was striving to return to the top of the conference.

In terms of the micro scale of just this game, I think it was important that Purdue held on to win this game. Especially since the game started to well in the Boilers’ favor. Purdue has always had a weird habit of getting out to huge leads and then in the second half, they decide to just turn the offense off and allow the opponent back into the game and in this instance it worked out in Purdue’s favor. This was a year we also saw the other side of this coin when Purdue played Iowa.

I think the ultimate result of this game wouldn’t really be seen for a few years. Looking back on this game now in 2020, this was the first time Purdue had beaten Michigan State in the last seven tries! Looking back on it now, Purdue and Michigan State have been fairly even in head to head matchups. It has become the norm for Michigan State to come to Mackey and just be run out of the gym every time. Here are the results of playing MSU since this game:

• 1/24/17: @MSU - Purdue wins 84-73

• 2/18/17: vsMSU - Purdue wins 80-63

• 2/10/18: @MSU - MSU Wins 68-65

  • Infuriating game where Miles Bridges saves MSU after Purdue leads a lot of this game.

• 1/8/19: @MSU - MSU Wins 77-59

  • Purdue was still struggling to put it together consistently

• 1/27/19: vsMSU - Purdue wins 73-63

• 1/12/20: vsMSU - Purdue wins 71-42

So after going 1-8 after this game in 2016, Purdue has gone 4-2 versus Michigan state while also getting a win in East Lansing. This game kind of got Purdue off the snide of expecting to lose to Michigan State. So getting to look at this game from 4 years later, the results of this game show up in a much more long term way and this was a very important game for this program.

Why this Game? I chose this game for the exact reasons I laid out in the introduction. This was Purdue’s exclamation to the nation that they were back and they were ready to compete on a national scale again. I chose this game because I was there in person and couldn’t speak for what felt like a week after that night. Seeing Raphael Davis just absolutely explode in the first half, hearing/feeling the noise that was happening all game long. I still get chills thinking about this game. Seeing the games that Purdue has played in the past few years, this one may not register as high on many peoples lists, but for me. This will always stick out to me because of what it means to me personally.

How do you feel? Leave a comment below or tweet at me your thoughts @BoilerInTexas on how you felt watching this game! As well as if you enjoy re-watching old games to re-live them!

What’s Next? Football success at Purdue seems to be few and far between. So let’s go back to the late 90’s, when a Man with a mustache took the Boilers to the Alamo City to take on Kansas State in the Alamo Bowl 1998.

As always, Boiler Up, Hammer Down, Hail Purdue!