Brad Underwood Doesn’t Believe in ‘Mackey Magic’; Does Believe In Purdue
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- To Brad Underwood, there is no such thing to the glorified marketing phrase of ‘Mackey Magic’ created by the Purdue University athletics staff.
The Illini’s third-year head coach doesn’t think it is magic, sleight of hand or any nefarious going on to explain Purdue’s run of success inside its home arena. What does exist is a really solid basketball team wearing black and gold.
“The opponent is pretty good too and the guy standing on their sidelines isn’t a bad coach either,” Underwood said. “Yeah, it’s probably the loudest arena in this league and maybe one of the four or five best I’ve been a part of as a coach. That makes it fun.”
Purdue has won 15 straight Big Ten Conference home games, tied for the fourth-longest streak in Mackey Arena history and since the 2014-15 season, the Boilermakers are 45-4 in conference home games with their last loss being a 64-63 defeat to then-No. 14 Ohio State on a last-second tip on Feb. 7, 2018.
“We’ve been telling everyone it’s the loudest arena to play inside in our conference,” Illinois junior guard Trent Frazier said. “Their fans are right on top of you and so close to you. On the road, everyone is against you and figure out a way to take a few punches.”
What’s even more remarkable than Purdue’s last four-year stretch at home is Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde home and road split transformation of this 2019-20 version of Purdue's basketball team. The Boilermakers are 8-1 inside Mackey Arena, where they’ll face No. 21 Illinois (13-5, 5-2) Tuesday night on ESPNU at 6 p.m. CST. As both team’s fans saw approximately two weeks prior, Purdue isn’t nearly as amazing when they’re forced to take their show on the road. In a 63-37 victory over Purdue inside State Farm Center, the Boilermakers, which have been playing basketball for 123 years, shot its worst-ever record percentage (25 percent) from the field. Illinois’ defense and Purdue ineptitude resulted in an Illini opponent being under 40 points for the first time in nearly a decade.
The living embodiment of Purdue’s transformation between home greatness and road mediocrity at best has been the shooting of third-year sophomore guard Sasha Stefanovic. The Crown Point, Ind., native, who grew up dreaming of wearing a Purdue uniform, has seen his average point total drop by eight away from West Lafayette and he’s shooting 27 percent on 3-pointers away from Mackey Arena instead of 53 percent on the same shots while staring at his home rims.
“I think for me, it's just getting in a rhythm early," Stefanovic said a day before his game at Illinois. "I think if I'm able to kind of get a shot up early in the game, it kind of gives me in the flow of it. I think it really helps and it's kind of worked within those games that I've shot well."
Stefanovic had no flow and no rhythm in Champaign as Frazier face-guarded the spot-up shooter into a 3-for-9 effort. Stefanovic is coming off another particular poor outing on the road as he was 1-of-8 in 36 minutes in a 57-50 loss at then-No. 17 Maryland Saturday.
Illinois hasn’t won inside Mackey Arena since Dec. 30, 2008 when Robbie Hummel was held to just seven points. Before that win, the last victory in West Lafayette was the 2004-05 Final Four team where Dee Brown is shown popping his orange Illinois jersey in a 68-59 win.
Despite Las Vegas odds not coming out for Tuesday’s contests until the morning of, Illinois star guard Ayo Dosunmu doesn’t need to be told who the betting favorite is.
“We're going for another roadkill,” Dosunmu said. “Besides us and the Illini family, I feel like everyone expects us to lose and that's fine."