Indiana No Match For No. 2 Purdue in 79-59 Loss at Mackey Arena
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The Mike Woodson era began with several memorable moments against Purdue, like Rob Phinisee’s late 3-pointer and Jalen Hood-Schifino’s 35-point performance. But Woodson’s third season now features two blowouts, dropping his record to 3-3 in the rivalry series.
Purdue stifled Indiana’s offense en route to a 79-59 win Saturday night at Mackey Arena, completing the season sweep of the in-state rival. With losses by 21 and 20 points this season, its the first time since the 1933-34 season that Indiana lost to Purdue in two consecutive games by 20 or more points.
Scoring their third-fewest points of the season, the loss dropped the Hoosiers to 14-10 overall and 6-7 in Big Ten play, placing them near the middle of a jumbled conference. Purdue advanced to 22-2 overall, plus a first-place 11-2 record in conference play with three more wins than Illinois and Wisconsin.
"This was a tough game tonight because you're out on the road playing the No. 2 team in a hostile environment," Woodson said. "I thought we played well early. And from the 15, 10 minute mark going into the half, we just couldn't score. We threw the ball away and that gave them the cushion going into halftime. Then we were so awful coming out the second half, couldn't make shots and they capitalized on it."
Indiana and Purdue went back and forth early, offering signs that round two of the rivalry series might be a hard-fought battle after the Boilermakers’ 21-point win in Bloomington on Jan. 16.
The Hoosiers stayed in it early because of their ball movement. Most notably, on the second possession, they swung it all the way around the arc to a wide-open Gabe Cupps in the corner. He could have attempted the three, but he opted for the higher percentage look and drove the ball right at Purdue’s 7-foot-4 Zach Edey. Cupps got Edey in the air, then dropped the ball off for an easy dunk by Kel’el Ware.
It was that kind of spacing and passing that led to four assists on Indiana’s first four made field goals. The game remained close past the midway point of the first half when Trey Galloway sliced through the Purdue defense and lobbed the ball to Ware for an alley-oop dunk. Finding Ware for quick-hitters like that was the solution to scoring over Edey; traditional post-ups certainly weren’t.
Ware’s second dunk of the game at the 8:23 mark made it a 20-18 game in Purdue’s favor. Then the game flipped, and fast. Out of a timeout at the 6:28 mark, Indiana freshman Mackenzie Mgbako couldn’t find any open teammates and was whistled for a five-second violation.
Just 15 seconds later, Edey backed his way down the paint and drew Ware’s second foul. Indiana coach Mike Woodson had no choice but to sit his 7-footer with so much time left in the half. On the following possession, Cupps anticipated a pass to a curling Mgbako on the wing, but Braden Smith jumped the lane and hit a 3-pointer on the ensuing fast break.
Purdue’s four-point lead ballooned to eight points all of a sudden, and the deafening Mackey Arena crowd turned it up a notch. That shot from Smith broke a combined 0-for-11 start on 3-point attempts from both teams, and Purdue’s Myles Colvin and Mason Gillis each knocked down threes shortly after.
Meanwhile, an Indiana offense that clicked early on went on an extended drought when it reached deeper into the bench. Indiana scored just seven points in the final eight minutes of the first half, including a 6:59 scoring drought. Three quick layups from Galloway cut Purdue’s lead from 18 to 12 just before halftime, but the sequence beginning with Mgbako’s five-second violation proved game-altering.
The start of the second half was Indiana’s worst-case scenario for a variety of reasons. After a Ware turnover on the first possession, officials whistled Reneau for three fouls across the next 2:45 of play, sending him to the bench with four fouls. Purdue opened the half on a 10-0 run with five points from free throws.
Galloway picked up his third foul not long after, and Indiana totaled seven fouls in the first 6:30 of the second half. The foul fest gave the Boilermakers eight quick free throws, capped off by an Edey free throw that extended their lead to 20 points.
The final 11 minutes were never going to change the outcome of the game, as Indiana was simply outmatched in every way by the No. 2 team in the nation. Edey had another dominant performance, scoring 26 points with 13 rebounds on his way to a second National Player of the Year Award.
After a win over Ohio State that could have served as a momentum builder, Purdue stopped any thought of that.
"I think it's different teams. This team is a lot better," Galloway said. "They're more experienced and they've got a lot of guys that really know what they're doing and know how to settle a run. So you've got to give them a lot of credit because they play so well together, especially at home. You can't dig yourself a hole because you're not going to be able to come back against these guys. That's just how it is. You've got to be on point from the get go and last that for 40 minutes and we didn't"
The Boilermakers’ 3-point shooting is why they’re a better team than last season, and they finished 8-for-21 from beyond the arc. Gillis hit a pair of 3-pointers near the midway point of the second half, and Edey made the first three of his career with 6:35 left.
Foul trouble rendered Indiana’s leading scorer, Reneau, ineffective. He finished with six points on 3-for-11 shooting with three turnovers and fouled out at the 7:09 mark.
"I thought Malik tonight, he just wasn't Malik and they had a lot to do with that from a defensive standpoint," Woodson said. "I think he was trying to do it himself and just looked out of character. He's been pretty solid for us this season, but tonight it just wasn't his night."
Indiana’s best source of offense was the pick-and-roll game between Galloway, who finished with 10 points, and Ware, who had 11. But the Hoosiers’ season-long 3-point struggles continued, as they shot just 4-for-16 from beyond the arc. Three of those came from CJ Gunn, who scored a team-high 13 points, when the rout was already on. They were going to need a big outside shooting night to have any chance to pull off the upset, and this roster and offensive system isn’t constructed in a way to make that possible.
Indiana has over a week off to figure things out and bounce back from a demoralizing rivalry loss before hosting Northwestern (16-7, 7-5) Sunday at 3 p.m ET.
"We just got to continue to grow as a team," Woodson said. "And we're going to have to add some pieces. But the season's not over with guys, we still have seven more games I believe to go and anything can happen."
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