The Paint Crew Must Be Better Than Vulgar Chants Towards Yaxel Lendeborg
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WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Let me start this off by stating that I'm generally not bothered by things chanted by a student section at a basketball game. If anything toes the line of questionable, I usually chalk it up to college kids acting like college kids. But Tuesday night, The Paint Crew stepped over the line.
Purdue's passionate student section targeted Michigan star Yaxel Lendeborg early in Tuesday's game between a pair of top-10 teams. Multiple times during the game, a "F--- you, Yaxel!" chant broke out, echoing through the arena and audibly making its way into the television broadcast. It began in the upper bowl of Mackey Arena and continued at different points throughout the night.
For context, a profanity-laced video of Lendeborg bashing Purdue went viral on social media just days before the top-ranked Wolverines made the journey to West Lafayette. In the clip, the Michigan star says, "When we see Purdue, we're gonna spank they f---ing a--. F--- Purdue."
You can understand why those comments didn't sit well with Purdue students. It's also understandable why they wanted to make Lendeborg's night as challenging as possible inside one of college basketball's most intimidating environments.
On Tuesday night, though, Purdue's student section went overboard. And, by the way, it only added fuel to Lendeborg's fire.
The Michigan star finished the game with 13 points, seven assists, two rebounds, two blocks, and a steal, leading the Wolverines to a 91-80 victory.
The Paint Crew has generally stayed away from chants of that sort, at least when I've been in attendance at Mackey Arena. In the past, it's been one of the things that has separated Purdue's student section from others across the country. The Boilermaker faithful found a way to be loud, rowdy, and pleasantly obnoxious without stepping out of bounds.
That wasn't the case on Tuesday night.
Perhaps I'm getting crankier the older I get. Maybe this is an old man yelling at clouds. But Purdue has traditionally had — and still has — one of the best environments in college basketball. A lot of that is because of the passion The Paint Crew brings to Mackey Arena every single night.
This time, though, the student section went too far. It wasn't everyone in The Paint Crew, but it was enough that the chants directed at Lendeborg were audible throughout the building and captured on television.
Hopefully, it's the last time it happens in Mackey Arena.
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Dustin Schutte is the publisher of Purdue Boilermakers on SI and has spent more than a decade working in sports journalism. His career began in 2013, when he covered Big Ten football. He remained in that role for eight years before working at On SI to cover the Boilermakers. Dustin graduated from Manchester University in Indiana in 2010, where he played for the men's tennis team.
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