Cliff Brunt’s top 10 Purdue games
By CLIFF BRUNT
ISL Editor
I covered Purdue athletics for seven years for The Associated Press, primarily covering men’s and women’s basketball and football. I saw a lot during my run — Joe Tiller stepping down, the re-emergence of a basketball power and a steady run of success by the women’s basketball program.
I started working for the AP on May 24, 2005. These are the top 10 Purdue games I covered during my run, which ended on May 11, 2012. I only covered home games, so some great ones are left off, though most of them were at home over the years. I will only include games I covered. Warning: not all of these games are wins for the gold and black.
No. 10
Football: Purdue 26, Ohio State 23, OT
Nov. 12, 2011
Robert Marve threw an interception in the final minute of regulation, then made up for it with a game-winning 1-yard touchdown run in overtime.
Ohio State took the ball first in OT, and Drew Basil’s 33-yard field goal gave the Buckeyes a 23-20 lead. Marve completed a 14-yard pass to Gary Bush on third-and-12 from the 15, then scored the game-winner on the next play.
The win gave the highly-touted Marve a signature moment in an otherwise injury-plagued run. He took over for Caleb TerBush that day, and coach Danny Hope stuck with him after the late mistake.
It also probably helped Hope get an extension through the 2016 season. The Boilermakers improved to 5-5 at the time. They finished with a 6-6 regular-season record and defeated Western Michigan in the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl, the Boilermakers’ first bowl appearance since 2007.
This would have been higher if it wasn’t a down year for Ohio State.
No. 9
Men’s basketball: Purdue 73, Northwestern 50, Senior Day
March 4, 2007
David Teague showed out.
Purdue had struggled for several years, but things were finally starting to turn for Matt Painter’s Boilermakers. Purdue entered this game seeking its 20th win of the season.
Teague, a senior shooting guard, took out his cornrows and unveiled an impressive six-inch afro, then put up 23 points and eight rebounds and led Purdue to victory in his final home game. He told me afterwards that he played with a $20 bill in his left shoe to signify what he fully expected to be the 20th win of the year.
He was money. The swagger Teague showed that day has remained with the program. More than anyone else, Teague and Carl Landry were the players who led the program’s resurgence.
That day also marked the last time Teague and I did our usual pregame routine. Each home game during his senior season, he would find me on press row and ask, “What you going to write about today?” and I would always answer, “Give me something to write about!” He almost always delivered, and he certainly did that afternoon.
No. 8
Football: Oregon 32, Purdue 26, 2 OT
Sept. 13, 2008
Kory Sheets kicked this one off with an 80-yard touchdown run on the second play of the game. Unheralded Purdue led No. 16 Oregon, the nation’s total offense leader at the time, 20-3 early in the second quarter before the Ducks started to roll.
Oregon tied the game late in the third quarter, and Purdue’s Chris Summers missed a 44-yard field goal as time expired in regulation.
LeGarrette Blount scored from three yards out in the second overtime to create the final margin. He finished with 132 yards on 12 carries.
Sheets ran for 180 yards on 29 carries in a four-hour game played in near 90-degree heat and high humidity.
No. 7
Women’s basketball: Purdue 74, Nebraska 70, 2 OT, Big Ten title game
March 5, 2012
Brittany Rayburn scored the game-winning layup against Penn State in the semifinals to set up the matchup of longtime Big Ten power Purdue against newcomer Nebraska in the final.
Purdue had won seven tournament titles in 16 years, while Nebraska, in its first year in the Big Ten, was chasing its first Big Ten tournament title in any sport.
The teams had played three overtimes in Nebraska’s 93-89 win at West Lafayette during the regular season, and they played two more on this day. Nebraska’s Lindsey Moore missed a 3-pointer late that likely would have led to a third overtime. KK Houser scored 19 points against her hometown Cornhuskers.
The main reason this was significant was that Purdue was that the team’s most versatile player, Drey Mingo, missed the season with a torn ACL in her right knee and the Boilermakers still won the conference crown. Even with all Purdue’s NCAA tournament success under Sharon Versyp, this was perhaps her finest hour as Purdue’s coach.
No. 6
Men’s basketball: Purdue 60, No. 11 Wisconsin 56
Jan. 26, 2008
This was a huge step towards credibility for the program. Wisconsin entered the contest on a 10-game win streak. Robbie Hummel, a freshman at the time, had 10 points, seven rebounds, five assists and a game-winning block against Michael Flowers. He got the rebound, was fouled and made two free throws with 1.2 seconds left to seal the deal.
Fans stormed the court for the first time during Painter’s tenure.
“I didn’t see them come down, I just got mobbed,” Hummel said that day. “It was awesome. It was one of the greatest experiences I’ve ever had on a basketball court. It was crazy.”
Hummel told me after this past season he still felt the same way about the moment.
No. 5
Men’s basketball: Purdue 76, Ohio State 63
Feb. 20, 2011
E’Twaun Moore scored 38 points against the nation’s No. 2 team. He did it all – acrobatic layups, long 3s, even a jumper at the end of the first half — in his fluid and effortless way. He toyed with David Lighty, one of the Big Ten’s best defensive guards, and it didn’t even look like he broke a sweat.
Moore surpassed 2,000 career points during a flurry of 13 in the final 3:49 of the first half, becoming the fifth player in school history to reach the milestone.
He scored the 38 points on only 18 field-goal attempts, highlighting his startling transformation from the sometimes reckless player who came to campus as a freshman to the efficient assassin who was drafted by the Boston Celtics.
No. 4
Men’s basketball: Purdue 77, West Virginia 62
Jan. 1, 2010
This game stole headlines on one of the biggest football days of the year.
Both teams were unbeaten heading into this game, and there was concern as to whether Purdue could handle West Virginia’s size and athletic ability.
Johnson took care of all those questions with a 25-point dunkfest. The Boilermakers led by as many as 26 points in a win that gave the Boilermakers a right to at least claim it deserved to be in the conversation for a No. 1 ranking.
My colleague, Jim Johnson, asked Painter if the Boilers should be in that mix, and he said the following:
“We have to prove ourselves and be more consistent,” he said. “We’re getting into league play. We’ll see how we play on the road.”
Unfortunately, Hummel tore his ACL the next month, and that question was no longer relevant.
Still, this was a huge victory for the Purdue program, the kind it had sought since its famed recruiting class hit campus.
No. 3
Men’s basketball: Purdue 65, Ohio State 61, Big Ten championship game
March 15, 2009
This was the greatest accomplishment for the then-sophomore combination of Moore, Hummel and Johnson. The win became more significant over time because that trio wasn’t together nearly as much as it should have been. Hummel’s two ACL tears took care of that.
Moore scored 14 of his 17 points in the second half, Johnson scored 16 points and Hummel had nine points, 11 rebounds and five assists. Hummel was the tournament’s most outstanding player and Johnson and Moore were on the all-tournament team, all as sophomores.
What I remember most about this was Painter’s reaction when I asked him what it meant to see this group work together and go from having great potential to accomplishing something big. He nearly choked up.
“It was really huge to land these three guys, because really when they committed to us, we were in last place in the Big Ten,” he said at the time. “These guys made decisions, in my opinion, for the right reasons, because there was a need for them.”
No. 2
Men’s basketball: Ohio State 70, Purdue 66
Jan. 12, 2010
This was truly an epic showdown between Hummel and Ohio State’s Evan Turner.
Hummel dropped six 3-pointers in the final 6:02 of the first half, leading the Boilermakers to a 41-29 halftime lead and sending Purdue’s crowd into a frenzy. This is the first and only time I’ve literally heard a crowd buzz when a player has barely stepped over halfcourt. Seriously. Not making that up. He had eight 3s in the first half, tying Cuonzo Martin’s school record for 3s in an entire game. He scored 29 of his 35 points before the break.
Turner followed with 23 of his 32 points in the second half. Purdue led 62-52 with four minutes left, but Turner scored all 10 points during a 10-0 run to tie the score. He scored 14 of Ohio State’s final 18 points, and did it just after returning from a back injury.
There are very few ‘Remember when?’ moments involving a loss for the home team, but Robbie provided one for Boilermakers fans, who got their money’s worth in six minutes. Anyone who was there that night might forget to tell you that Purdue lost.
No. 1
Football: Purdue 26, No. 7 Ohio State 18
Oct. 17, 2009
Joey Elliott got a special message the day before this stunner.
“Drew Brees texted me last night and said: ‘Hey, go out there and shock the world, have fun. I’ll be watching.'”
Elliott obliged, throwing for 281 yards and two touchdowns and giving Purdue one of its biggest upsets in school history in any sport.
The loss was enough to make the Buckeyes wave the white flag on their national championship hopes.
“Right now, we’ve just got to be worried about the Big Ten because the national championship is gone,” Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor said.
It also was the day the nation was introduced to defensive end Ryan Kerrigan. He had three sacks, two forced fumbles and one recovery.
Purdue entered the game with a 1-5 record in Hope’s first year, but the team was better than its record. The Boilermakers had lost 38-36 at Oregon and 24-21 to Notre Dame on a last-minute touchdown.
Keith Smith caught 12 passes for 125 yards and Aaron Valentin had 10 catches for 97 yards and two touchdowns for the Boilermakers. Carson Wiggs made four field goals for Purdue, including a 55-yarder at the end of the first half and a 49-yarder in the fourth quarter.
Half the crowd at the game was wearing red, but it seemed as though only red remained in the stands after the game ended — the black and gold was on the field celebrating.
This win established that Purdue, even with its inconsistency, was not to be ignored.
The OT loss against Oregon was a great game, but was frustrating as hell. If only Summers had decided not to suck that day…