Purdue beats Wisconsin, moves to top of Big Ten
By KEITH CARRELL
@BoilerColts
ISL Purdue Writer
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The storylines were perfectly set for Wisconsin as they set to tip against Purdue Sunday afternoon in Mackey Arena.
The Boilermakers just learned that Northwestern defeated Nebraska to make the Badgers the lone remaining undefeated Big Ten team in conference play. The last win for Wisconsin happened just five days prior on Tuesday night in Bloomington against the Indiana Hoosiers and no conference foe has won at Indiana and at Purdue in consecutive games since Illinois in 1956.
All the Badgers had to do was defeat a lower-ranked Boiler squad in Mackey Arena for sole possession in the Big Ten race; sounds easy, right? Ryan Cline, Isaac Haas, and the rest of Purdue had their sights set on ruining Wisconsin’s dreams of riding off into the sunset and left victorious at home, winning 66-55.
🎥 Looking back:
✔️ #Purdue 66, Wisconsin 55 pic.twitter.com/WapwRvNLMD— Purdue Basketball (@BoilerBall) January 9, 2017
The game started out as a typical Wisconsin-Purdue slugfest, with each team playing strong defense and dealing blows back and forth. The lead changed hands nine times, and neither team led by more than two until midway through the first half, when Purdue took a three point lead off of a jumper by Carsen Edwards. The low scoring affair saw Wisconsin take a twelve-eleven lead seven minutes in, but the Badgers would not score again for nearly six minutes. Purdue was unable to capitalize on the Badgers drought though, as they only managed six points of their own while turning the ball over five times in that span. The Badgers awoke with an exclamation point, though, as points 13 and 14 were added when Khalil Iverson slipped behind Cline on the baseline and Ethan Happ found him open for a slam dunk.
Play in the first half was rigid at best, between the plethora of turnovers by both teams, lack of scoring, and sheer number of whistles blown. By the under-eight minute media timeout, the teams had combined for twelve turnovers and had only made eleven field goals. While the math got slightly better by halftime, 16 turnovers and 20 field goals, it was still a telling sign. Of Purdue’s eleven turnovers, four were committed by Swanigan — who was getting double, triple, and quadruple teamed at times – and four were stolen by Happ. Play for Purdue largely stabilized when Haas checked into Purdue and the Boilers immediately fed the post to the tune of six points, but the big man only played six minutes as he picked up a pair of fouls early. When it was all said and done, Purdue eventually extended their advantage to as many as ten, before settling for a six point lead, 29-23, into the break after Wisconsin ended the period on a six-two run.
Unsurprisingly, the bell rung for the second period and the teams again began jostling back and forth on the scoreboard. Swanigan kicked things off with a dunk, but he was countered by a three from Zak Showalter. Dakota Mathias returned the favor with a triple of his own and Happ answered with a pair of layups. When “Anything You Can Do (I Can Do Better)” stopped playing in my head and the dust had settled on the back-and-forth affair, six minutes had passed and Purdue clung to a four point lead, 40-36.
Wisconsin’s D’Mitrik Trice may want to rethink his choice in wearing the number zero for the Badgers. Shortly after he made a jumper to bring the Badgers to within 40-36, he found himself wide open for a layup under the Wisconsin basket after Happ stole the ball from P.J. Thompson and threw a three-quarter court pass to Trice. Trice hesitated, but was still open and attempted the freebie; the ball bounced off the front of the rim. To add insult to injury, Alex Illikainen fouled Swanigan on the rebound and began a four minute scoring drought for the Badgers.
Purdue coach Matt Painter didn’t understate the turn of events that transpired from Trice’s miss.
“It was huge,” he said. “They were going to make a basket… they were going to try to gain a little momentum and (Wisconsin wasn’t) able to gain that momentum and we were fortunate enough to make the next plays and start a run on our own.”
Enter Cline and Haas and with the flip of a switch, Purdue stopped turning the ball over, locked in on defense, and used a 12-0 run (including seven straight from Cline) to take a 52-36 lead and effectively seal the game with ten minutes to play. The final fourth of the game, Wisconsin would not be able to shrink the lead to single digits and the Boilers came out victors of the game and sit atop the Big Ten standings in a tie with Minnesota, Michigan State, and Nebraska at 3-1. Wisconsin and Maryland are both a half game back at 2-1 in Big Ten play. The win could prove big down the stretch as Wisconsin and Purdue are expected to remain near the top of the Big Ten and this is the only regular season bout between the schools.
The players were definitely in good spirits and loose after the game, with some friendly banter among Cline, Haas, and Swanigan. As Cline was answering a question about his personal 7-0 run, Haas jumped in and jokingly said, “He had the best ball screen in the league set for him.” Without missing a beat, Cline stoically chirped, “We’ve been having a team debate and I still think I’m the best screener on the team,” to which Haas feverishly shook his head and vociferated “Absolutely not,” and Swanigan uttered “Definitely not, definitely not.” Cline continued, “I set pretty good screens” and Haas responded, “For one practice, you had one practice where you set good screens.”
Swanigan earned another double-double (18 points, 13 rebounds), also the sun rises in the East and sets in the West, but the Boilermakers who showed grit and determination in this contest were two guys off the bench, roughly one roughly eight inches taller than the other, Cline and Isaac Haas. Cline’s all-around game since he returned from suspension has been vastly improved; he’s not only an average defender but a good defender and has expanded his offensive abilities to include the occasional mid-range game as well as dribble-drives into the paint for shorter looks (he doesn’t always finish, but it generally results in a positive for Purdue). Haas meanwhile has been dealing with a bit of a midseason slump that has seen him relegated to a bench role in Purdue’s last two outings, but he appeared re-energized and fiercely determined in the contest against Wisconsin. For the game, Cline contributed nine points, four rebounds, two assists, and a steal without committing a turnover in 26 minutes and Haas chipped in 13 points, five boards, one block, one assist, and only one turnover in a mere 18 minutes of action. Haas also repeatedly duped Wisconsin’s bigs into committing fouls and was seemingly the only thing that could prevent Happ from taking the game over. Both had solid statlines, but they did the little things so much better than a box score could ever depict.
Carsen Edwards had a bit of a rough start in the contest as released a way-too-quick three that missed badly, gave up a layup to Nigel Hayes on the other end, and then proceeded to have a foot on the sideline while catching a pass on the wing. It’s easy to admire the heady freshman though as he never lets past play or results to influence his attitude or game; he always keeps his head high and is a stable force each play and game. After his turnover, he proceeded to nail a jump shot on Purdue’s next possession. He ended with a relatively quiet game, but it likely had more to do with Cline’s stellar play as Edwards saw the court for only five minutes in the second half.
ICYMI: No. 13 at No. 20 belonged to the home team, aka @BoilerBall. https://t.co/Tmztr3hM0X
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) January 9, 2017
Quick Hits:
Prior to this game, Purdue had scored at least 75 points in nine straight games, the longest such streak for the Boilers since 1987-1988 when that team accomplished the feat 15 straight games… Swanigan has lost both opening tip-offs with Haas on the bench… Purdue committed 18 turnovers in the game, of those eight were by Swanigan and four by Mathias… Although Purdue committed nine more turnovers than Wisconsin, they outrebounded the Badgers 34-22… Wisconsin attempted 59 shots, 13 more shots than Purdue, but made only 23 to Purdue’s 24… Wisconsin was also putrid from long range going 0-6 in the first half and 2-8 in the second (their first and last points of the half)… Although he didn’t get much help, Happ had a solid game with 17 points (Purdue may have nightmares of slip screens), five rebounds, six steals, four assists, and a blocked shot… Hayes (4-12), Showalter (3-8), and Bronson Koenig (3-8) each had uncharacteristically poor shooting nights, the trio combined to go 2-9 from three and 4-7 from the free throw line as well… Purdue was efficient when not turning the ball over, making better than half their shots going 24-46 from the field, 7-15 from three, and 11-12 from the charity stripe… The game was a sellout with 14,804 fans in attendance.
