Purdue beats Indiana in Bloomington
By TYLER SMITH (@TylerSmith_ISL)
ISL Editor
(Photo by Darron Cummings)
BLOOMINGTON — Whenever the Hoosiers and Boilers get together, you never know what you’re going to see. Thomas Bryant and Caleb Swanigan both fouling out on the same play in the final minute? Just what we all expected, right?
In a tightly contested game throughout, it was Purdue that made the biggest plays down the stretch. The Boilers came into Assembly Hall and defeated the Hoosiers 69-64.
Vince Edwards led the way for Purdue with 26 points on 8-of-11 shooting. That total matched his career-high. On a night when both teams struggled with their shooting, Edwards had no problem finding the bottom of the net.
“I thought this game was going to be in the high 70’s or low 80’s,” Purdue Coach Matt Painter said. “Indiana doesn’t have a lot of their guys. In their defense, we don’t have any of that.”
The Hoosiers are missing some huge pieces of their team with Anunoby and Hartman out. They also lost DeRon Davis to an injury less than halfway through the second half. James Blackmon Jr. returned to action after missing the last few games, but he understandably had some rust. Blackmon shot just 3-of-14 for 11 points on the night.
“It was just a couple plays down the stretch that we didn’t make,” Blackmon said. “It’s definitely tough to swallow, but we’ve got to have a short memory because we get to play them again.”
Both teams normally shoot well from behind the arc. Purdue came into this game leading the Big Ten in 3-point shooting during conference play (43.5%). They shot just 6-of-21 (29%) on the night, while the Hoosiers shot just 8-of-24 (33%). The box score shows similar numbers in every statistical category, but the only one that counts favored the road team.
The double-foul call came with less than a minute to play. Thomas Bryant drove on Caleb Swanigan and both players made contact with one another. One official called an offensive foul, and one called a block. After some discussion, they determined it was a double-foul, which led to both players fouling out of the game.
Have you ever seen two players foul out at the same time? 🤔
It happened in Bloomington Thursday: https://t.co/WhF2RjEnLP
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) February 10, 2017
“I was just trying to get to the basket,” said Thomas Bryant. “It didn’t go my way.”
“It just wasn’t a good call for either player,” said Caleb Swanigan. “It takes us both off the court and hurts the product of college basketball.”
Bryant and Swanigan went toe-to-toe throughout the night. Bryant led Indiana with 23 points, while Swanigan scored 16.
The win propels the Boilermakers to their 20th win on the season, and they improved to 9-3 in conference play. “Any time you can win on the road, especially in an environment like this, you can’t have enough trying to build your resume,” Matt Painter said.
For the Hoosiers, this loss further hurts their chances of making the NCAA tournament. It was their third home loss, and they’ll need to get hot down the stretch if they want to go dancing in March.
“Our margin for error is not very big,” Coach Tom Crean said after the loss. “We’re highly disappointed. We lost to a good, probably a great team. We’ve got to do a better job at handling the details of the game.”
The Hoosiers will host Michigan on Sunday afternoon, while Purdue hosts Rutgers on Tuesday. These teams will meet again in West Lafayette on February 28th.
