(BLOOMINGTON, IN) – Despite another marvelous performance from Zach Edey, the surrounding players couldn’t knock down enough shots as the Purdue Boilermakers (22-2 | 11-2) fell to the Indiana Hoosiers (16-7 | 7-5) at Simon Skojdt Assembly Hall 79-74.
Much like Wednesday night against Penn State, the Purdue offense started off slow. Most of the season the Boilermakers have done a solid job at taking care of the basketball (10.7 per game), that was not the case in the first half. In total, Purdue would turn the ball over eight times within the first 10 minutes of the first half. At one point, Zach Edey and Caleb Furst were the only two Boilers to score. Braden Smith became the third Purdue player to score after eight minutes of action. The turnovers for Purdue in the first half really allowed the Hoosiers to get easy baskets for Trey Galloway and Trayce Jackson-Davis. With 4:49 remaining in the half, Matt Painter had to pull his star center in Edey because he picked up his second foul. He had half of Purdue’s 26-points and slightly more than half of the rebounds when he exited. With his team down 16, Painter had no choice to insert Edey back into the lineup with 2:38 remaining to try and limit the damage. Purdue’s deficit would get down to 11 with 1:11 to go after Fletcher Loyer drilled a triple, but after a foul and a turnover, Purdue would trail 50-35 at halftime. The final count for turnovers in the first half for Painter’s crew was 11. The one positive from the first have for Matt Painter’s team, was their relentlessness on the glass. Purdue was +5 in the first half including eight offensive rebounds. The Boilers did get to the foul line fifteen times but converted nine attempts (60%).
Coming out of the locker room, Painter would rely on the nation’s fourth highest scorer on a points per game basis to dig his team out of their rut. Edey scored eight of the first ten points for the Boilermakers in the first five minutes of the second half. At the under-sixteen media timeout, the deficit for Purdue was back to single digits at 54-45 for the first time since it was 25-17 in the first half. The hot hand Wednesday night in Mason Gillis sparked the mini run for Purdue as they narrowed their deficit down to five at 55-50. Indiana would respond immediately by stretching their lead back to ten points with 10:58 left, but the three-pointers started falling for the Boilermakers because Mike Woodson’s team starting doubling Edey in the post. David Jenkins Jr. and Brandon Newman combined for three triples and that ten-point deficit quickly turned into a four-point deficit at 63-59. Both teams would exchange punch for punch, until Purdue generated a couple more combinations of stops and baskets to get their deficit to two-points at 67-65. That was the first closest Purdue had gotten to taking a lead since it was 11-10 with 16:16 left in the first half…30:34 minutes of total game time. The final media timeout would come with 3:15 to go and Purdue would find themselves down 71-66. The freshman guards were silent for most of the night, but coming out of the break, they made two shots to make it a one-point game with two minutes to go. On the ensuing possession by Indiana, Race Thompson got an offensive rebound and was fouled by Smith to push the lead back to three-point. Gillis had the chance to tie the game with a corner three but shot it off the heel of the rim with 1:12 to go. IU would force Smith to turn it over for the first time on the game and their freshman guard in Jalen Hood-Schifino sealed the game with a layup with 25 seconds left. The Hoosiers would convert all four free-throw attempts following a couple Edey baskets before a Hood-Schifino dunk salted the game away. Purdue’s nine game losing streak would end with a 79-74 loss.
TOP PERFORMERS: Zach Edey (33p, 18r), Trayce Jackson-Davis (25p, 7r, 5b), Jalen Hood-Schifino (16p, 4a), and Fletcher Loyer (12p). For this afternoon’s full box score, click here.
NOTES: Zach Edey registered his fifth 30+ point game of the season and eighth game with 15+ rebounds. The loss for Purdue makes then 7-1 on the road this season and 3-1 away from Mackey Arena against ranked opponents. The win for Indiana marked their first win over AP #1 since 2013 against the Michigan Wolverines. Purdue has now lost back-to-back games at Assembly Hall.
NEXT UP: Purdue will have some time to watch the film and learn from the loss because their next game isn’t until Thursday as the Iowa Hawkeyes travel to West Lafayette. Tip-off Thursday is slated for 7pm on ESPN2.
