Purdue won at the foul line, where it made 24 free throws to Indiana’s six.
Purdue won down low, where it grabbed 36 rebounds to Indiana’s 27, and got 6-foot-11-inch George Leach, Indiana’s only accomplished big man, into foul trouble. Leach played only 17 minutes, managing just four points and three rebounds. Purdue won by shooting 55 percent from the field in the second half (11 of 20) and by hitting 55.6 percent (5 of 9) of its three-point attempts in the game.
Purdue won with its perimeter defense, which limited Indiana to 36.1 percent shooting and held the Hoosiers’ three starting guards to a combined 10 of 34 from the field (29.8 percent).
Those were the basics of Boilermakers’ 71-56 win over the Hoosiers on Saturday at sold-out Mackey Arena. But in this Big Ten season filled with the inane and the insane, the bizarre and the banal, there was far more to the victory that snapped Purdue’s losing streak at two and thrust the Boilermakers (16-8, 6-5) back into the middle pack (with Northwestern, Iowa and Indiana) of the conference race.
For example, there was the play of Ije Nwankwo, Purdue’s 6-7 freshman center, who started the afternoon averaging a mere 1.7 points and 0.8 rebounds per game. Against the Hoosiers (12-10, 6-5), Nwankwo had 17 points and grabbed a game-high seven rebounds. He made 12 straight free throws and ended up 13 of 14 from the line.
“I’m surprised he made free throws like he did. He doesn’t make them like that in practice,” Boilermakers coach Gene Keady said with a chuckle. “So that’s good for his confidence, which will be a big plus for us.”
“I don’t know why I made them,” said Nwankwo, with a shrug .
“He was a just typical Purdue player today,” Boilermaker guard Kenneth Lowe said. “He was very physical and he wanted the ball low and that made me happy. You know that’s going to open it up for you eventually.”
Things opened up enough for Lowe to go 7-for-10 from the field and finish with 17 points and for guard David Teague to go 6 of 11 on his way to 17 as well. Lowe and Teague overshadowed the Hoosiers’ backcourt pair of Bracey Wright (16 points) and Marshall Strickland (12 points) offensively. And on defense they combined with Brandon McKnight to provide the perimeter pressure that limited Indiana to 10 assists and forced 13 turnovers.
It was the 16th game this season in which the Hoosiers had more turnovers than assists. Purdue led by 10 points at halftime, went up by 16 on two Teague three-pointers in the first 90 seconds of the second half and never let its margin slip below 11 the rest of the game.
“We told our players last night this was our biggest game of the year to see if they could take the pressure,” Keady said. “We always talk about challenges and opportunities, but I don’t think young people always listen to that. Today, they listened . . . and we took care of our business when we needed to.”
Indiana coach Mike Davis said his team lacked focus.
“I was disappointed in us from our concentration standpoint,” Davis said. “The way Purdue played showed our guys how we have to play all the time. It’s a shame when another team has to show you how to do that.”
