Make wishtv.com your home page

No. 2 Purdue dominates rival Indiana in historic win

Purdue hosts IU inside Mackey arena

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WISH) — Bring out the broom.

For the second straight season, a sweep occurred in the legendary IU-Purdue rivalry. This year, however, the favor went to the team in West Lafayette.

The No. 2 Boilermakers lived up to their national ranking, dominating the Hoosiers 79-59. Combine that with January’s 87-66 win, Purdue beat their rivals by a total of 41 points this season — that’s the largest combined margin of victory since 1969.

“We just wanted to be physical,” Boilers head coach Matt Painter said. “We didn’t think that we had physical box outs at their place a few times – especially with Ware and Reneau in their length – so we just wanted to be physical.”

It was a back-and-forth battle in the first ten minutes, but when Purdue sophomore guard Braden Smith made the first three-pointer of the game with less than six minutes until halftime, the brakes came off. Purdue sped out to a 15-1 run, bolstered by two more triples, courtesy freshman Myles Colvin and senior Mason Gillis.

The Boilers took a 37-25 lead into halftime.

It was more of the same after the break. Indiana continued to shoot poorly, while Purdue dominated the glass. The Boilers out-rebounded the Hoosiers 46 to 31.

“This was a tough game tonight because you’re on the road playing the No. 2 team in a hostile environment,” Indiana head coach Mike Woodson said. “I thought we played well early, but from the 10-minute mark to the half, we just couldn’t score, and we gave the ball away. We gave them the cushion at half. They came out and capitalized on it.”

In a game where it took nearly 15 minutes for the first long ball to go in, Purdue finished with eight. Gillis hit two back-to-back to push the Boilers’ lead to 26 points in the second half. But Zach Edey hit the biggest one of the night — literally. The 7-foot-4 senior center banked in the first triple of his career with 6:30 left in the game. The sold-out crowd in Mackey Arena erupted.

“We owed them after last year,” Edey said. “I think me, all the seniors, we felt this was our last time to give it to them. Prove it to them. to come out with that fire and that’s what we did.”

Edey led the Boilers, scoring 26 with 13 boards. That was his 17th double-double of the season. Smith wasn’t far behind him, finishing with 19 points and 9 rebounds.

The Hoosiers had four in double figures, led by sophomore guard CJ Gunn with 13 coming off the bench. IU made only four threes.

“Got to give Purdue their credit,” Woodson said. “They’re a damn good team.”