Indiana associate head coach Yasir Rosemond pumped his fists, practically running to half-court to meet the team as they walked back to the bench. Anthony Leal had just blocked a layup attempt from Purdue’s Trey Kaufman-Renn in the final play before the under-16 media timeout to start the second half. Rosemond, who had the scout for this game, was as excited as Indiana head coach Mike Woodson and the thousands of fans standing up and clapping in support of their Hoosiers.
It capped off a 12-2 run for the Hoosiers to start the second period after trailing by a dozen at the break. Indiana had scored only 25 points in the first half for the second straight game, albeit the team was nine days removed from the home loss to UCLA. In this instance, the Hoosiers were able to pull it together to snap their four-game losing streak at home.
The Hoosier defense ramped up the pressure, getting steals, stops and fastbreak scores in that second half, leading to a 73-58 win over the 13th-ranked Boilermakers for the team’s fourth Quad 1 win this season.
“We did everything from a defensive standpoint that we worked on the days we had to practice,” Woodson said afterward. “Our defense really picked it up and we were able to get stops, and then we started to make shots.”
Indiana hit Purdue with a 7-0 run right out of the gate in the second half to pull within five points, the same run the Boilermakers had against the Hoosiers in the prior meeting at Mackey Arena on Jan. 31 to take an early second-half lead.
It was reminiscent of the defensive intensity previous Indiana teams had under Bob Knight’s watch, which was fitting considering Sunday was the 40th anniversary of Knight famously throwing a chair in a matchup at Assembly Hall against the Boilermakers. Woodson sat in what he insisted was that same red chair and watched his team put on a masterful second-half performance to boost its NCAA Tournament resume.
“You guys don’t realize that is probably the chair…so that’s why it was special to have it here tonight,” Woodson said, who later went on to tell the story of how it was recovered and signed by the coaches across the athletic department at the time. “I wasn't going to throw the chair but I did want to sit in it.”
The Hoosiers did something they couldn’t do four decades ago: beat Purdue, but it would have been very easy for Indiana to throw in the towel after the first half. The Boilermakers went on a blistering 21-4 run to close out the first 20 minutes. The Hoosiers looked like a team that hadn’t played in over a week; completely out of sorts offensively and susceptible to the 3-pointer on the other end. Purdue made five of its last six from beyond the arc and Indiana went away from Malik Reneau and Oumar Ballo, who combined to make six of seven shots from the field in the first half.
The message at halftime was short and sweet: “Just go out there and put your all out on the floor and let’s see the results,” Reneau said afterwards.
Woodson implemented a short lineup; only six Hoosiers played in the second half. Leal, Myles Rice, Luke Goode and Trey Galloway all played the entire second period, while Ballo and Reneau combined for the other 20 minutes. Mackenzie Mgbako notably did not start the game and did not appear at all in the second half. Ballo also came off the bench for just the second time this season.
“The seniors carried us tonight, and I refused to change up anything that much throughout the course of the second half,” Woodson said.
The seniors (Goode, Galloway, Ballo and Leal) combined for 46 points, plus Reneau’s 15 off a perfect 7-for-7 shooting and Rice’s 12 completed the scoring balance. Reneau became the 55th player in Indiana program history to join the 1,000-point scoring club, something he shrugged off when asked about it, but his complete performance with six rebounds and four assists was critical.
“Nobody can guard him one on one,” Galloway said about Reneau. “So just having that mindset of the willingness to pass, show the team what kind of a teammate he is, it's pretty special to see that…he's got to continue to do that for us and be big the rest of the year.”
On the other side, Indiana’s defense held Purdue’s leading scorer Kaufman-Renn to just nine points off 4-for-11 shooting. Kaufman-Renn eventually fouled out and dealt with foul trouble throughout, allowing Indiana to dominate in the paint. The Hoosiers dominated the battle down low, 44-18.
Kaufman-Renn and Braden Smith combined for 47 points in West Lafayette just under a month ago, but had just two combined points in the second half on Sunday. Fletcher Loyer was the only Boilermaker with at least three points in the second frame.
Woodson credited Rice as to why Indiana was able to stop one of the best guards in the conference.
“I thought Myles’ defense tonight was probably the best he's played since he's been here,” Woodson said.
In a season of so many close losses at home, Indiana was finally able to finish in front of the home crowd, which booed the team off the floor at halftime.
Indiana finishes off its three-game homestand on Wednesday against Penn State. The last time the Hoosiers had three straight Big Ten home games was 2021-22. Those three games included wins over ranked Purdue and Penn State. The Hoosiers will hope history repeats itself and the Cream and Crimson can sneak into the tournament with key wins down the stretch, just as they did in Woodson’s first season. Tip-off is slated for 8:30 p.m. Wednesday against the Nittany Lions on Big Ten Network.
