In a must-win game, Indiana (16-11, 7-9 B1G) picked up its biggest win this season, defeating the No. 13 Purdue Boilermakers (19-9, 11-6 B1G), 73-58 in Bloomington. The victory avenged the Hoosiers’ narrow loss in West Lafayette on Jan. 31 and saw the team finally finish a full second half.
The win also marked Mike Woodson’s perceived final coaching contest against Matt Painter, moving Woodson to 4-4 against Painter. Below are some takeaways from Sunday’s rivalry game.
1. The second-half performance is what was expected of Indiana this season:
Sometimes all it takes is your most hated enemy, having lost three straight, to come into your house to flip the script on a season. Purdue was vulnerable and Indiana could smell blood.
“I thought the second half, our defense really picked it up and we were able to get stops and we started to make shots,” Coach Mike Woodson said postgame.
Indiana played its best half of the season in the second half on Sunday, outscoring the Boilers 48-21. The team scored 26 points in the first 7:41 of the second, eclipsing its first-half 25 in less than half that span.
The difference between halves: Defensive pressure, particularly from Myles Rice and Anthony Leal. Rice completely hampered Braden Smith, the potential Big Ten Player of the Year, and held him to one point and five turnovers in the second frame.
Purdue shot an abysmal 6-for-20 in the second half and gave the ball away 11 times. For reference, the Boilers were 14-for-27 in the first and only turned the ball over five times.
“You know, Galloway had him some. Anthony had him some,” Woodson said. “But I thought Myles did a tremendous job guarding him because he's a tough guard.”
Malik Reneau was dominant throughout the game, scoring a team-high 15 points in addition to his six boards and four assists, and became the 54th 1,000-point club member at Indiana. Caleb Furst and Trey Kaufman-Renn combined for nine fouls and couldn’t contain Reneau or Oumar Ballo, who added 12 points.
In his final home game competing against the Boilermakers, Trey Galloway gave a vintage performance, scoring 15 points and throwing nine dimes. He was the offensive facilitator and took advantage of multiple matchups throughout the second half.
“I really like how we responded in the second half because what we've been doing all year is just fighting,” said Galloway in his postgame press conference. “We've been in these games and we've been in big-time games where we haven't closed them out. But we've continued to keep fighting and that's all you can ask for,
The second half was a reminder of what was expected of Indiana this season, a half that saw Indiana set the tone, had four players (Rice, Galloway, Leal, and Luke Goode) play the entire frame, and showed what this team is capable with four regular season contests remaining before the Big Ten tournament.
2. The Indiana-Purdue rivalry is still alive in Assembly Hall:
Indiana fans have endured some misery this season. The four straight losses before Sunday’s contest was the longest such streak since the 2018-19 season when Indiana dropped five consecutive at home.
That didn’t matter to the Hoosier faithful in Assembly Hall with the Boilermakers in town.
“I'm just happy that we had the chance to go out there and compete and have an amazing atmosphere and great crowd today,” Galloway said.
Even during Purdue’s 12-0 first-half run, the crowd was raucous, but throughout Indiana’s 21-1 second-half outburst, it was the loudest the Hall had been this season. This proves how much the in-state rivalry means to both sides, but Indiana fans needed this.
A season that started with a #17 preseason ranking, a generously paid roster, and lofty expectations fell so short for the five-time nation championship-winning program. Indiana entered at 6-9 in the Big Ten, presumably one loss away from its postseason bubble bursting.
Instead, the Hoosiers fed off the Assembly Hall energy and played their toughest ball of the season. Forty years removed from coach Bob Knight getting ejected against Purdue for throwing “the chair,” Mike Woodson reportedly sat in the same chair.
“You realize that is ‘the chair.’ I've had it for a while. A lot of people say they have the chair,” Woodson said. “I happened to get my hands on it; that's why it was special to have it here tonight. I wasn't going to throw the chair but I did want to sit in it.”
Woodson earned his biggest win of the season, in most likely his final game against the Boilermakers, sitting in his mentor’s chair, with 40 years of stories in between.
