Wednesday, February 18, 2015

At a Glance: The Purdue Boilermakers (IU -3.5) 7:00 ESPN, Assembly Hall



Quick Facts
-Established in 1869
Armstrong in 1969
-First basketball season in 1896
-38,770 students
-Located in West Lafayette, Indiana
-Main colors- Old Gold & Black
-2013/2014 results: 15-17 (5-13 in B1G)
-Neil Armstrong attended
-Final Four appearances- 2
-22 regular season conference championships (13 before 1950…)
-70th matchup between the Hoosiers & the Boilermakers (36-33 good guys)


Results Thus Far (17-9/9-4)

Notable Victories
1/24/15 vs. #25 Iowa                   W 67-63
1/28/15 vs. #22 Indiana               W 83-67
2/4/15 vs. #20 Ohio State            W 60-58

Notable Losses
12/6/14 vs. NORTH Florida         L 70-73
12/22/14 vs. Gardner Webb         L 84-89


Ratings





Scoring/Breakdown

                                                                                Category Leaders
Hammons leads in points & rebounds this season 


Points
C #20 A.J. Hammons-10.9
G #35 Rapheal Davis-10.7

Rebounds
C #20 A.J. Hammons-6.5
G #0 Jon Octeus-5.0

Assists
F #12 Vince Edwards- 2.7
G #0 Jon Octeus-2.6



         
First of all, to start off, don't look for this to be the same game we watched weeks ago in West Lafayette, because I can personally guarantee it will be much different. I wasn't surprised that a fairly young team in IU was shell-shocked in a big away rivalry game and that we came out flat, not to mention Isaac 'Ogre' Haas had the game of his life against us (although I will give him some credit being a four star recruit). Purdue's bigs were simply too much for us to handle and the atmosphere certainly didn't do us any favors. IU currently sits in a tie for third in the conference with Purdue in a tie for second with Maryland and Michigan State. Purdue started the season off just terribly but Painter has somehow righted the ship that lost to lowly Gardner Webb and North Florida home at Mackey. 

For IU, we need to do what we do best. 1-Shoot the ball well and let it fly. We are past the point in the season where I would question that strategy. We are third in the nation at a 41% click so let's use it to our advantage with the crowd on Thursday evening. 2-Move and cut. We are always successful when Troy beelines down the baseline, guys aren't standing on the perimeter waiting for the 3, and we make that extra pass that's open because space was opened on the floor because of one guy's effort. 3- Hit the boards. As poor as we can sometimes look on defense, 74th in rebounding nationally is better than I expected at this juncture in B1G play. Purdue's bigs won't play as much of a factor in my opinion in a different atmosphere and with our team at full strength. Nonetheless we have to rebound and take care of the ball early. 

Lastly and most importantly...this is Purdue. Do we need any other reason to get up for this game and get the hall rocking? My gosh, the balcony seats haven't been full the last few games I checked photos on my twitter feed. Put this team back in their place and send them packing. Don't let them hang around. At 18-8 we need just a couple more victories to absolutely guarantee our spot in the big dance. In addition, every extra win during the regular season and during B1G tournament play will yield a better seed come March. All in all I am very confident about tomorrow and I hope we come out and wipe Purdue off the floor, because the result of last game was not indicative of who is the better basketball team. Tomorrow evening, let's prove it. 

Score Prediction: IU 72 Purdue 62

IU Most Valuable Player Prediction: Troy Williams 

Quote Before the Game: 
"Knight gave IU the rings, IU gave him the finger." ~Don Pence

The Venue











There is no better video than this



Drink of Choice



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