Sweet sweep for Purdue over IU

BLOOMINGTON — Before heading up the Assembly Hall tunnel to the biggest celebration of his career, Purdue junior A.J. Hammons turned and saluted the home crowd.

Moments earlier, Boilermaker freshman Isaac Haas put his thumbs inside his jersey and popped his school's name while making the same walk.

Purdue had waited more than three years for those moments – bursting with pride and accomplishment and possibility. Thursday's 67-63 victory at Indiana was the missing piece from the Boilermakers' case for NCAA tournament inclusion. They had not gone into a building that hostile, against an opponent that good, and come away with a victory.

BOX SCORE: Purdue men's basketball at Indiana

With the Hoosiers surging late in front of their home crowd and Purdue point guard Jon Octeus on the bench with five fouls, the Boilermakers summoned the composure necessary for their biggest and most important win of the season.

"Being able to get this road win was huge for us," said Purdue junior captain Rapheal Davis, who totaled 11 points, 10 rebounds and four assists. "It was huge for our university, huge for our team. In a hostile environment like this you always want to be able to sweep IU, and we were able to tonight."

Thursday morning, Hammons won the free throw contest at Purdue's practice. With 4.3 seconds left, he stood at the free throw line trying to extend a two-point lead. He made the first, waited through an Indiana timeout, and made the second to seal Purdue's first two-game season sweep of the Hoosiers since 2011.

Hammons, jeered by the crowd after receiving a technical foul for taunting following a dunk, collected 20 points, four rebounds and four blocks in 28 minutes. Haas, his 7-foot-2, 300-pound understudy, posted 12 points and nine rebounds in just 12 minutes.

Purdue exerted its size advantage at the rim even more than in its lopsided win over Indiana at Mackey Arena on Jan. 28. The Boilermakers finished with a 38-21 rebounding edge, including a 23-9 edge after halftime.

"If you're dominating the glass, they aren't getting those second-chance opportunities," Purdue coach Matt Painter said. "Limiting those transition opportunities was the difference."

Purdue led by as many as seven points in the second half and had a 58-54 edge counting down towards three minutes to go. But James Blackmon, Jr., hit a 3 to cut the lead to 1 and set up a taut, intense finish the rivalry hadn't seen in years.

With 2:40 to play, Octeus turned the ball over and fouled Yogi Ferrell. It was Octeus' fifth foul, and Purdue's most dependable ball handler and steadiest offensive presence spent the rest of the game on the bench.

Davis responded by scoring five points in the final 70 seconds – including a big layup out of a timeout to keep it a 3-point game with under 30 seconds to play.

"It's just a sign of a growing team," said Octeus, whose 12 points included a meteoric dunk of IU's Collin Hartman that resonated on social media the rest of the night. "Guys have to step up in certain situations and that's what we did tonight. A Everybody contributed to this win.

"Everybody was locked in. Everybody knew when their number was called they had to come out and do their thing and we did it. I'm still hyped from the locker room celebration."

Indiana came in shooting 47 percent from 3-point range in Big Ten Conference play — a full 10 percent better than its road performance. Purdue, which limited the Hoosiers to a 4-for-19 performance from behind the arc at Mackey Arena, expected a tougher challenge Thursday.

Yet the Boilermakers again frustrated Indiana's shooters, holding them to a 5-for-16 effort (31.3 percent).

Indiana had early success going inside with junior forward Hanner Mosquera-Perea, who missed the teams' first meeting with a knee injury. But Purdue eventually choked off IU's baseline attack, holding the Hoosiers without a field goal for an eight-minute stretch of the first half.

"You can't defend Indiana on walk-throughs and watching film," Painter said. "They break you down, they drive the basketball. … You can talk through some things, but when it gets down to it, you've got to be able to keep them in front and guard them."

Painter and the Purdue players all said Thursday's win guarantees nothing as far as the NCAA tournament. But a program that has missed the past two tournaments, and that at mid-season seemed destined for a third straight absence, took a big step toward securing a berth.

"You're on the bubble and fighting for a win on the road against your rival," Painter said. "They are really good. Not too many people are going to win here, if any more people. We are very fortunate. We know how tough it is. I felt like we played them at the right time."

Thursday's game

Rutgers at Purdue

Time: 9 p.m.

TV: ESPNU

Radio: WYCM (95.7)