No. 10 Purdue looks to record its ninth victory in 10 games when it hosts Indiana on Friday night in Big Ten play at West Lafayette, Ind.
The Boilermakers are looking to beat the rival Hoosiers for the 16th time in the past 20 meetings.
Purdue (16-5, 8-2 Big Ten) is 1 1/2 games behind first-place Michigan State in the conference race. Indiana (14-7, 5-5) is in ninth place.
Still, Boilermakers coach Matt Painter is expecting a fierce battle.
“Always understand you’re going to get their best effort,” Painter said of the Hoosiers. “You always prepare for somebody’s best.”
Indiana hasn’t been at its best lately by losing four of its last five games.
The Hoosiers blew a late lead in Sunday’s 79-78 home loss to Maryland. Indiana led by four with 38 seconds left before the Terrapins scored the final five points.
Indiana’s last-ditch attempt was disjointed and came up empty when Myles Rice missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
“It’s on me,” Rice said of the setback “I have to make sure we know what we’re doing. I’ll take the heat. Everything happens so fast. As the point guard, it’s up to me to be cool, calm and collected.”
The loss was doubly painful with the Hoosiers now beginning a four-game stretch in which three of the contests are road games against ranked teams — the Boilermakers, No. 17 Wisconsin and No. 7 Michigan State. The other game is home against Michigan, which has been ranked at various times this season.
“These next four games are against really good teams,” Indiana guard Anthony Leal said. “If we’re able to string some wins together, it changes everything. We’ll try to win all of them.”
Winning at Purdue will be a challenge.
The Boilermakers had a 26-game home winning streak until falling 73-70 to Ohio State on Jan. 21. Purdue started a new streak with a 91-64 drubbing of then-No. 21 Michigan on Jan. 24.
The Boilermakers forced a season-high 22 turnovers while committing just six of their own. They also limited Michigan to 6-of-29 shooting from 3-point range.
Purdue never trailed and led by as many as 30 while steamrolling the Wolverines.
Star point guard Braden Smith had 24 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds for his fourth 20-point/10-assist game of the campaign. According to the school, there were only two such games in program history prior to this season.
Smith said he was extra motivated for the game because he felt he was the reason why the home winning streak ended. Smith was just 3-of-14 shooting while registering 12 points and eight assists against the Buckeyes.
“When Ohio State happened, I was really upset about it,” he said after the Michigan game. “I felt like I let the team down. I felt like it was my fault and I know they’re going to say it’s not or whatever. But to me, as a competitor and as a person, that’s who I am.”
Smith has 10 or more assists on nine occasions this season while averaging 15.4 points and 8.9 dimes. He ranked third nationally in assists entering Wednesday’s play.
Smith also leads Purdue with 47 3-pointers, four ahead of Fletcher Loyer. Trey Kaufman-Renn leads the Boilermakers in scoring at 18.1. Loyer (14.0) is third.
Indiana is led by Oumar Ballo, who has team-best averages of 14.5 points and 10.2 rebounds. He also has a team-high 33 blocked shots.
Malik Reneau (13.1), Mackenzie Mgbako (12.5) and Rice (12.1) also score in double digits for the Hoosiers.
–Field Level Media
