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Game 29: Purdue vs. Indiana

Date: Thursday, Feb. 27, 2020

Time: 7 p.m. ET

Venue: Mackey Arena (West Lafayette)

TV: FS1

Radio: Purdue Radio Network

Purdue Particulars: Roster | Schedule | Statistics

More: Purdue primer and GoldandBlack.com coverage

Indiana Particulars: Roster | Schedule | Statistics

GoldandBlack.com in-game updates: @GoldandBlackcom | @brianneubert

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NUMBERS AND SUCH
Team AP Coach NET KenPom KenPom - Win%

PUR

25

17

68%

IU

37

40

32%

ABOUT THIS GAME

Purdue and Indiana meet in Mackey Arena to wrap up this season's two-game regular season series, now protected within the Big Ten's scheduling structure to play twice every year.

The Boilermakers won the first meeting, 74-62 on Feb. 8 in Bloomington, at the time a seemingly breakthrough win for Purdue. It hasn't won since, as Matt Painter's team carries a four-game losing streak into the rematch while Indiana has won three of its last four.

On Feb. 8 at IU, Purdue looked like it was trending toward the NCAA Tournament and IU toward the NIT. In the midst of both teams' subsequent streaks, those positions seem flipped.

Still, Purdue is looking for its seventh straight win over Indiana, and 10th out of the last 11 meetings.

PURDUE BOILERMAKERS (14-14, 7-10 B1G)

PURDUE PROJECTED STARTERS (LAST GAME)
# Player P HT/WT/YR STATS

32

Matt Haarms

F

7-3/250/JR

PPG: 8.8

REB: 4.5

FG: 53.7%

BLK: 1.9

3

Jahaad Proctor

G

6-3/205/SR

PPG: 9.4

55

Sasha Stefanovic

G

6-4/195/SO

PTS: 9.0

3-PT: 38.8%

2

Eric Hunter Jr.

G

6-4/175/SO

PPG: 10.0

REB: 3.1

AST: 2.7

12

Evan Boudreaux

F

6-8/220/SR

PTS: 5.1

REB: 4.0

KEY PURDUE RESERVES
# Player P HT/WT/YR STATS

50

Trevion Williams

C

6-9/270/SO

PPG: 11.4

REB: 7.7

FG: 53.1%

20

Nojel Eastern

G

6-7/225/JR

PTS: 5.3

REB: 4.1

AST: 2.6

11

Isaiah Thompson

G

6-1/165/FR

PTS: 5.6

3-PT: 37.0%

1

Aaron Wheeler

F

6-9/205/SO

PPG: 3.9

REB: 4.4

ABOUT PURDUE

• The Boilermakers' four-game losing streak is their longest since their last-place season of 2013-2014. Purdue lost its last seven games that season.

• Purdue rolled out its 10th different starting five for the Michigan game and fourth in as many games, the possibility certainly existing that the starting group could change again for the Indiana game, though potential new combinations are running thin.

According to KenPom, Purdue has used no fivesome more than 7.9 percent of the time the past five games, its most-used lineup being Trevion Williams, Evan Boudreaux, Nojel Eastern, Sasha Stefanovic and Eric Hunter.

• The past four games, center Matt Haarms is an uncharacteristic 6-of-20 from the floor.

Aside from those four games, he's a 57-percent shooter overall this season. Last season, he shot 63.2 percent and the year before that 58.5 percent.

• After averaging 13.2 points over a six-game stretch, senior Jahaad Proctor was scoreless at Wisconsin, then scored six against Michigan.

And following four straight double-figure scoring games, sophomore guard Eric Hunter has scored 17 points total the past three games, on 7-of-21 shooting, a portion of that scoring coming during end-of-game sequences after the outcome was basically decided.

Obviously, Purdue would like to get both back into scoring rhythms.

• Trevion Williams Is averaging 17-and-a-half points and 11 rebounds the past two games, following a quiet four-point game at Ohio State.

• Sasha Stefanovic has made 6-of-9 three-pointers the past two games after an 0-for-7 two-game stretch prior. He was 3-for-3 vs. Michigan.

• Purdue's four losses in Mackey Arena are its most since the last-place finish of 2013-2014, a season the Boilermakers closed on a seven-game losing streak. They were 4-5 in the Big Ten at home that season. Purdue lost four Big Ten home games total from 2014 through the end of last season.

Forward Trayce Jackson-Davis is one of the Big Ten's top freshmen.
Forward Trayce Jackson-Davis is one of the Big Ten's top freshmen. (AP)

INDIANA HOOSIERS (18-9, 8-8 B1G) 

Indiana Particulars: Roster | Schedule | Statistics


INDIANA PROJECTED STARTERS
# Player P HT/WT/YR STATS

4

Trayce Jackson-Davis

F

6-9/245/FR

PPG: 14.1

REB: 8.1

FG: 58.3%

3

Justin Smith

F

6-7/230/JR

PPG: 10.7

REB: 5.4

FG: 49.8%

50

Joey Brunk

C

6-11/245/SR

PPG: 7.1

REB: 5.3

FG: 52.5%

1

Aljami Durham

G

6-4/185/JR

PTS: 9.9

REB: 2.1

AST: 2.6

3-PT: 35.8%

10

Rob Phinisee

G

6-1/190/SO

PPG: 7.0

AST: 3.2

3-PT: 35.8%

KEY INDIANA RESERVES
# Player P HT/WT/YR STATS

21

Devonte Green

G

6-3/185/SR

PTS: 10.6

3-PT: 38.4

21

Jerome Hunter

F

6-7/220/R-FR

PTS: 4.1

20

De'Ron Davis

F

6-10/255/SR

PPG: 2.8

REB: 1.4

2

Armaan Franklin

G

6-4/195/FR

PTS: 3.8

25

Race Thompson

F

6-8/235/SO

PTS: 3.5

REB: 3.6

ABOUT INDIANA

• Indiana has tweaked its lineups lately, playing freshman forward Trayce Jackson-Davis more at center, center Joey Brunk less, and forward Race Thompson extensively.

The 6-foot-11, 245-pound Brunk has remained in the starting five for IU, but since playing 24 minutes vs. Purdue, he's played just 40 total in the past four games, and only eight at Minnesota and six vs. Penn State.

The "smaller" lineups have seemed to give Indiana a bit more mobility and put Jackson-Davis into some favorable matchups on the interior, with more room to operate than he may have typically had playing forward alongside a traditional center.

• Same as Purdue, Indiana has struggled badly on the road this season, its six Big Ten road losses having come by an average of 13.3 points, but may be coming off a eureka moment of sorts, having won at Minnesota 68-56 last week, a close game much of the night that the Hoosiers wound up winning going away.

• Indiana has been getting Jackson-Davis wholesale touches lately, since he attempted only three shots in the blowout loss at Michigan. The Minnesota game, he took 15 shots, making 11. Against Penn State this weekend, he struggled from the field, but his 17 field goal attempts matched his season-high.

Jackson-Davis has gone for double-digits rebounds in three of the four games since the Purdue loss, too.

In Big Ten play, Jackson-Davis now averages 13.4 points and 7.8 rebounds. He averages more than five free throw attempts per game in Big Ten play, and for the entire season has averaged nearly 3.8 fouls drawn per game.

He has been a different player on the road, averaging just 7.7 points in Indiana's road losses, but last time out, his 27-point, 16-rebound game at Minnesota — largely vs. Daniel Oturu — was one of the great individual performances of this Big Ten season.

• Devonte Green, often an effective temperature gauge for IU offensively, is averaging 13 points per game over the last four and shooting 48.3 percent from three-point range in that span.

Indiana relies on the three for its scoring as little as anyone in the Big Ten, making just 5.3 per game in conference play and generating a modest 23.5 percent of its scoring from long range, but things can change distinctly when the streaky senior is making shots.

• Forward Race Thompson has given IU a boost lately, playing 20.3 minutes the past four games and averaging 6.7 points and 4.8 rebounds. He's taken on minutes at forward as Jackson-Davis has moved inside more often to the center position.

It'll be especially important for Purdue to keep Thompson off the glass.

He played only eight minutes in the first game vs. Purdue after he'd missed the four games prior due to a bruised back.

• Indiana is 12th in the Big Ten in league games in field goal percentage defense, at 44.1 percent, though Purdue is slipping itself, at 42.8 (10th).

• Only Michigan State turns the ball over in Big Ten play more than IU, which has committed an average of 12.8 times per game. It committed fewer (10) in the road win at Minnesota, though.

THREE THINGS
MOTOR JACKSON-DAVIS AGGRESSIVENESS

Not that it's ever not an emphasis, but effort has been a particular focus following a Michigan game in which the Boilermakers, generally, were outplayed in this category, surprisingly given their NCAA Tournament circumstances and the fact they were playing in Mackey Arena. Effort is Purdue's single biggest key in this game.

He's a stud, and the Minnesota game suggests he's very capable on the road, despite his unevenness previously away from Assembly Hall. Jackson-Davis is going to get his points and fouls, but Purdue just needs to make things difficult and keep a body between him and the rim at all times. Rotations out of doubles need to be sharp as can be, too.

Across the board, Purdue will want to be assertive, from its guards attacking in the open floor but also cutting and sprinting in halfcourt offense, to its big men being physical, attacking the glass and making Jackson-Davis work for everything he gets on offense but also work on defense. Keeping Justin Smith, TJD and Thompson off the offensive glass is crucial, too.

BOTTOM LINE

Coming out of the first Purdue-Indiana game, after the Boilermakers handled the Hoosiers on their floor, and considering IU's road results prior, this rematch profiled as a potential rout for Purdue. Since, both teams have trended in very different directions, and Indiana showed at Minnesota it can beat a credible opponent away from Assembly Hall. Purdue has much to get straightened out, but it does match up fairly well with IU, and the homecourt should be an advantage for the Boilermakers and an obstacle for the Hoosiers, whose body of work this season on the road is suspect, Minnesota outcome aside. It comes down to whether Purdue can get right.

GoldandBlack.com Prediction: Purdue 68, Indiana 63

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