Old National Presents: Ranking Purdue's wins in Assembly Hall

Prior to Saturday's showdown in Assembly Hall, Purdue has a 13-32 record all-time on IU's home floor dating back to when the facility opened for the 1971-72 season.

While that record isn't great, it has gotten much better in recent years, as the Boilermakers have won six of eight on IU's home court dating back to 2010 and is in the midst of a three-game winning streak in Bloomington, the longest since the building came to being in coach Bob Knight's first season at IU.

Yet, Purdue hasn't pulled many upsets at IU. The Boilermakers were underdogs in only one victory (2015) in the current run of success and are just 4-12 as a road 'dog against the Hoosiers dating back to 1995.

Here's my attempt to rank the games in terms of importance, a difficult thing to do as each win on the Hoosiers' home floor is usually met with a great deal of struggle.

Purdue has never been a bigger favorite in Assembly Hall, as the eighth-ranked Boilermakers were a 12.5 pick in this one. And Purdue had to hang on for dear life. While this game was important in the Boilermakers' regular-season Big Ten title run, it was a lackluster performance against second-year IU coach Tom Crean that finished just 10-21. Speaking of 21, Robbie Hummel and JaJuan Johnson had 21 points each, with the former hitting some clutch free throws down the stretch.

This one gets placed lower on the list because the Boilermakers took care of business. It was the only wire-to-wire victory for Purdue ever in Assembly Hall, as the Boilermakers never trailed in the contest.

After building an 11-point halftime lead, Indiana threatened midway through the final period, pulling within three points on a couple of occasions. But consensus All-American JaJuan Johnson's 20 points and fellow senior E'Twan Moore's 17 were enough to subdue an Indiana team that was just 3-12 in conference play. Purdue had adjusted to life without Robbie Hummel, who had sustained a second knee injury weeks prior to the season, but unfortunately couldn't keep the February momentum into the Big Ten and NCAA tournaments.

The game will forever be remembered for Jon Octeus' posterization of IU's Colin Hartman (watch video by clicking on the image at the top of the story) in a thunderous second-half dunk.

Yet, the Boilermakers were a 4.5 point road 'dog in this one and had to battle tooth and nail to escape with the victory, as Rapheal Davis helped Purdue to victory with a couple of late layups. Senior center A.J. Hammons had 20 points in the game, but the Hoosiers and guard Yogi Ferrell had the lead inside of two minutes ... but couldn't hold on.

Purdue had been embarrassed in an 11-point home loss to Indiana three-weeks earlier, so little was expected of the 21st-ranked Boilermakers in the return match. Purdue, a five-point underdog, rallied from a nine-point second-half deficit and had a chance to win the game in regulation when senior guard Alan Eldridge's long jumper rimmed out. In the extra session, however, Purdue never trailed, as junior guard Jaraan Cornell nailed a critical three from the left side with 33.5 seconds left to put the dagger in the hosts. It was Purdue's last win over a Bob Knight-coached IU team in B-town.

Chad Austin's game-winner in the 1997 win.

Brian Cardinal, just a redshirt freshman, was huge in this game, as well, scoring a then career-high 25 points. Still, the shot folks will remember is junior guard Chad Austin's game winner from the left baseline over the outstretched arms of IU's Charlie Miller with 0.6 seconds left.

Coach Gene Keady used just seven players against the No. 24 Hoosiers and Chad Austin, who shot just 5-of-16 from the floor, had 18 points. Yet, Austin will forever be remembered as a Hoosier Killer in Assembly Hall, as it was the second-straight year he hit the game-winning shot in the closing seconds.

Isaac Haas proved to be nearly unstoppable in this one as Purdue distanced itself in the final two minutes from Indiana to pull off the victory. The senior Haas had 26 points and five boards, as the Hoosiers had no answer for him in the middle.

The Boilermakers had to battle back from a double-digit first-half deficit, but Carsen Edwards' tomahawk dunk early in the second half gave the Boilermakers some juice, though the Hoosiers refused to quit. The Boilermakers, who entered the game with a 20-2 record, didn't quite cover the 8.5 spread, but that didn't diminish another important road win.

Purdue opened Big Ten play with its first win in Assembly Hall, and it was a sweet one. The Hoosiers had won 37-straight conference games and were defending national champions. Coach Fred Schaus used a full-court press against a young IU team to help force 10 Hoosier turnovers in the last six minutes of the first half. During that period, the Boilermakers jumped from a 22-18 deficit to a commanding 34-24 lead.

Junior forwards Wayne Walls and Walter Jordan, Indiana boys who had yet to beat the Hoosiers in four attempts, hit 13-of-15 field goal attempts in the second half, as Purdue built the lead to as much as 21.

The undefeated and 13th-ranked Hoosiers, with a talented freshman class which included Calbert Cheaney and Greg Graham, pulled to a 42-29 lead at intermission. Things looked bleak for Purdue. After the Boilermakers had a little talking to from Coach Gene Keady, Purdue played one of its better halves of the Keady era.

Senior forward Chuckie White was everywhere in the second half, scoring most of his 19 points in the final period with several coast-to-coast spectacular dunks. Center Stephen Scheffler, who along with Michigan State's Steve Smith, earned Big Ten MVP honors, had a perfect day, hitting all five of his field-goal attempts and all four of his free throws while grabbing 10 rebounds to help Purdue to the overtime victory.

Haarms tip-in and battles delivered Purdue in last year's game.

This game was the ugliest win Purdue has had in Assembly Hall. But it was also a victory that gave the Boilermakers a clear shot at a share of the Big Ten title that it would earn a couple of weeks later.

Matt Haarms' buzzer-beating tip-in of a Carsen Edwards' miss allowed Purdue, a 6-point favorite, to escape with a win despite shooting just 31.7 percent from the field and 44 percent from the charity stripe. Purdue's defense was stifling, holding the hosts to just 27.7 percent shooting ... and it all added up to a happy trip home for Purdue.

Wins in Bloomington that lead to Big Ten titles, especially undisputed ones, will always be high on the list. Purdue entered the game a slight favorite, but once again found itself in a battle to the end. It took a 26-point effort by junior Vincent Edwards and a 16-point, 14-rebound performance by consensus All-American Caleb Swanigan to subdue Indiana in the last game Tom Crean would coach against Purdue in Assembly Hall.

Austin's penchant for heroics against IU had their genesis his sophomore season when he scored the game's final points by nailing a three-pointer with just 18 seconds left from the right baseline in front of the Purdue bench. The victory for the No. 7-ranked Boilermakers, a 3.5 point underdog in the game, went a long way towards securing their Three-Pete run, giving Purdue a two-and-a-half game cushion over Penn State.

Austin hit the shot against an IU 2-3 zone, a rare defensive occurrence to say the least, following a perfect pass from senior guard Todd Foster. The Hoosiers' Brian Evans had a chance to win the game at the buzzer, but senior guard Herb Dove got just enough of a hand in Evans' face to disrupt his shot.

This game earns its place high on the list not just because it was a victory, but because of its role in the improbable run made by Keady's first Big Ten title team. Picked to be ninth in the Big Ten, Purdue showed its first signs it was going to be in the league race for good with this early conference victory in Bloomington.

Speaking of runs, the Boilermakers posted just their second win ever against Knight in Assembly Hall thanks to one of the greatest runs in school annals. Purdue scored 22-straight points over the last three minutes of the second half and the first six minutes of the second half to turn a 35-25 deficit into a 47-35 lead. Mark Atkinson, a 6-foot-7 junior college transfer forward in his first year at Purdue, scored 18 points in his first start. He and teammate Ricky Hall, the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, helped limit IU freshman Steve Alford, who was leading the league in scoring at the time, to just four points.

In terms of being a conduit to a Big Ten title, this game doesn't rate as high as some others on our list. But the fact that this game was highlighted (or marred, depending on your point of view) by the infamous chair toss by Knight, it has its rightful place on the list. It is a moment in basketball history played and re-played.

Knight, clad in a golf shirt as if he didn't intend to stay long on that warm February afternoon, sustained three technical fouls and a dismissal from the game. The event turned Assembly Hall into a very hostile place for Purdue. Freshman Todd Mitchell (21 points, 12 rebounds) was huge in his first career start. Once again, Atkinson did a good job on Alford, holding him to just eight points on 3-of-12 shooting.

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