Indiana’s big men not up to the task against Purdue

The Boilermakers trounced IN, 86-75, to claim a share of the Big Ten title and clinch the No. 1 seed IN the Big Ten Tournament.

Hours before the game – a full day for some – students started lining up outside Mackey Arena’s southwest gate, preparing to enter to watch Purdue host IN for a Big Ten championships.

The Big Ten will announce its men’s basketball post-season awards next Monday.

Back on March 6, 2016, IN was on the top of the Big Ten.

Wisconsin is still slipping after falling to Ohio State.

Caleb Swanigan led the No. 16 Boilermakers with 21 points and ten rebounds while Dakota Mathias wasn’t far behind with 19 points and seven boards. Also fittingly, he had the privilege of dribbling out the clock on the program’s first Big Ten title-clincher since 2010.

IN (16-14, 6-11) fell to 1-8 in true road games including a 1-7 mark in Big Ten play. Vince Edwards had 15 points, 7 rebounds, and 7 assists.

On his Purdue senior night, Albrecht cuts down the nets.

We’re going to miss you, Spike. The same issues that have haunted IN all season – subpar defense, turnovers, an inability to stay out of foul trouble, and a lack communication – were present IN Tuesday’s loss. He finished with just six points in six minutes.

IN will wrap up their disappointing season on Saturday in Columbus.

It’s less than one year later, and things couldn’t be more different. Still, Purdue remains one of the dominant teams in the conference and will bounce back.

Despite leading by four with 1:23 left, the Northwestern Wildcats (19-10, 8-8 B1G) collapsed down the stretch and lost 61-59 to the Purdue Boilermakers (19-11, 10-6) on a buzzer-beating putback Sunday afternoon at Mackey Arena. Another win Saturday will give them an outright championship. A win would have secured the No. 5 spot and sent NU to Indianapolis on a three-game winning streak, but the Cats instead closed a disappointing February with five losses in eight games.

Things are coming full-circle for Minnesota, which got off to a good start, hit the skids in the middle and have regained its form with seven straight wins.

If we were putting together an all-freshman team, it likely would include Bridges, Michigan State teammate Nick Ward, Penn State’s Tony Carr and Lamar Stevens and Minnesota’s Amir Coffey although you also could make a case for Penn State’s Mike Watkins, Purdue’s Carsen Edwards, Maryland’s Justin Jackson, Anthony Cowan and Kevin Huerter or Iowa’s Jordan Bohannon and Tyler Cook.

As for the Scarlet Knights, well, no.

The MSU-Maryland victor is nearly guaranteed a double-bye (both have very few scenarios where they could end up as the 5 seed despite that win).

They will not be winning the BTT. If they win one game, they could still end up as low as the 8 seed. The Hoosiers didn’t quit, and they’ve really never looked like quitting this season. “I mean, look at Tim Priller, he’s getting better”. It was good, but not enough.

Minnesota needs two wins to guarantee a double-bye, but they can possibly get one even if they lose both games. A rough first half against the Gophers sealed Penn State’s fate in a 10-point loss.

That was the real story of this game. Sure, Jae’Sean Tate made a layup with just a few seconds left to do what their gridiron counterparts could not do; squeak out of State College with a win over an inferior team. On defense the Hoosiers defended Caleb Swanigan well in the two schools first meeting by bringing a guard down and double-teaming him when he got the ball inside.

Purdue is looking for nothing more than cap off their successful season by sealing the regular season title against Indiana. The Hoosiers are entering Wednesday’s game as a huge underdog.