A.J. Hammons’ double-double helps Purdue edge Michigan State in OT

Two Hammons free throws with 3:31 to go pulled Purdue within 70-68. “My teammates deserved it, I deserved it, the coaches deserved it, we all deserved it. It’s what a senior is supposed to do”.

The good news is that, unlike a year ago, we know Purdue is going to the NCAA Tournament.

“They can make a run for the national championship”, he said.

Leading up to the game, the banter had focused nearly exclusively on the Boilermakers’ seven-game losing streak in this series. 3-Point Goals_Michigan St. 11-28 (Valentine 5-12, McQuaid 2-4, Ellis III 1-1, Harris 1-2, Costello 1-2, Forbes 1-7), Purdue 8-16 (Davis 6-8, Mathias 1-1, Cline 1-1, Stephens 0-1, Swanigan 0-2, Edwards 0-3). Michigan State topped the Boilermakers in three key areas (field goals, rebounds, and three-pointers) three times over the last five matchups.

In the end, despite a strong effort to get back in the game in the second half, Michigan State was done in by a stretch of 6:45 at the end of regulation and overtime in which it didn’t make a field goal and made only two free throws.

Anthony Gill scored 16 points and No. 7 Virginia turned the tables on state rival Virginia Tech with a 67-49 victory Tuesday night, the Cavaliers’ seventh straight.

Rapheal Davis, the Boilermakers’ defensive stopper, played the offensive game of his life.

Besides Uthoff, Indiana has to worry about their own game as they didn’t play like the usually do last time out against Penn State.

Purdue (20-5 overall, 8-4 in the Big Ten) coughed up an 18-point second half lead at home just as it had done last month against Iowa.

But Michigan State only built a four-point lead with 1:59, and Purdue hung tough.

And despite the loss, despite the final play, Valentine made another case for something that’s become household knowledge for college basketball fans all across the country – that he’s perhaps, without question, the most dynamic player in the country. The Spartans average 62.9 points allowed per game, but have damaged those numbers in the past 10 games, allowing 69.5 points per game during that span. The Michigan State defense has been a problem for competitors, allowing only. Davis hit the first free throw, missed the second, and there was Hammons, all 7-foot of him, grabbing the miss, clutching as if it were a mega-million-dollar lottery ticket.

Davis matched his career high with 24 points, including shooting 6-for-8 from 3-point range.

Hammons also had eight blocks and fell two short of a triple double. The Boilermakers’ bench was outscored 25-18 on Tuesday, marking the second time this season it has been outscored. Purdue surged early for a 46-30 halftime lead, then pushed ahead by 18 a minute into the second half. With 4 minutes, 30 seconds remaining, they held a four-point lead. Remove the metrics, and even still, beating the Spartans lands as the best win of Purdue’s season, with conquests over Florida, Vanderbilt, Pitt and MI trailing behind. -Penn State coach Patrick Chambers after a 92-65 home loss to the Spartans with State’s Valentine in street clothes because of injury.

As Wisconsin found out first hand, Ohio State’s youth is a blessing and a curse.

More to come on this momentarily.