No. 10 Purdue is looking for its ninth win in 10 games when it faces Indiana on Friday night in a Big Ten matchup at West Lafayette, Ind.
The Boilermakers are hoping to defeat their rival Hoosiers for the 16th time in the last 20 meetings.
Purdue (16-5, 8-2 Big Ten) is 1 1/2 games behind Michigan State in the Big Ten standings, while Indiana (14-7, 5-5) is in ninth place.
Despite this, Purdue head coach Matt Painter is expecting a tough game. “Always understand you’re going to get their best effort,” Painter said about the Hoosiers. “You always prepare for somebody’s best.”
Indiana has been struggling lately, losing four of its last five games.
The Hoosiers lost a close game to Maryland on Sunday, 79-78. Indiana had a four-point lead with 38 seconds left, but the Terrapins scored the final five points. Indiana’s final attempt to win was unsuccessful when Myles Rice missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
“It’s on me,” Rice said about the loss. “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 tough, especially since Indiana now faces a challenging stretch of games, with three of the next four against ranked teams — Purdue, No. 17 Wisconsin, and No. 7 Michigan State. The other game is at home against Michigan, which has been ranked at various points 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 tough.
The Boilermakers had a 26-game home winning streak until they lost 73-70 to Ohio State on Jan. 21. They started a new streak with a 91-64 victory over then-No. 21 Michigan on Jan. 24.
Purdue forced a season-high 22 turnovers in the game and only committed 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 points, dominating the Wolverines.
Star point guard Braden Smith had 24 points, 10 assists, and seven rebounds in the game, marking his fourth 20-point/10-assist game of the season. Purdue said there were only two such games in program history before this year.
Smith said he was extra motivated for the game because he felt responsible for the loss to Ohio State. He was just 3-of-14 shooting with 12 points and eight assists in that game.
“When Ohio State happened, I was really upset about it,” Smith 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 had 10 or more assists in nine games this season, averaging 15.4 points and 8.9 assists. He was ranked third nationally in assists before Wednesday’s games.
Smith also leads Purdue with 47 3-pointers, four more than Fletcher Loyer. Trey Kaufman-Renn leads the team in scoring with 18.1 points, followed by Loyer at 14.0.
Indiana’s top players are Oumar Ballo, who leads the team with 14.5 points and 10.2 rebounds, and has a team-high 33 blocked shots.
Malik Reneau (13.1), Mackenzie Mgbako (12.5), and Myles Rice (12.1) also score in double digits for the Hoosiers.
