Seconds before overtime, Purdue students shouted at each other from across Mackey Arena.
“WHOSE HOUSE??”
“OUR HOUSE!!”
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“WHOSE HOUSE??”
“OUR HOUSE!!”
The home team had blown an 18-point lead to Michigan State in regulation Tuesday night, causing so much angst that fans who looked older than Bernie Sanders shouted nasty stuff at the Ted Valentine-led officiating crew.
But Purdue eventually won in a curious way. Up 82-81 with 4.6 seconds to play in overtime, the Boilermakers’ Rapheal Davis clunked a free throw. Several players tried to corral the rebound, but a big man often accused of being soft, A.J. Hammons, emerged from the scrum with the basketball in his arms.
The crowd roared.
“This place was crazy,” said Michigan State coach Tom Izzo, who called it a “hell of a basketball game.”
It was Purdue’s 20th win and an even bigger victory for the Big Ten, whose best teams should produce one hell of a March.
When was the last time Purdue (20-5) and Indiana (19-5) were both this relevant heading into a Big Ten tournament in Indianapolis?
And consider this: Michigan State is among the favorites in online sports books (joining Kansas and Oklahoma) to win the NCAA tournament. Yet the Spartans are 7-5 in Big Ten play, tied for seventh place.
If you ever needed proof that numbers lie, check out the rankings based on conference RPI. The Big Ten is sixth. Yeah, sixth.
The SEC, which treats football recruiting as its official winter sport, is somehow fifth. Interesting considering SEC co-leader LSU is an NCAA tournament bubble team, a No. 12 seed in Jerry Palm’s latest mock bracket at CBSSports.com.
Clearly the conference RPI is getting dragged down by historically inept Minnesota and Rutgers, who are a combined 12-36 (0-23 in Big Ten play).
“They’ll argue till the cows come home which conference is the best,” Izzo said. “That doesn’t faze me. The tournament ends all talk.”
No doubt, but let’s also appreciate the journey.
Iowa is receiving first-place votes in national polls for the first time since the late ’80s. Maryland is a potential No. 2 seed. Indiana is a boom-or-bust team that clobbered Michigan and then lost to Penn State. Wisconsin has won six straight, apparently determined to lop the “interim” off coach Greg Gard’s title.
And how about a Purdue team that gave its fans a wild ride Tuesday? Davis swished all five 3-pointers he attempted in the first half. And then …
“He lost his mind,” coach Matt Painter said of a 1-for-11 second-half shooting performance. “I love him, but he lost his mind. He went back to the Dwyane Wade off-one-foot runners. Makes for a good rebounding drill.”
That’s where Hammons comes in. The mercurial 7-footer grabbed seven offensive rebounds and blocked eight shots, good timing considering the presence of 18 NBA scouts.
He remains a soft-spoken guy. Asked if he would like to chime in after Davis talked about how the victory over Michigan State boosted the team’s confidence, Hammons said: “No, I’m good, thanks.”
Izzo isn’t shy. He not only loves how strong the Big Ten is at the top, but also believes the conference schedule is preparing his team for an eighth Final Four run. In a span of nine days, his Spartans will have played 3-point-bombing Michigan, ginormous Purdue (Izzo comically referred to the behemoths as “bohemians”) and the athletic slashers of Indiana.
“Completely different styles of play,” he said. “This will be good for us. It’s like the NCAA tournament.
“I’m going to use all 20 hours (of allowable practice time each week) from now on. I’m going to have the NCAA there with a stopwatch.”
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