The Hoosiers were 20-point underdogs going into West Lafayette. Indiana had never been that big of an underdog in the three years of the Mike Woodson era, and it’s not even close. The largest line the Hoosiers have faced all year was at Illinois, where they were 14.5-point dogs. Indiana tied the Illini with 53 seconds to go and did cover despite a 72-64 loss.

The Boilermakers dominated 79-59, as they did in Bloomington the month before, 74-62. In fact, for the first time since 1933-34, Purdue ended up winning both games by a margin of 20+ points. The hapless Hoosiers didn’t even get to 60, let alone get there first! P.U. led 61-35 with 9:48 remaining. There was no magic at Mackey! Zach Edey had 29-points and rubbed it in with his first career three.  Braden Smith scored 19 as the Boilers pushed the lead to 28. C.J Gunn was the leading IU scorer with 13. I.U. would need the week off to prepare for Northwestern. 

I remember the decade of the 70’s when I.U. won 20-straight over the Wildcats. There was another 26-game winning streak that ended in 2003. The longest winning streak Northwestern was ever able to put together was five in a row from 1913-15. However, Northwestern has been able to recently turn the tables with an 8-6 record against the once dominant Hoosiers since 2019.

Overall, the Hoosiers are 119-57, including this disturbing 76-72 loss in Bloomington. The Wildcats led at halftime 34-26, got to 60 first on a Boo Buie three with 6:34 to go, and held on for the victory after allowing the Hoosiers to creep within 4.  Kel’el Ware led I.U. scoring with 22 and Mackenzie Mgbako added a career-high 20. Northwestern got 12 more shots at the basket due to a combination of low turnovers (3) and high offensive rebounds (14). They also shot 22-28 from the free throw line. Threes and frees, again, have haunted the Hoosiers. Malik Reneau and Kel’el Ware combined for seven turnovers against Northwestern double-teams, clearly part of the scouting report. Reneau fouled out for the second straight game. Coach Woodson could soon join the ranks of Ohio State’s Chris Holtmann on the outside of the BIG looking in. Oh, and the black uniforms with red lettering were as bad looking as the I.U. players wearing them.