Michigan State travels to West Lafayette looking for revenge from their defeat in Spartyville earlier this year.

Everybody knows by now that Robbie Hummel is done for the year, however the odds makers still have the Boilers listed as a favorite today (although 60 percent of the public backing the green).

With losses by Kansas and Kentucky yesterday, Purdue has an outside shot of ending up as the number 1 team in the nation with an impressive victory today. I look for Kramer and Grant to step up their scoring and this new look Purdue team will be quicker and more active defensively. The Sparty size may give Purdue some issues on the boards.  JaJuan Johnson must stay out of foul trouble now more then ever so we can limit the minutes Bade sees. If Purdue plays with fire and intensity to shut up all doubters, they will roll the over confident Spartans and make a case for number 1 in the nation and a 1 seed in March.

Trends:
MSU is 0-6 ats in their last 6 vs teams with a winning SU record
MSU is 2-6 ats in their last 8
Purdue is 19-7-1 at home in their last 27 games vs a team with a winning road record
The favorite is 12-4 in the last 16 meetings
Under is 9-2 in the last 11

Look for Purdue to take a page out of the Notre Dame play book and have everybody step up when a star player goes down.

Picks:
Purdue -4
Under 135.5

LocksvilleUSA

It was 5 years and 135 days ago the last time the Boilermaker faithful have experience so much hype for one game.  If you do the math you need to go all the way back to October 16, 2004 when Purdue was ready to make a name for itself nationally.  However, no basketball game was played that day.  As a matter of fact that day #5 Purdue hosted #10 Wisconsin on the gridiron with a lot of things on the line.  I bring you back to a setting of two top ten teams that were both undefeated trying to propel themselves to a Big Ten football championship.  On top of that, ESPN had chosen Rose-Ade Stadium as the site of its weekly GAMEDAY experience.  Made a lot of sense considering Purdue’s quarterback (Kyle Orton) was the leading Heisman Trophy candidate at the time.  As a student back then I can honestly say that I have never seen the campus filled with so much energy during my five years(Harry’s was much cooler than Hicks Library) there as a student.   Most all know the ending and refer to that game as THE FUMBLE, where Purdue’s time in the national spotlight was short lived.

Sunday February 28, 2010 I come back as alumnus to a campus where I expect the environment to be quite similar to the one I experienced as a student over 5 years ago.  Fortunately, under very unique circumstances I will be sitting amongst the members of the Paint Crew and reliving the dream of a student once again.  The entire college basketball world will be watching tomorrow as this game brings added viewers to see if #3 Purdue is worthy enough to leapfrog Kansas and Kentucky who lost Saturday night to Oklahoma State and Tennessee respectively.   This will also be the first test for the Boilermakers to show they can beat at top flight team in Michigan State without Robbie Hummel.

Many analysts have come out and said that Purdue will not end up with a #1 seed and could drop down to all the way down to a #3 seed.  Something similar happened to Cincinnati in 2000 when the NCAA tournament selection committee gave them a #2 seed right after Kenyon Martin went down with a season ending injury during the Conference USA tournament.   In my opinion, Purdue is in a much different scenario because they have at a minimum four games to show how well they can play without Hummel. Even Dan Guerrero the NCAA tournament selection committee chair said the following when asked about Purdue’s chances of capturing a #1 seed:

“What if that team were to win its conference, win its postseason tournament and was knocking off quality teams?” Guerrero said. “Why wouldn’t you take that into consideration.”

Us fans can speculate and criticize analysts as much as we want regarding Purdue’s seeding.  In the end it really comes down to the players and coaches on the team to let their play on the court do the talking.  Without Robbie Hummel, Purdue still has two First Team All-Big Ten players on their roster.  E’twaun Moore and JaJuan Johnson will be most likely get those honors after the season, and you can take that to the bank.  Just make sure the bank is FDIC approved!  Moore and Johnson are supported by Chris Kramer who will most likely end up as Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year and is making a case for National Defensive Player of the Year.  The player who will need to step up the most is Keaton Grant a.k.a the TIME MACHINE.  He has recently traveled back to the 2007-2008 season to find his jumpshot.  He has shown a lot of resilience these past few games and his senior leadership is really shining right now.  I look for him to pick up the load on offense.

Many people questioned why Matt Painter was playing so many guys during the non-conference season.  Well, I’m glad he did because freshmen such as Kelsey Barlow, DJ Byrd, and Patrick Bade will now have to step up and play quality minutes.  Sunday’s game will also be a chance for Matt Painter to showcase his coaching ability and take one step closer in becoming an elite coach.  It is times like this when good coaching really pays off.   JPC members make sure you bring your wallets because Painter will be justifying his salary tomorrow!

Switching gears, I took a quick look at the last time we played Michigan State to see what were the keys to the game.  Well luckily for us, Moore and Johnson both had fabulous games and will be on the court tomorrow.  Historically, Michigan State is a very good rebounding team but they are not as dominant this year as they have been in years past.  A lot has to do with the fact that most of the players who get significant minutes are really not that tall.  Delvon Roe (6′8), Raymar Morgan (6′8), and Draymond Green (6′6) are the main frontline players that MSU plays regularly.  The rest of their rotation includes guards that Purdue can easily matchup with on defense.

Look for Chris Kramer to play significant minutes on Roe,Morgan,or Green.  He did a very good job against Colton Iverson from Minnesota who is listed at 6′10 and 258 lbs.  Depending on whether Kalin Lucas is in the game or not, I can definitely see Kelsey Barlow also guarding some of the bigger frontline players for MSU.  I still think that Barlow sees some minutes on Kalin Lucas, but if Lewis Jackson is in the game for Purdue look for Barlow to guard someone else.  Purdue was very effective on Lucas limiting him to 2-6 from the field with one assist.  He is the engine that runs that team, so I think you will see Painter throw three or four different defenders on him again.

Tomorrow should be an exciting game and I can’t wait to hear the Mackey crowd.  It is going to be electric and something that hasn’t been seen on Purdue’s campus since 2004.  If you are going to be at the game, make sure you have enough money to buy a hot dog because Purdue will be bring the MUSTARD!

-Nick H

Picture from GBI blog

Here are some quotes from some of the Purdue players and how they are dealing with the Hummel injury:

“As a team we should come out and this should be the hardest we’ve played in a game all year,” - Chris Kramer

“It’s like when Tim Tebow said, ‘Nobody’s going to play harder than me or my team.’ That’s the kind of effort we need, just as a tribute to Rob. We have to show him, ‘We’ve got you and we’re going to lay it on the line with or without you.’” -Chris Kramer

“I think guys will dig a little deeper for him,” ….. “and just play harder.” -JaJuan Johnson

“Everyone counts us out,”….. “That’s the bottom line. Some people might say, ‘Oh, you can still win the Big Ten’ and all this, but in the back of their minds, they’re saying, ‘Purdue can’t do any of what they want to do.’ Everyone’s counting us out. -Chris Kramer

“The only people who believe (we can do) everything we want to accomplish are the people in our locker room. That’s all we need. As long as everyone in our locker room – from Coach Painter to our practice players – believe we can still accomplish all our goals, starting today in practice, and not sit around and mope, we’ll be fine.” – Chris Kramer

“Not that it proves we can do it without him,”…. “but it’s definitely a boost for us.” – E’twaun Moore (referring to the Minnesota come back win)

The whole story can be found at Rivals.com

Anyways it was great to read those quotes today from our team.  Winners do not fold in the face of adversity which is what this Purdue team is made of.

My high school basketball coach always said after an injury “adversity creates opportunity”.  The first time I heard that, I had no idea what the hell he was talking about; but during my junior year I was a backup point guard for the varsity team.  I really didn’t see much playing time because the starting point guard was an all-conference performer from the prior year and arguably the best player on our team.  However, in the middle of the season our starting point guard went down with an ankle injury against one of our conference rivals.  Right then I knew what Coach Meyer(DePaul legend, Ray Meyer’s son) meant by “advesrity creates opportunity”.  This was my time to shine, I was most likely going to get into the ballgame and play some meaningful minutes in a close game.

There was one major problem, I didn’t have my jersey underneath my warmups!  Yea I know, how the hell do you do that?  Well I’m very forgetful when it comes to common things such as wearing a jersey to a basketball game.  Regardless, I had to tell someone before Coach Meyer found out, because he probably would have body slammed me right there on the court for being so stupid and unprepared.  I ended up telling one of the assistant coaches the dilemma and I guess he told Coach Meyer that he should go with a different player because I wasn’t feeling well that night.  Talk about a cool assistant coach.  Anyway, my buddy J.O.B. (middle name Oren) ended up playing some major minutes at point guard for the next few weeks because I never got a chance to showcase my skills.  Woe is me, sad story, blah,blah,blah.  The following year I ended up taking over the starting point guard position and winning the Billy Schnuur award (Senior basketball award).  Luckily I got another chance to showcase my skills, but not many people get more than one chance.

So what is the point of that story?  Hummel is out, so somebody has to replace his 35 minutes of playing time.  In life, it is very easy to look at the negative side of things, but for once lets take a look at the positive side.  As of late, Keaton Grant (a.k.a THE TIME MACHINE) has been shooting the rock very well.  He has that senior leadership at the guard position that goes a long way in an NCAA tournament.  He will see some increased playing time because he is the best threat we have offensively, outside of the Big Three.  As an added bonus, his defense is not a liability.  Don’t be surprised if you see a lot of 4-guard lineups (plus JJ) for the rest of the year.  Villanova has been a top ten team all year and they just throw a lot of guards at you with Pena down low in the post.  Defensively, Kramer is going to see a lot of time at the four as he did last year when Hummel was out with his back injury.  Kramer has done well defending big guys throughout his career, spefically against Aminu (6′9) during the Wake Forest game and Florida’s Al Horford two years ago (currently an NBA All Star at the Power Forward position).

The trio of Bade, Hart, and Byrd are going to need to step it up offensively.  Bade and Byrd have been non-existent on the offensive end since the beginning of the Big Ten season, but I think it’s about time Byrd steps up and shows his 4 star capability.  With Hummel out, there is one less guy Byrd needs to be looking over his shoulder to replace him when he messes up.  You can tell that his confidence was lost as the Big Ten season progressed.  The main thing Bade needs to focus on right now is playing solid defense and control the boards against big teams.  We have enough scoring power on the perimeter where Bade doesn’t need to be a force in the post.  He also needs to stay out of foul trouble, If he and JJ get into foul trouble, Purdue would be forced to go with a 5 guard lineup…a recipe for disaster.

While all of the supporting players need to step up their game and try and replace Hummel collectively, two guys need to bring it.

E’twaun Moore & JaJuan Johnson,  your table is ready!

Let’s hope for a speedy recovery to Robbie Hummel.

Remember “adversity creates opportunity”.  The season is not over until we lose in the NCAA tournament.  Until that happens keep your heads up and DON”T FORGET TO BRING YOUR JERSEY!

-Nick H

Exhale…for now.  The #3 Boilers escaped the gopher hole with a narrow 59-58 victory, not without its battle wounds.  An MRI of Naismith Award Finalist Robbie Hummel’s knee will indicate whether those wounds are potentially fatal. 

Purdue jumped out to an early lead and looked to be in control of the game.  The Hummel-Johnson combo picked apart Tubby’s zone with ease.  Hummel had 3 triples and looked to be in a trance that resembled his first half against Ohio State earlier this season.  Johnson, who ended with 14 points and10 rebounds, mirrored his counterpart, drawing the defense away from the basket by hitting a pair of 18+ footers.  Thoughts of resting starters in the second half , for the upcoming MSU game, crept into Boiler fans’ heads.  Then the unthinkable happened…

…Hummel drove to the middle of the zone, eyes focused on the rim.  He planted his left foot, preparing for lift off, as he had done so many times before.  The ball rolled off his fingers, only this time, there was no nylon involved.  Instead, it bounced into the hands of Minnesota defenders.  All eyes focused on Purdue’s wonder boy, who was wincing in pain and grabbing his knee on the floor.  Living rooms across Indiana were silent, praying for him to hop back up.  Prayers went unanswered as trainers ran onto the floor to carry him off.

With about 7 minutes left in the first half, the Boilermakers looked lost.  The sure-firing Moore, went cold. JaJuan looked tentative.  Bade picked up two quick fouls attempting to fill in for Hummel.  Spanning halves after Hummel left, Purdue was held scoreless by the invigorated Gophers for over 10 minutes.  The Boilers desperately needed someone to take control.  All confidence the Boilers had was gone, and a Big Ten Championship seemed to be slipping out of the their hands.

A 30-17 Purdue lead was erased, and Matt Painter saw his team trailing to the Gophers, 30-36 with under 15 minutes left to play in the 2nd half.  It seemed as though the fans and players were all questioning the future of the team.  Would they win the Big Ten?  Would they get a 1 seed? Would they get past the Sweet 16? Would they get to play in Indy in the Final 4? 

The game itself seemed to be the least of everyones’ worries…except the Seniors.  Chris Kramer displayed his leadership by making 6 consecutive points for Purdue as well as taking a charge.  Kramer woke up his teammates and let them know before any of the aforementioned questions could be answered, they had to beat Minnesota.  Keaton Grant followed Kramer’s lead by draining a 3 on a pass from Kramer, with 6:30 to play, bringing the Boilers within 3.

After trading possessions, the Boilers found themselves playing the resilient Gophers, as well as the clock.  Purdue trailed by 4 with under 90 seconds left.  Grant, coming off consecutive 13 and 15 point games, respectively, regained the confidence he showed during his Sophomore year, where he won team MVP.  He drained yet another 3, on a pass from Kramer, over the outstretched arms of Center, Ralph Sampson III.

The two teams traded baskets again, giving Purdue the ball, down 1 with 29 seconds to play.  Purdue began the possession by passingthe ball around the perimeter looking for an opening to get the ball to JaJuan in the post.  The Hummel-less Boiler offense began to worry as the clock showed 15 seconds.  No one wanted to take the potential game-winning (or losing) shot.  The ball made its way into the hot hand of, who else but, Keaton Grant.  With ice in his veins, he stepped up to take the long two and hit nothing but net.  The air was let out of the Minnesota faithful, but they knew there was still enough time left to keep their waining NCAA hopes alive. 

Purdue looked to end the game on defense as they have done many times before.  Devoe Joseph had a wide open shot as Kramer bit on a shot fake, but missed as time expired.  Purdue fans across Big Ten Country experienced a bittersweet feeling, as unanswered questions about Hummel’s future came to the forefront of post game buzz.

Although Hummel will be all of the talk over the next few days, nothing should be taken away from the great play of Keaton Grant and Chris Kramer down the stretch.

Buzzer Beater: Purdue became the first ever team to beat IU, MSU, OSU, ILL, and MINN on the road in the same season. 

-Fitz

This 2.5 point spread screams trap game all day…I couldn’t believe it when I saw the line and neither can 72% of the public which also scares me.  However Purdue has been road warriors of late and as long as they can control the 3 point shooting of the Gophers this game is a lock for the Boilers.

I guess the Gophers have played well in their last 2 home games but lets not forget Michigan coming into the Barn and posting an 8 point victory two weeks ago.

The only way the Gophers can even contend in this game is for Westbrook and Hoffarber to go nuts and drain a bunch of threes…and even if this happens Purdue would still need to be in foul trouble for a Gopher cover.

In addition, Purdue has covered the last four meetings between these squads including a similar 1 point spread at the Barn last year.

Trends From Covers.com:

Golden Gophers are 16-36-1 ATS in their last 53 games as an underdog.

Golden Gophers are 8-20 ATS in their last 28 games vs. a team with a winning S.U. record.

Golden Gophers are 8-21 ATS in their last 29 vs. Big Ten

Golden Gophers are 2-9 ATS in their last 11 games as a home underdog.

Over is 5-1 in Boilermakers last 6 road games.

Stick it to your Bookie and pound the Boilers tonight…if you need an over/under go with the Over because this should be a high scoring game as both teams have improved offenseivily since the last meeting.

Picks:

Purdue -2.5

Over 135.5

Pretty good blog from Mark Titus, benchwarmer on the OSU basketball team.  His most recent entry, Boil(er)ing With Frustration , is recollecting the Purdue game and is a great read.

Well if you didn’t believe in time travel, you should now.  Sophomore guard Keaton Grant traveled into the future and is now living among us.  I was hoping it true after his 13 point (5-8 shooting) performance against Ohio State on Wednesday night and after today’s 15 point outburst, I am here to confirm it.  With the Sophomore Keaton Grant, Purdue’s big three now has a formidable foursome to take the Big Ten title and make a push for Indy.

In the college basketball of today, it isn’t typically big men that lead a team in march, its the guards.  Thanks to the re-emergence of Grant we have a team that goes 5 deep in guards and any one of them can pack a punch. Lewjack is slowly getting back into game shape and will be a big part of our team moving forward.  Barlow has continued to impress and while a little mistake prone at times, he can contribute solid minutes through the rest of the season.  These three (Grant, Lewjack, and Barlow) along with Moore, Kramer and even throw in Hart, give Purdue one of the deeper backcourts in the nation.

Taking a look at today’s game it was nice to see the rest of the team really pick it up when JJ couldn’t get it going.  Shooting 35% including Johnson going 1 for 10 and still beating Illinois by 10 is a pleasant surprise.  Many people thought Purdue went as JJ did, but its nice to see that is not the case. The other experienced players really stepped up there game in order to keep McCamey and the underrated Illini from stealing one on Keady Court. Kramer contributed in about every way possible including another 5 second call that always puts everyone in Mackey on their feet and Moore just keeps like he is the best player in the Big Ten not named Evan Turner.  All in all it was a game I expected Purdue to win and they did just that, now it’s time for them to get ready for the Gophers.

-Flood

The Boilers have reeled off 8 wins in a row and the Illini have won 5 out of their last 6 games coming into this afternoon’s action.  Purdue won and covered the match up earlier this year with a freak performance from John Hart as he scored 14 points in 18 minutes however in the Boilers 11 other Big Ten games Hart has only accounted for 17 total points.

I look for the Illini to try to control JJ and limit his scoring and charity line trips.  The Illini will look to control the boards and continue to play tough defense as they have in Big Ten play holding their opponents under 40% shooting.

One concern with Purdue this year is that they have been able to breakout to commanding leads against teams but have been susceptible to star players bringing teams back and making games close.   I think this game will be close the whole way however if Purdue builds a lead look for a Evan Turner or Kalin Lucas type performance by Demetri McCamey to bring the Illini back for a backdoor cover if this is the case.

Trends:

The Illini are 4-0 ATS in their last 4 games as a road dog of 7.0-12.5

The Illini are 4-1 ATS in their last 5 games as a road dog

The Boilermakers are 5-12-1 ATS in their last 18 games following a ATS win

The Boilermakers are 1-4 ATS in their last 5 Saturday games

The Boilermakers are 0-4 ATS in their last 4 games laying chalk of 7.0-12.5 points

The Road team is 5-1 ATS in the last 6 meetings

The Over is 6-1 in the last 7 meetings between Purdue and Illinois

Picks:

Illinois +12.5

Over 136

The Boilers still control their own destiny in the Big Ten title race. Purdue was able to withstand a second half comeback from the Ohio State Buckeyes Wednesday night to keep pace with Michigan St. atop the Big Ten standings.

Wednesday night’s game was eerily similar to the Jan. 12 game these two teams played in Mackey Arena in which Ohio St. overcame a 12-point halftime deficit for the last minute victory. This time, the Boilers were able to hold onto a 13-point halftime lead despite a sloppy second half.

Purdue dominated the first 20 minutes of action led by junior JaJuan Johnson and senior Keaton Grant who combined for 26 of the Boilers 36 first half points. Purdue was dominant on both sides of the court building up as large of a 15-point lead en route to its eighth straight victory and ending Ohio State’s nine straight conference wins.

Evan Turner was a star again on Wednesday night, but his 29-point performance didn’t come easy. The combination of Kelsey Barlow, Lewis Jackson, Keaton Grant and Chris Kramer made Turner work every time he touched the ball. The Boiler guards harassed Turner every time he brought the ball up the court and played him very physical the entire way. After Ohio State was able to creep back to within two points of the Boilers midway through the second half, the Buckeyes got soft and settled for outside jumpers. OSU couldn’t hit a clutch shot down the stretch and really did Purdue a big favor by not attacking the basket as frequently. Between the energy Turner and the Buckeyes used to run their offense the entire game and the energy it took to climb back into the game, there just wasn’t enough left to overtake the determined Boilermakers.

Robbie Hummel was nonexistent for most of the game and was saddled with foul trouble as the junior totaled only 4 points in 28 minutes of play. But Grant was the spark off the bench that Purdue desperately needed in Hummel’s absence. Grant gave Matt Painter’s team 29 minutes off the bench along with 13 points, 11 of which came in a 4-for-5 shooting performance in the first half that even included a rarely seen four-point play.

JaJuan Johnson made an early case to be named Big Ten Player of the Week for the second straight week with a dominating 24 points, 7 rebound performance. During Purdue’s eight-game winning streak, Johnson has proven that he not only is the best big man in the Big Ten, but is amongst the best in the nation as well.

Five games remain in the regular season, but the conference will most likely be decided in the next three. The tests keep on coming as Purdue welcomes Illinois to Mackey Arena on Saturday before heading to Minnesota for a tough road test against the Gophers next week and then ending the toughest four-game stretch of the season with a rematch of the Spartans for what could decide the Big Ten title. Buckle up Boilers; it’s going to be a wild finish.