Sunday, February 11, 2024

Hammer, nail, etc.

 That was some platinum-grade history they rolled out in Mackey Arena last night, and, no, not because it was Troy Lewis Bobblehead Night (with a special appearance by the real Troy Lewis). It was because Zach Edey something he'd never done before.

He hit a 3-pointer!

Yes, he did. Right there in the second half. Set a pick for Braden Smith, popped out to the arc, got the rock back from Smith. And then Edey squared up, lofted a Skylab of a not-really-a-jumper, and banked it in off the glass. Banked it in.

Mackey went nuts. OK, so more nuts. Even the Purdue bench players were jumping up and down, because Edey had never made a three in his entire college career and here he not only made one but banke-

I'm sorry, what?

Oh, yeah. Also, Purdue smacked Indiana around again, 79-59. Led by 28 with six minutes to play before C.J. Gunn hit a few too-late threes for the Hoosiers. And yada-yada-yada, nothin'-to-see-here-folks, rivalry-what-rivalry.

Remember back in the day, when Mackey used to thunder like few places thunder as IU and Purdue clawed at each other to the bitter end?

Well, it thundered plenty last night. But down toward the end, before and after Edey launched a three that by that point could only be described as whimsical, Mackey was mostly ... laughing.

Edey laughed. The Paint Crew student section laughed. Everyone laughed, because this Indiana team couldn't remotely hurt this Purdue team, and everyone knew it.

They laughed because Edey and Purdue were just horsing around by then, having long since rendered Indiana helpless. Except for the first five minutes or so, this was never a game, let alone a rivalry game. Smith drove through what passed for Indiana's defense for three straight layups, Purdue went on a run, and the thing was over.

The Purdues led by 12 at halftime. They scored the first 10 points of the second half to pump the lead to 22. Then they made their exceedingly merry way home.

And now they've beaten Indiana twice in a month by a total of 41 points, the first time in 90 winters they'd beaten the Hoosiers twice by 20 or more points. Hammer, nail, etc. Dog bites man. No film at 11, because it's no longer news that Purdue is the premier basketball program in the basketball state, and has been for awhile.

Yes, the Hoosiers beat them twice last season, mainly because they had one of Indiana's all-time greats, Trayce Jackson-Davis. That was likely to be enough for Mike Woodson to survive what is demonstrably a down year. Everybody has 'em, after all, even the late Saint Bob of Knight.

But Purdue has now won 15 of the last 19 meetings, with Matt Painter regularly replacing the Boilermakers' own TJDs with a fresh crop of TJDs while IU hits and misses almost every year. It's a big reason why Painter has now beaten Indiana 21 times in 33 meetings across 20 seasons as Purdue's head coach.

Someday that trend might reverse itself, college buckets being the transitory creature it is. But for now, Purdue dropkicking Indiana hardly qualifies as a news item.

Only an occasion for mirth.

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