An Indiana sighting, yet again

 And now some numbers this fine morning, to baffle and amaze:

21-4.

28-3; 32-7.

48-21.

44-18.

19-1.

And finally: 73-58.

Which was the score up there on the big board above the Assembly Hall floor when the clock showed zeroes, and for the first time in six weeks it was the home team on the heavy side. In a game bizarre even for a rivalry crowded with the bizarre -- check out where Mike Woodson was sitting yesterday, for example -- Indiana crushed No. 13 Purdue in the second half after Purdue crushed Indiana in the final minutes of the first half.

So, Indiana 73, Purdue 58, fourth straight loss for the spiraling Boilermakers, and, oh, yes, about those numbers:

Purdue finished the first half with a 21-4 run that sent the Boilers to the locker room up 12 and seemingly in position to beat Indiana again, ho-hum, nothing to see here.

Except ...

Except Indiana, in the second half, outscored Purdue 28-3 and 32-7 to start, outscored the Boilers 48-21 for the entire half, and outscored them 44-18 in the paint for the game. Oh, and outscored them 19-1 off turnovers in the second half.

You call that a butt-kickin', in some parts of this world. You call it a rump-roastin', a sheep-shearin', a woodshed-takin', a strap-you-to-a-rail-and-run-you-up-the-Monon-line-in'.

Mostly, though, it was a cleanse of sorts for an Indiana program that's tasted way to much bitter this strange season, and that it happened on the 40th anniversary of Bob Knight throwing a chair in the midst of a dreary loss in the Hall to these same Boilers added an element of poignancy or something to it. Which gets us back to where Woodson was sitting yesterday: In the very chair Knight flung four decades ago, rescued from some broom closet somewhere.

Or so the story goes.

Woodson said in the postgame he "happened to get my hands on it," and maybe he did, although others have gone looking for it and have never known for sure which chair was The Chair. Suffice it to say it was one of the chairs that comprised the IU bench on Feb. 23, 1985, and therefore the symbolism still holds true.

No matter, in any case. What mattered this day was not a thrown chair, but Indiana throwing the book at its too-often tormentor.

Down and looking out again at the end of the half as Braden Smith and Fletcher Loyer and Myles Colvin rained threes on their heads and celebrated loudly, the Hoosiers somehow found the key to beating Purdue that three other teams have in the last two weeks: Pound the ball inside, defend the arc, rattle the suddenly rattle-able Smith and Co. into coughing up the rock.

So in the second half, they went to Malik Reneau, who responded with 15 points, six rebounds and four assists. Fellow big man Oumar Ballo added a dozen points and five more boards. Out on the perimeter, meanwhile, Trey Galloway, Luke Goode and Anthony Leal combined for 34 points, 13 assists, 10 rebounds, four steals and two blocks, and, along with Myles Rice, did the lion's share of harassing Smith and Loyer  into seven of Purdue's 16 turnovers -- six of which came from Smith in another shaky outing, and 11 of which came in the second half.

In the second half, Indiana shot 64 percent. Purdue shot 30 percent. 

When it was done, the Hoosiers had their first win in the Hall since Jan. 8, and another big step toward an NCAA Tournament berth that's gone from "no way" to "weeeell, maybe" in the last couple weeks. And for 20 minutes, at least, they gave the nation a peek at the team they were supposed to be after Woodson spent last summer mining the transfer portal.

That team has been only sporadically in evidence this season, which led to Woodson agreeing to step down when it's done. Sunday afternoon, though, sitting in the infamous chair/one of the infamous chairs, he not only beat Purdue but beat the dog out of  Purdue, and this strange coda got even stranger as his players mobbed him and rubbed his shiny bald head and a March run -- an authentic, by-god last hurrah -- suddenly looked possible.

How weird would that be, after all that's happened?

Weirder than getting outscored 21-4 to end the first half yesterday ... and then outscoring Purdue 28-3 to begin the second ... and then going on to blow out the Boilers by 27 points in the second half?

Nah. No weirder than that, surely.