BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — So here was the best part of Purdue's Sunday win at Indiana: IU played at an upset-type level.
And it didn't matter.
That's two games in a row that Purdue has weathered opponents' efforts that in any other year, against any other Boilermaker team, would be good enough to win, probably good enough to win against just about anybody.
And it's not mattered.
That's yet another layer to all that has set this particular Purdue team apart, its knack for matching one's best with its own, for responding to every situation — at least since Thanksgiving — in kind, for its ability to be damn near perfect when it needs to be, as it was in the final minutes Sunday.
In a perfect world, Purdue would have rolled over Indiana the way the numbers and various look-test measures suggested to be possible, but in a real world, this was perfect, the Boilermakers again being tested, and then some, following that prior three-game stretch of reality-distorting blowouts, courtesy of the Big Ten's bottom two-thirds' lousiness.
That's where I was wrong about IU: I looked at their wins and losses — and watched their games — and figured their record was a mirage, projected by the awfulness of Penn State and Minnesota and the periodic dysfunctionality of Northwestern and Maryland. And that still may be true, but as they say about rivalries, funny things happen.
Purdue couldn't make a three and often couldn't guard one of the most limited offensive teams in the league.
And Indiana made circus shots.
And it didn't matter.
Purdue won the final three minutes in a game the winner of the final three minutes would be the winner of. That appeared to be the case at halftime and throughout the second half and turned out as such.
It won because of its experience, because Purdue's been here before, more than once, and it doesn't matter how 'here' is even defined, it's been there.
Purdue won because it doesn't get rattled, because its guys believe in each other and are connected unlike any team in college basketball that I've seen.
Purdue won because Isaac Haas is consistent, which he'd not been to this point in his career prior to this season. This was a sink-or-swim deal for him this season. Purdue needed him and he had some things to prove and as of 9:18 p.m. here on Jan. 28, he's proven them.
He wants the ball with the game on the line and knows what to do with it when he has it. To hell with taking six shots in two games, didn't faze him in the least.
That's the defining characteristic of this team — it doesn't flinch. There were hot messes now and again years ago, but from those hot messes came this, a team that just stared down an IU effort that could have — maybe should have — produced one of the greatest upsets in the rivalry and an iconic moment for their program's modern era and said, "Not today."
And it didn't matter.
That's two games in a row that Purdue has weathered opponents' efforts that in any other year, against any other Boilermaker team, would be good enough to win, probably good enough to win against just about anybody.
And it's not mattered.
That's yet another layer to all that has set this particular Purdue team apart, its knack for matching one's best with its own, for responding to every situation — at least since Thanksgiving — in kind, for its ability to be damn near perfect when it needs to be, as it was in the final minutes Sunday.
In a perfect world, Purdue would have rolled over Indiana the way the numbers and various look-test measures suggested to be possible, but in a real world, this was perfect, the Boilermakers again being tested, and then some, following that prior three-game stretch of reality-distorting blowouts, courtesy of the Big Ten's bottom two-thirds' lousiness.
That's where I was wrong about IU: I looked at their wins and losses — and watched their games — and figured their record was a mirage, projected by the awfulness of Penn State and Minnesota and the periodic dysfunctionality of Northwestern and Maryland. And that still may be true, but as they say about rivalries, funny things happen.
Purdue couldn't make a three and often couldn't guard one of the most limited offensive teams in the league.
And Indiana made circus shots.
And it didn't matter.
Purdue won the final three minutes in a game the winner of the final three minutes would be the winner of. That appeared to be the case at halftime and throughout the second half and turned out as such.
It won because of its experience, because Purdue's been here before, more than once, and it doesn't matter how 'here' is even defined, it's been there.
Purdue won because it doesn't get rattled, because its guys believe in each other and are connected unlike any team in college basketball that I've seen.
Purdue won because Isaac Haas is consistent, which he'd not been to this point in his career prior to this season. This was a sink-or-swim deal for him this season. Purdue needed him and he had some things to prove and as of 9:18 p.m. here on Jan. 28, he's proven them.
He wants the ball with the game on the line and knows what to do with it when he has it. To hell with taking six shots in two games, didn't faze him in the least.
That's the defining characteristic of this team — it doesn't flinch. There were hot messes now and again years ago, but from those hot messes came this, a team that just stared down an IU effort that could have — maybe should have — produced one of the greatest upsets in the rivalry and an iconic moment for their program's modern era and said, "Not today."
