Indiana basketball suffers humbling defeat to No. 2 Purdue

BLOOMINGTON — Indiana basketball's white out ended early with fans hitting the exits in disgust as the Hoosiers got blown out at home by their rival.

No. 2 Purdue won 87-66 as Zach Edey dominated with a game-high 33 points and 14 rebounds for his 50th career double-double.

Indiana (12-6; 4-3 Big Ten) trailed by 22 points at halftime and never got the lead under nine points after that. Trey Galloway had 17 points — 12 in the second half — and Mackenzie Mgbako had 15 points. It was Purdue's (16-2; 5-2) first win at Assembly Hall since Jan. 14, 2021.

Indiana basketball’s comebacks hopes end with a whimper

Trey Galloway lit a fire for Indiana coming out of halftime with his team trailing by 22 points. The Hoosiers opened the half 8 of 11 from the floor (3 of 3 from 3-point range) while Galloway pushed the tempo. He accounted for a pair of those 3-pointers as IU cut the lead under 10 points on two separate occasions. 

It just wasn’t nearly enough. 

Purdue settled down by letting its 7-foot-4 big man carry the weight on his broad shoulders no matter who got the assignment of defending him. Once he got the ball in the low post, he was either scoring or going to the line where he was nearly perfect (11 of 12). 

Indiana’s basketball faces worst-case scenario in the first half

The Hoosers had three starters— Mackenzie Mgbako, Kel’el Ware and Gabe Cubbs — play less than 10 minutes in the first half after picking up two fouls. 

It was a bad sign for an IU team that relies heavily on its starting front court and isn't that deep this year.

Mgbako scored the team's first seven points and was playing with confidence whenever he had the ball in his hands, but he picked up fouls on both ends of the court within 20 seconds of each other and had to come out with 15:20 to go in the half.

Woodson was counting on Ware's presence to counter Edey in the post. Without the 7-foot-0 center, Edey dominated with 18 points and eight rebounds in the half. Payton Sparks and Malik Reneau rotated against Edey, but he outmuscled them in the low post with relative ease. 

Purdue got in the bonus with 9:47 to go in the half, and ended up going 14 of 16 from the free-throw line. Indiana was 1 of 2 from the line in the first half. 

Xavier Johnson can’t push away his emotions

It’s unclear if and when Johnson will return to the starting lineup, but he didn’t do himself any favors on Tuesday night. 

He was called for a flagrant one — his second flagrant foul in three games — when he hit Edey with a two-handed shove away from the ball while Braden Smith hit a jumper. Purdue hit a pair of free throws and Edey almost made it a six-point possession when he had a shot bounce off the rim.  

Johnson, who was the first player off the bench in the first half, looked out of sorts on the offensive end as well. He passed up on a couple of open 3-point looks only to miss a series of mid-range jumpers and also turned it over twice. 

He was shaken up in the second half when he took a hard screen from Edey at half court.

Michael Niziolek is the Indiana beat reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on X @michaelniziolek and read all his coverage by clicking here.