Hot shooting in first half fuels victory at home against Purdue

It was another game and another milestone for the IU men’s basketball team.

For the first time in the Tom Crean era, IU (24-7, 11-7) defeated rival Purdue (20-11, 10-8) at Assembly Hall. The 85-74 victory Sunday came on IU’s senior night and clinched a No. 5 seed in the Big Ten Tournament.

“It’s a fitting day,” Crean said. “It’s a fitting day for these guys to have a win like this, to beat a rival like this, to beat a team that arguably was playing as well as anyone in the last couple weeks and not just in the Big Ten but around the country.”

IU junior forward Christian Watford led the Hoosiers in scoring with 19 points with six boards and two assists. The 19-point performance came after Watford failed to make a shot from the field in the team’s first meeting.Watford said he had a different mindset than in the first game.

“I was more aggressive,” Watford said. “I got to the basket a lot, and I got a couple layups that got me going early, and I did a good job of getting to the free throw line.”

IU got it cooking early on the offensive side and jumped out to a 49-34 halftime lead. The Hoosiers shot 66 percent (20-of-30) from the floor and 57 percent (8-of-14) from  3-point range.

The Boilermakers, on the other hand, were held to 36 percent (12-of-33) shooting in the first half.

“We had a very good defensive mindset to start the game,” Crean said. “We had a lot of deflections, and we just continue to understand what wins for us.”

On a night during which the seniors were honored, it was senior guard Matt Roth who stepped up for IU in the first half. Roth’s three 3-pointers fueled IU’s highest first-half output since Jan. 29, when the Hoosiers defeated Iowa 103-89.

The 15-point lead came despite IU only making one free throw in the first half.

“We got a tremendous record when we shoot x amount of free-throws,” Crean said. “We didn’t get that in the first half.” That script was flipped in the second half.

By game’s end, IU made 18 second-half free throws and just two 3-pointers.

IU's 35-percent (8-of-23) shooting in the second half didn't prevent the Hoosiers from pulling out the double-digit victory.

Despite being down by as many as 18, the Boilermakers didn’t go out without a fight. Purdue narrowed the deficit to six with a minute and 20 seconds to go.

But IU knocked down 10-of-12 free throws in the final minute and 47 seconds to close out the win.

“Getting to the free throw is definitely a thing we want to do,” Hulls said. “We’re a good free throw shooting team, so that’s a big emphasis for us. We obviously did a lot better job of that in the second half.”

The season sweep against Purdue marked the first time the Hoosiers accomplished that feat since the 2005-06 campaign.

Besides taking care of Purdue, IU closed out the regular season with a 5-0 record against the state of Indiana.

The win gave IU its seventh in its past eight games as the Hoosiers head into the Big Ten Tournament.

“We rise to the occasion right now,” Crean said. “That’s we need to continue to do.”