IU didn't need a 3-pointer, but Yogi Ferrell took one.
The Hoosiers were down two.
There were six seconds left on the clock. The junior guard saw a chance for the heroics against an in-state rival, so he took it.
Clank.
A.J. Hammons gathered in the ?rebound. IU fouled. Purdue won.
And Ferrell was there to take the blame.
“That was a bad shot,” the junior guard said. “That’s what it was.”
The miss sealed a 67-63 loss. IU Coach Tom Crean said Ferrell was at times trying too hard to make a play. He was supposed to wait for a pick-and-roll opportunity, but the screen didn’t come in time and the shot went up too early.
That’s part of the risk of a team that plays with freedom. The Hoosiers rely on movement and allow the offense ?to flow.
Thursday, it didn’t work. And for just the first time since the 2010-11 season, the Boilermakers (18-9, 10-4) completed a two-game season sweep of the ?Hoosiers (18-9, 8-6).
Ferrell took every shot for IU in the final three minutes of the game. He had seven points in that stretch to keep IU within striking distance, but just as he did against Maryland last week, he fell just short at the buzzer.
“We should have done a better job of waiting for the screen,” Crean said. “(Ferrell) was trying to do too much with the ball, rather than just let it happen.”
But Ferrell’s missed 3-pointer was by no means the lone reason why the ?Hoosiers lost.
For the second time this season, Purdue’s big men dominated the game in the post in helping Purdue to 40 points in the paint.
Hammons finished with a team-high 20 points off a near-perfect 8-for-9 shooting. Backup center Isaac Haas fell just short of his first double-double with 12 points and nine rebounds.
Raphael Davis did damage, too. The guard had 11 points and 10 rebounds — all on the defensive end of ?the floor.
For IU, the struggles on the glass were a contrast from its dominating performance on the boards against Minnesota just four days earlier.
IU was outworked on the glass on both ends of the floor. Purdue outrebounded IU 38-21 and scored 14 second-chance points off 14 ?offensive rebounds.
Of Purdue’s 67 points, 57 came in the paint or at the free-throw line.
“Guys weren’t boxing out,” freshman guard James Blackmon Jr. said. “They got a couple rebounds and I think that’s what got them going, actually.”
While Purdue used its rebounding advantage to get going, IU struggled.
IU went more than 10 minutes in the first half scoring just three points. Crean said IU was pressing to create scoring opportunities too often rather than create looks naturally.
And when the open looks were there, they repeatedly wouldn’t fall. The Hoosiers shot just 43.6 percent from the field and were 5-of-16 from beyond the arc.
“Unfortunately for us, the shots we were making the other night wouldn’t go,” Crean said. “It would be one thing if they were all challenged, but unfortunately for us, they were open.”
Ferrell, upset with himself after missing the final shot, took the burden of the blame for the loss.
He said he should have managed the clock better and pulled the ball out. Echoing Crean’s sentiment, Ferrell said he should have pulled the ball out and let the flow of the game ?take over.
It didn’t happen. And for the second time in three games, Ferrell came up short of ?heroics.
“At the end of the day, our fight didn’t match theirs,” Ferrell said. “Especially playing Purdue, in such a big rivalry, we’ve got to go and match their intensity and fight a little harder.”
