This game got ugly.
There were players being thrown to the ground, high-speed collisions and coaches arguing with referees in a second half of physicality that consisted of 29 combined fouls, 40 in the whole game.
Nothing came easy inside or along the baseline. Both teams were already in the double-bonus with five minutes remaining.
Regardless of how pretty the game was, IU (13-8, 3-7) held on and ended their four-game losing streak with a 72-55 win against Purdue (10-12, 3-8).
“This feels a lot better and different than it did in early January when we were in Mackey Arena,” IU Coach Teri Moren said. “Give our kids just a ton of credit tonight for coming out and playing 40 minutes.”
The reported crowd at Assembly Hall was only 2,468, but it was consistently loud throughout the game. With each physical play and each questionable foul, the crowd erupted with either excitement or anger. They stayed until the final seconds even though the IU lead had been in double digits for the entire second half.
The physicality did not surprise sophomore guard Alexis Gassion.
“That’s how it always is with your rival,” Gassion said.
Purdue forward Whitney Bays had 27 points and 10 rebounds Jan. 4 when Purdue beat IU, 86-64. Tonight, she was held to six points on 2-of-10 shooting.
The IU coaching staff worked all week with the post players on being physical and playing defense against the Purdue posts. The goal was to double-team her more, Moren said.
“At their place, we let them get a lot of run outs in transition and we didn’t protect the paint,” Moren said. “That’s one of the things we talked about for the last couple days in preparation for Purdue is they want the block.”
Purdue turned the ball over 19 times and made 38.5 percent of their shots from the field.
The ugly win came at a time in which Moren had been criticizing her team for not playing complete games. IU led then-No. 23 Minnesota for 38 minutes before giving away the lead due to late turnovers.
“I think this was a team that was just sick and tired of losing,” Moren said.
After losing six of their last seven games, the Hoosiers have been searching for their toughness. In practice, they ran drills that consisted of four players fighting for rebounds without fouls being called.
“It’s been a long four games of coming up short,” Moren said. “For them to come back in Assembly tonight and just play with a toughness that we have been searching for, I think is a really good step in the right direction for our young basketball team.”
