Indiana basketball beats No. 14 Purdue in impressive fashion

BLOOMINGTON — Mike Woodson has been part of his fair share of Indiana-Purdue games through the years, the Hoosiers never dominated the way they did in the second half of a 73-58 win over the Boilermakers on Sunday afternoon at Assembly Hall.

The Indiana basketball team (16-11; 7-9 Big Ten) outscored its rival 48-21 in the second half to erase a 12-point halftime deficit. The Hoosiers shot 66.7% in the second half, averaged 1.5 points per possession and forced 11 turnovers.

Woodson improved to 4-4 against Purdue as a coach in what could be his final game in the rivalry with him planning to step down at the end of the season.

The Hoosiers all but ended No. 14 Purdue's hopes of winning the Big Ten title for a third straight season. The Boilermakers (19-9; 11-6) dropped their fourth straight game in the Big Ten — the program's longest conference losing streak since the 2019-20 season — and are three losses behind Michigan State and Michigan for first place in the standings.

The victory also opened the door a bit wider for IU to secure a long shot NCAA tournament bid. The Hoosiers got 15 points from Malik Reneau and Trey Galloway. Reneau didn't miss a shot (7 of 7) and added six rebounds and four assists while Galloway had a game-high nine assists.

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Indiana basketball erases halftime deficit against the Boilermakers without breaking a sweat

Indiana took out a season's worth of frustration against Purdue in the second half.

The Hoosiers outscored their rival 28-3 in the first eight minutes of the half to erase a 12-point deficit and take a double-digit lead of their own. Matt Painter called a series of timeouts (three in total) to try and curtail IU's momentum, but nothing worked.

Indiana was locked in defensively — it forced six turnovers during that stretch— and forced Purdue to hold onto the ball until deep in the shot clock on a series of empty possessions.

Malik Reneau, who surpassed 1,000-career points on Sunday with a dunk that gave IU its first lead in the second half, had seven points and two assists during IU's extended run while Trey Galloway had four points and four assists. Galloway was the one pushing the pace on Purdue's miscues.

Indiana's lead never dipped under 10 points as Purdue's starting center Trey Kaufman-Renn fouled out with 4:30 to go and Brendan Smith went scoreless in the second half. Smith struggled in the face of an outstanding defensive performance from Anthony Leal and Myles Rice.

The Boilermakers leading scorer had eight points (2 of 8) with more turnovers (six) than assists (five).

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Purdue basketball erases slow start at Assembly Hall with impressive shooting display

Purdue’s 12-0 run near the end of the first half sucked all the life out of Assembly Hall. 

Trey Kaufman-Renn beat Oumar Ballo off the dribble and dropped in a layup with his off hand to give his team its first lead with 6:41 to go. The Boilermakers pushed their lead to 12 points going into the break by going 6 of 7 from 3-point range — they hit four straight after opening the game 0 of 4 from deep — over the final 10 minutes of the half to take a 37-25 lead going into the break.

Fletcher Loyer closed out the half by beating the shot clock with a deep 3-pointer and he mocked the crowd at Assembly Hall on his way back down the court alongside Braden Smith, who set up the shot. 

It erased a solid start for an Indiana team that lead 19-13 with 11:34 to go in the half. The Hoosiers hit eight straight shots at one point, but went just 3 of 11 after that and closed out the half 1 of 11 from 3-point range. 

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.