There is a huge showdown in West Lafayette happening today. At 2 pm the Hoosiers from Bloomington make the 2 hour drive north to face their instate rivals the Purdue Boilermakers. Let’s get a breakdown of what will make this matchup an instant classic.
Guard Play
For this game it’ll be important to limit the amount of turnovers. The Hoosiers bring in freshman guards Rob Phinisee (who played his high school ball 13 minutes from Mackey Arena) and Romeo Langford another stud player that Archie Miller was fortunate to bring in. These two will have to provide the 1-2 punch that this up tempo style needs. Look for a lot of exciting plays coming from IU’s front court.
The Boilermakers however have a different set up. They rely on the play of one of the most underrated players in the country (in my opinion) in Carsen Edwards. Edwards, who is averaging just shy of 25 points a game (24.9 to be exact), will have to get off to a hot start if they want to continue their roll through the conference so far.
Statistics
While Purdue averages three more points a game, defensively Indiana allows four less points per game. While Indiana has lost three in a row, two of them were road games. Their most recent loss was a 14 point home loss to Nebraska.
Purdue on the other hand has won four of their last five. The one loss being at Michigan State, which isn’t a terrible loss by any means. It’s also something to note that Purdue is just a different animal in Mackey Arena.
Prediction
In this matchup I’m gonna take Purdue to win at home and ‘upset’ the Hoosiers who come into the game ranked 25th in the AP poll. From a betters stand point, I like Purdue to cover the -7 spread. While I think it’ll be a close game, Purdue pulls away in the end.