My Two Cents: Can Homecourt Advantage Be Enough For Indiana to Beat Purdue Again?

Indiana has won two straight against Purdue at Assembly Hall, and they get another chance on Tuesday night. The Hoosiers keep winning at home — they're 3-0 in Big Ten games — but will it be enough against a Purdue team that's really solid up and down the lineup?

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — When Indiana hired Mike Woodson back in 2021, there were dreamy goals on hanging another national championship banner, but two much more immediate goals came first.

The absolute musts? Indiana had to get back to the NCAA Tournament after a six-year absence, and they had to quit getting their butt kicked by in-state and hated rival Purdue.

Mission accomplished on both fronts. And that really is a big deal.

The Hoosiers have made two straight NCAAs, winning a game each season, which is nice. But even better? Woodson's Indiana teams are 3-1 against Purdue, a Boilermakers program that has spent that entire time in the Associated Press top-10, including 13 weeks at No. 1 over the course of all three seasons.

Indiana's success has been unprecedented during the Woodson era. It's been more than three years since Purdue has won at Assembly Hall. They beat Archie Miller for the seventh straight time on Jan. 14, 2021 — a mere 1,096 days ago. Miller never once beat Purdue during his four years of mismanaging the Indiana program, going 0-7.

During that time, Woodson is the only coach in America to beat Purdue three times. The Boilermakers — who are 73-16 since the start of the 2021-22 season — have lost twice to Wisconsin, Rutgers and Northwestern, but no one has beaten them three times.

No one, of course, except Indiana. 

It doesn't take long to talk about all of Purdue's losses in the past two-plus seasons, because it's a pretty short list. 

• 2023-24: Purdue 15-2 — lost at Northwestern, lost at Nebraska. 
• 2022-23 Purdue 29-6 — lost to No. 16 seed Fairleigh Dickinson in the NCAA Tournament, Lost at home to Rutgers as a No. 1 team, lost at Indiana when they were 22-1, lost at Northwestern, lost at Maryland, lost at home to Indiana.
• 2021-22 Purdue 29-8 — lost to No. 15 seed Saint Peter's in the regional semifinals of the NCAA Tournament, lost at Rutgers as No. 1 when 8-0, lost at home to Wisconsin, lost at Indiana, lost at Michigan, lost at Michigan State, lost at Wisconsin, lost to Iowa in the Big Ten Tournament final. in Indianapolis.

The last two wins at Assembly Hall have been sweet for Hoosiers fans. We'll all remember the 2022 win forever, when "Big Shot" Rob Phinisee hit the game-winner in the closing seconds, setting off a court-storming. Phinisee, a Lafayette native, had a team-high 20 points that night.

And last year, the Hoosiers won again, blitzing the No. 1-ranked Boilermakers with a 50-spot in the first half and winning 79-74. Trayce Jackson-Davis had 25 points — his best game against Purdue — and freshman point guard Jalen Hood-Schifino had 16 and completely outplayed Boilermakers point guard Braden Smith.

The best moment in Woodson's time at Indiana was the win AT Purdue last year, though, the night when Hood-Schifino made himself millions of dollars, scoring 35 points in the Mackey Arena upset, and securing his spot in the first round of the NBA Draft. (The Los Angeles Lakers took him at No. 17 overall.) 

Of the three wins, that was the biggest shocker because Purdue just doesn't lose at home. But those home wins at Assembly Hall? They were special too because 17,000 Hoosier fans got to see it live.

There's no denying Indiana's homecourt advantage at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. They play much better here than on the road, which isn't all that uncommon. That trend radiates throughout the Big Ten. The Hoosiers are 3-0 at home in Big Ten games, beating Maryland, Ohio State and Minnesota. 

It matters.

What's different, though, is that Trayce Jackson-Davis isn't here any more, and Race Thompson and Miller Kopp are gone, too. Indiana is 12-5 season, but is 0-4 in Quad-1 games. They've won at home, but have needed one big late run to get past a lot of middling mid-major teams. 

Than plan won't work against a Purdue team that's very good. They're led by reigning national Player of the Year Zach Edey, but they're also deep and talented at every other position as well. Certainly, they've been far more impressive than Indiana so far this season.

But that hasn't mattered before, either. Indiana has found ways to win at home against Purdue two years in a row now.

Can they make it three on Tuesday night? (The game starts at 7 p.m. ET, and is streaming only on Peacock.)

It's going to be tough, primarily because the three Indiana wins have happened because of superior guard play by the Hoosiers. It's hard to imagine that happening again because the Hoosiers guards are all in a collective funk right now.

All of them. And Hood-Schifino and Phinisee aren't walking through those doors on Tuesday night.

We know all about Xavier Johnson's issues. The combustible sixth-year point guard missed seven games with a foot injury, then got ejected in his third game back for a shot to the groin of a Rutgers player. Woodson did not start him on Friday as punishment, and when he entered the game, there was a smattering of boos from Indiana fans.

In his four games back, he was great against Ohio State, scoring 18 points and playing 34 minutes without a single turnover. But he's been pretty horrible otherwise. In the other three games, he's 1-for-9 shooting and has 11 turnovers. That's horrible. And after consecutive turnovers against Minnesota, Woodson yanked him and Johnson pouted on the bench. That's not senior leadership.

Freshman Gabe Cupps started Friday, and he started the seven games that Johnson missed with the broken bone in his foot. He's been good defensively, and values every possession, but he's a total non-factor when it comes to scoring on the offensive end. He was 0-for-5 shooting against Minnesota, and there is this amazing stat. He has played 380 minutes this season, but has had only one game out of the 17 — just one game — where he's made more than two shots.

C.J. Gunn has had a few moments off the bench, but he's shooting just 32 percent from the field. Seldom-used senior Anthony Leal has just 12 points.

And then there is the clearly puzzling dilemma that is Trey Galloway. After a breakout year as a junior, he's had a few highs but a ton of very low lows this year. He scored 28 points against No. 4 Kansas, but he's really struggling to shoot the ball. He's just 26 percent from three after hitting 46.2 percent of his long-range shots a year ago.

And at the free throw line, he suddenly has a case of the yips. He has made just 21-of-44 free throws, a stunningly low 47.7 percent. Notable? Yeah, because there's really no explanation for it. He made 74 percent of his free throws as a freshman.

It was very concerning on Friday night, watching him panic while missing both of his free throw attempts. The boos that followed from Indiana fans — and don't try to deny it, because I saw it with my own eyes — was really troubling. You don't boo your own players. 

Most troubling? In the final few minutes when Minnesota was fouling, Woodson put Galloway on the bench so he wouldn't be fouled. He's probably Indiana's most important guard, but Woodson couldn't have him on the floor.

That's very concerning. 

You hope — hope hard, real hard — that Galloway can flip the switch at the line. He does so many good things that Indiana needs him on the floor every minute possible. 

And that starts Tuesday. Purdue guards Braden Smith and Fletcher Loyer are playing well, and Lance Jones — a huge transfer portal pick-up from Southern Illinois — adds a ton of athleticism to this lineup.

That guard edge that Indiana has had in this rivalry doesn't seem to be there right now. And is the aura of Assembly Hall enough to offset that?

We'll have to see. Despite some brutal weather across our great state, the Hall will be rocking on Tuesday night. It's one of the best rivalries in all of college basketball, so every matchup turns out to be memorable. And it's been a lot of days — more than a thousand of them — since Purdue has won a game here despite being one of the best teams in the country.

Can Indiana keep winning? Or is it Purdue's time again? 

Let's tip it up already.

Related stories on Indiana basketball

• MEET THE OPPONENT: Zach Edey is putting together another National Player of the Year campaign, while guards Braden Smith and Fletcher Loyer have made the sophomore year jump Purdue needed to be in the mix for a national title. Here's a full breakdown of Indiana's Tuesday opponent, the Purdue Boilermakers. CLICK HERE
• IU-MINNESOTA GAME STORY: Indiana continued its winning ways at home, erasing bad memories of an ugly road loss with a convincing 74-62 win over Minnesota on Friday night at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. Next up, Purdue on Tuesday. CLICK HERE
• MGBAKO'S BIG NIGHT: Indiana wing Mackenzie Mgbako had arguably the best game of his young career during Friday's 74-62 win over Minnesota. The freshman's aggressive play made Indiana's front court impossible to defend, and he showed flashes of defensive improvement. CLICK HERE
• WHAT WOODSON SAID: Indiana defeated Minnesota 74-62 Friday at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall, improving the Hoosiers' record to 12-5 overall and 4-2 in Big Ten play. Here's the full transcript and video of Mike Woodson's postgame press conference. CLICK HERE