Purdue boiling along with Minnesota next on the schedule
With much of the nation in a deep freeze this week, it's nice that college hoops are heating up with Tuesday's Big Ten match in West Lafayette a prime example.
Snow flurries and temps dropping into the single digits are what's in store for West Lafayette, Indiana on Tuesday. But it should be plenty warm inside Mackey Arena when the No. 4 Purdue Boilermakers host their Big Ten rivals from Minnesota.
The contest marks the first conference home game for Matt Painter's Purdue squad who begins its full Big Ten schedule after a perfect 13-0 to open the season. The Boilermakers have split their games against the spread, going 6-6-1.
Yeah, Purdue has had its share of cupcakes along the way with games against Cal State Northridge, South Dakota State and Southern Illinois-Edwardsville. But the Boilers also sprinkled their slate against formidable opponents, the most recent being previously-No. 6 West Virginia this past Friday.
Purdue did more than win and cover the five-point spread; the Boilermakers broke open a close game in the final 9-10 minutes of the first half and then built a 25-point lead with a surge out of the locker room to put the game away on their way to a 77-62 win.
The veteran Purdue squad was paced by JaJuan Johnson's double-double, leading all players with 25 points and adding 10 rebounds. The Boilermakers forced the Mountaineers into 17 turnovers, while committing just seven themselves.
And that win wasn't the only tough team the Boilermakers have faced. To get to this point Purdue also topped No. 16 Tennessee – at full strength before the recent arrests nailed four Vols – to win the Paradise Jam back in November, picked up a home victory over Wake Forest in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge plus took road wins at Alabama and Iowa.
Tubby Smith's Gophers come into this one off to a 2-0 start in conference action and 11-3 overall. Tuesday's game starts a tough stretch with a home date against Ohio State on Saturday and a home-&-home quickie against Michigan State sandwiched around a road date at Indiana.
Minnesota hasn't played as tough a slate as Purdue, no question about that. The three-game losing skid early in neutral site contests against Portland and Texas A&M plus a road game at Miami-FL dug the Golden's into a hole they're only now coming out of with a seven-game win streak.
The latest win came last Saturday at Iowa, 86-74 as 10 ½-point favorites. Though it was their second-straight Big Ten win, it was the Gophers' second-straight ATS loss after beginning the season 8-1 in lined games. The only other game they dropped versus the number was the loss to Texas A&M in November as 5½-point chalk.
Conventional wisdom, at least when it's applied to the current state of both teams, makes it easy to assume Purdue rolls in this one. The Boilermakers have a national title-caliber starting five, they're at home in a very one-sided arena, and they should be full of confidence with the win over West Virginia.
Series history would suggest otherwise. The last 10 meetings have been split right down the middle straight up, with Purdue the ever-so-slight spread winner at 5-4-1. The reason for this is very simple: Defense.
This series is notorious for close, low-scoring games. Last season's meeting – Jan. 22, 2009 at Minnesota – saw the Boilermakers take a 70-62 win as one-point road pups, and that was a relatively high-scoring affair for these two teams when going at each other.
I'm going to take the points and Minnesota plus the 'under' in the Bowling and Balling Contest here at SBR.
ESPN has the broadcast starting at 7:00 p.m. (ET). For Dave O'Brien fans, you're in luck since he will be at the mic along with Steve Lavin. For the rest of us, there's always the mute button.
With much of the nation in a deep freeze this week, it's nice that college hoops are heating up with Tuesday's Big Ten match in West Lafayette a prime example.
Snow flurries and temps dropping into the single digits are what's in store for West Lafayette, Indiana on Tuesday. But it should be plenty warm inside Mackey Arena when the No. 4 Purdue Boilermakers host their Big Ten rivals from Minnesota.
The contest marks the first conference home game for Matt Painter's Purdue squad who begins its full Big Ten schedule after a perfect 13-0 to open the season. The Boilermakers have split their games against the spread, going 6-6-1.
Yeah, Purdue has had its share of cupcakes along the way with games against Cal State Northridge, South Dakota State and Southern Illinois-Edwardsville. But the Boilers also sprinkled their slate against formidable opponents, the most recent being previously-No. 6 West Virginia this past Friday.
Purdue did more than win and cover the five-point spread; the Boilermakers broke open a close game in the final 9-10 minutes of the first half and then built a 25-point lead with a surge out of the locker room to put the game away on their way to a 77-62 win.
The veteran Purdue squad was paced by JaJuan Johnson's double-double, leading all players with 25 points and adding 10 rebounds. The Boilermakers forced the Mountaineers into 17 turnovers, while committing just seven themselves.
And that win wasn't the only tough team the Boilermakers have faced. To get to this point Purdue also topped No. 16 Tennessee – at full strength before the recent arrests nailed four Vols – to win the Paradise Jam back in November, picked up a home victory over Wake Forest in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge plus took road wins at Alabama and Iowa.
Tubby Smith's Gophers come into this one off to a 2-0 start in conference action and 11-3 overall. Tuesday's game starts a tough stretch with a home date against Ohio State on Saturday and a home-&-home quickie against Michigan State sandwiched around a road date at Indiana.
Minnesota hasn't played as tough a slate as Purdue, no question about that. The three-game losing skid early in neutral site contests against Portland and Texas A&M plus a road game at Miami-FL dug the Golden's into a hole they're only now coming out of with a seven-game win streak.
The latest win came last Saturday at Iowa, 86-74 as 10 ½-point favorites. Though it was their second-straight Big Ten win, it was the Gophers' second-straight ATS loss after beginning the season 8-1 in lined games. The only other game they dropped versus the number was the loss to Texas A&M in November as 5½-point chalk.
Conventional wisdom, at least when it's applied to the current state of both teams, makes it easy to assume Purdue rolls in this one. The Boilermakers have a national title-caliber starting five, they're at home in a very one-sided arena, and they should be full of confidence with the win over West Virginia.
Series history would suggest otherwise. The last 10 meetings have been split right down the middle straight up, with Purdue the ever-so-slight spread winner at 5-4-1. The reason for this is very simple: Defense.
This series is notorious for close, low-scoring games. Last season's meeting – Jan. 22, 2009 at Minnesota – saw the Boilermakers take a 70-62 win as one-point road pups, and that was a relatively high-scoring affair for these two teams when going at each other.
I'm going to take the points and Minnesota plus the 'under' in the Bowling and Balling Contest here at SBR.
ESPN has the broadcast starting at 7:00 p.m. (ET). For Dave O'Brien fans, you're in luck since he will be at the mic along with Steve Lavin. For the rest of us, there's always the mute button.
