Indiana Basketball: A quick look at the Hoosiers matchup against No. 16 Purdue

One of the greatest college basketball rivalries takes center stage this week. the Indiana Hoosiers will host No. 16 Purdue Boilermakers on Thursday.

College basketball’s best midwest rivalry is back this week. the Indiana Hoosiers (15-9, 5-6) and the No. 16 Purdue Boilermakers (19-5, 8-3).

The Hoosiers are coming off a disappointing loss to Wisconsin on Sunday. Back at home, it does not get any easier this week. The No. 16 team in the country, the Purdue Boilermakers, will make the 117-mile drive to Bloomington Thursday. This will be part one of a two-part matchup for the two programs this month. One of the highlights for Indiana will be getting back their best offensive weapon in James Blackmon Jr., who was cleared to play this week.

Purdue is coming off a red-hot week beating No. 25 Northwestern and rallying back to beat No. 17 Maryland. Purdue’s success is in large part thanks to sophomore forward Caleb Swanigan. Swanigan is averaging 19.1 points per game, 12.8 rebounds and shooting 54.7-percent from the field.He is considered to be the favorite for Big Ten Player of the Year.

Indiana is merely trying to keep their NCAA Tournament hopes alive and they could do so with a win at home against their rival. Purdue is trying to capture their first Big Ten regular-season title for the first time since 2010 where they shared the honors with Ohio State and Michigan State.

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The real question is how this game could end up for the Hoosiers. The optimists will tell you Purdue has only one win at Assembly Hall in the last six seasons. The pessimists are just pleading to stay within 20 points of the Boilermakers.

By the numbers…

The Hoosiers and Boilermakers are the two best offensive teams in the Big Ten, both teams averaging 82.2 and 82.0 points per game respectively. Purdue leads the Big Ten Conference in three-point field goal percentage (42.3-percent), Indiana third (38.8-percent).

The rebounding margin favors Indiana slightly, but Purdue has one of the best rebounding players in the conference. In fact, Caleb Swanigan is the second best NCAA rebounder in the country.  It will take an extremely impressive performance from Thomas Bryant, Juwan Morgan, and De’Ron Davis to corral the Boilermakers Swanigan and Issac Haas. The Hoosier will want to avoid becoming victim to Swanigan’s fourth 20-and-20 game of the season.

His conference-best 20 double-doubles are the most in the Big Ten since the 2011-12 season.

One advantage for Indiana could be Purdue’s turnover margin. They rank third-worst in the conference averaging 13.4 turnovers per game. Indiana is the worst in the conference with 15.2, but it could quickly turn into a game of who makes the least amount of mistakes.

Indiana’s defensive presence against Wisconsin on the road should be encouraging. The Hoosiers were active on defense and forced one of the best teams in the country to 39-percent shooting. The addition of Blackmon will help on offense but his insertion into the lineup could hurt their defensive game plan.

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The home atmosphere will help the Hoosiers but they will need to showcase their best defensive performance of the season to get past Purdue. What are your thoughts on the rivalry matchup this week? Share your thoughts in the comments with us.