No. 8 Purdue 67, Michigan State 47
By Editorial Staff
The Boiling Point: The Boilers absolutely smashed the Spartans on the road to demonstrate they want nothing less than a 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
THE STORY: In the first 2 minutes of the game, Purdue fans might have been a bit worried. The Boilers turned the ball over and couldn’t generate any good offense. Well, it was just about the only stretch of the game that Purdue didn’t dominate on the floor against Michigan State as it won 67-47. A steady diet of JaJuan Johnson, E’Twaun Moore and Lewis Jackson helped build a nine-point halftime lead that grew beyond 20 in the second half. The trio combined for 53 of the team’s points.
TURNING POINT: With 15:48 left in the game and Purdue leading by 12, it looked like Michigan State was going to come alive. Durrell Summers hit a 3-pointer (his only of the day) and a Draymond Green layup cut the deficit to seven. But the Spartans failed to fully capitalize on Purdue’s 3-minute scoring drought as they never got closer than seven points thanks to a Moore jumper and a Jackson layup that pushed the lead back to 12. After MSU cut it to seven, Purdue outscored the Spartans 29-16.
GAME BALL: The Boilers are making this tough. With that said, Johnson was an absolute man on Sunday. A large reason why Michigan State was never able to mount a comeback was because JJ didn’t let the Spartans have second-chance opportunities as he was a beast on the boards. He finished with 20 points, a career-high 17 rebounds AND seven blocks. Move over, Jared Sullinger, Johnson should be the leader in the Big Ten Player of the Year race and needs more love for the national award, too.
SPORTSCENTER MOMENT: With Purdue up 40-31 and 12:10 left, Jackson put the shimmy-shake on Kalin Lucas. Jackson didn’t even use a crossover, but shook his entire body to break Lucas’ ankles. The move gave him the space to get into the lane for a layup that Lucas fouled him on.
WHAT IT MEANS: The month of February was challenge after challenge after challenge and all the Boilers did was keep answering the bell. After dropping a close one at Wisconsin, Purdue kicked it into gear and put together an amazing stretch that included road wins against Illinois, Indiana and Michigan State with home wins against Wisconsin and Ohio State, both Top 10 teams at the time. Combine that with teams ranked ahead and around the Boilers losing and Purdue has built some quality momentum for a 1 or 2 seed and March.
GETTING CRITICAL: It’s still the struggles at the free-throw line sans JJ. Johnson made both his attempts, while the rest of the team shot just 8-of-13. Killing that number is Jackson, who was a woeful 1-of-5. Come tourney time, Purdue can’t have it’s best ball handler missing free throws.
ODDS AND EDDS: My (Leroy Bridges) prediction was criminal. I thought the Spartans would come out with more energy realizing their tourney hopes could be in danger, but I was WAY wrong. Mainly because Purdue has demonstrated that it is one of the best teams in the country. Fair to say I would like Purdue’s chances against anyone in the country right now. It took a 20-point shellacking of MSU in East Lansing to realize this, though. … Not sure what MSU recruit Branden Dawson is feeling, but it can’t be good. He chose the Spartans and Tom Izzo over the Boilers and Matt Painter. Great decision! … Speaking of Painter, he’s starting to gain traction for Big Ten Coach of the Year, but where’s the love for the national award? Some have brought him up occasionally, but he needs to be mentioned every time that discussion comes up. … Terone Johnson, D.J. Byrd and Ryne Smith shot a combined 2-for-9 for six points and Purdue won by 20. … The win gave Purdue its first regular-season sweep of the Spartans since 1997.