Purdue fans will never forget the last time their team entered Williams Arena ranked in the top 5. On February 25th, 2010, the 3rd ranked Boilers traveled to Minneapolis and escaped with a narrow 59-58 victory. Former guard Keaton Grant hit the GW shot with 7.7 seconds left.
Although the Boilermakers left the Barn with a win, they lost star player Robbie Hummel in the process. With 7:11 in the first half, Hummel drove to the basket and immediately went down. He ended up tearing his ACL, ending the Boilermakers hopes for a deep NCAA tournament run.
On January 13th, 2018, the narrative was completely different. Purdue trailed only once after a Dupree McBrayer 3 gave the Gophers a short 11-9 lead. After McBrayer’s basket, Purdue proceeded to go on a 25-4 run to take a 34-15 lead with 4:44 left in the first half.
Purdue entered the locker room leading 40-27, behind red-hot shooting from senior Vincent Edwards. Edwards scored 20 points in the first half and ended the game with 25. The Gophers ended the first half on a 7-0 run but were unable to contain the Boilermaker offense in the second half.
Purdue outscored Minnesota 41-20 in the second half and coasted to an easy victory. The Boilermakers improve to 17-2 overall and 6-0 in conference. The Boilers have now won 13 straight games since falling to Western Kentucky in the Bahamas on Thanksgiving. Purdue returns home to host Wisconsin on Tuesday night, and then will travel to Iowa City to face the Hawkeyes next Saturday.
After a 7-0 start, the Gophers have lost 6 of their last 12 and fall to 13-6 overall and 2-4 in conference. They will hit the road for their next two games against Penn State on Monday and Maryland on Thursday. Following the loss of starters Amir Coffey (shoulder) and Reggie Lynch (suspension), the Gophers have lost all confidence and are playing sub-par basketball. Richard Pitino will have to get things figured out fast, but as of now the rest of the season for the Gophers will be a struggle.