SPORTS
Young, fearless Purdue squad has bright future
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Also by Ben Voelkel:
- Hughes leads Wisconsin in rout (February 4, 2008)
- Hughes maturing as season progresses (February 4, 2008)
- Win puts Wisconsin back atop Big Ten (February 1, 2008)
Related Stories:
- Storming of court losing significance (January 28, 2008)
- Wisconsin wins with 'throwback' style (January 21, 2008)
- Wildcats take step back (February 2, 2005)
- Wisconsin readies for in-state battle (December 14, 2004)
- Men's Tennis Team Loses 4-3 at Purdue (April 8, 2002)
by Ben Voelkel
Monday, February 11, 2008
Maybe they were just too young to understand: You don’t just waltz into the Kohl Center and beat the Wisconsin Badgers.
But that’s exactly what the young and rising Purdue
Boilermakers did Saturday night, winning 72-67 to hand Wisconsin just its
seventh home loss under Bo Ryan and becoming just the second Big Ten school to
win in the Kohl Center during that same time.
It wasn’t just that Purdue won. The youthful Boilermakers —
who start two sophomores and two freshmen — made it look relatively easy.
“I don’t think intimidation is a thing with this team; just
because we’re so young, we feel we can do anything. We’re invisible like that,”
Purdue sophomore Keaton Grant said.
The win gave the Boilermakers a season sweep of the Badgers
and vaulted them into sole possession of first place in the conference with a
10-1 mark.
Purdue was never intimidated, and its play validated it. The
Boilermakers took better care of the ball — 18 turnovers for Wisconsin, 11 for
Purdue — and shot the ball better from the field all night.
“Everybody still talks about us as the Baby Boilers,”
sophomore Chris Kramer said. “I think we use that as motivation, that we have
something to prove still.”
Purdue overcame a tremendous anomaly at the free throw line,
as Wisconsin — a 68 percent free throw shooting team on the season — made 30 of
33 shots from the charity stripe.
Even when the Badgers made a run late in the second half to
rouse the crowd and make it a closer contest, the Baby Boilers played like
veterans.
Freshman JaJuan Johnson drained three of four free throws
and converted a layup down the stretch.
Grant picked Trevon Hughes as he tried to split two
defenders at the top of the key and finished with a breakaway dunk to
essentially put the game on ice at a crucial point in the second half when
Wisconsin was down four with the ball and building momentum.
“I think he does a good job of getting us into our offense
and running the show,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said of Grant. “But then he
does some good things defensively. The steal and the block, those were both
huge plays.”
Leading the charge was freshman Robbie Hummel, who scored a
career-high 21 points and is looking more and more like a future conference
player of the year candidate.
“Robbie Hummel just knows how to play, just understands how
to play,” Painter said.
Hummel scored nine points in the first half and opened the
second half by hitting two 3-pointers to bring his total to 15 points just 22
minutes in.
“Rob is Rob,” Grant said. “Rob’s gonna do his thing. … I was
surprised, I looked at the [scoreboard], and I seen how many points he had so
quick.”
Fellow freshman E’Twaun Moore pitched in 11 points and
sophomore Chris Kramer scored 12.
Entering the game as one of the nation’s best defensive
teams, UW allowed 72 points and gave up 1.10 points per possession.
“That’s why they beat us,” UW forward Joe Krabbenhoft said.
“They played better offense than we played defense.”
It was Purdue’s young guns that got it done and scored the
most points Wisconsin had allowed since it surrendered 81 to Marquette in its
first home loss of the season. All told, 59 of 72 Purdue points were scored by
underclassmen.
“They’ve showed that poise ever since they showed up on
campus,” Painter praised. “It’s not something … we did as a staff. The guys
just understand the game, they do not get rattled and at times, they’re not
excited after big wins.”
That wasn’t the case Saturday night. As the final seconds
ran off, the Purdue bench jumped in excitement and forward Nemanja Calasan and
Krump hugged near midcourt.
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