[media-credit name=’JEFF SCHORFHEIDE/Herald photo’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]Carl and Marcus Landry grew up playing basketball against each other in their Milwaukee backyard, but Wednesday was the first time the Landry brothers actually went head-to-head in an official game, when Marcus and the No. 2 Wisconsin Badgers hosted Carl’s Purdue Boilermakers.

“We played against each other in the summers in little community games or whatever,” Carl, Purdue’s senior forward, said at Big Ten Media Day. “But in an organized game, this is the first time.

“I was very excited — I had it scheduled on my calendar.”

Coming into the game, there was plenty of trash talk going back and forth between the two brothers, especially after last year’s matchup was postponed with Marcus declared academically ineligible and Carl taking a medical redshirt due to an injured knee. And although Carl wants to be a supportive big brother, he had simply heard enough of his little brother Marcus’ yapping leading up to Wednesday night’s contest.

“Being the younger brother, Marcus likes to talk,” Purdue’s Landry said. “The younger brother always thinks he’s tougher than the older brother, and when I went home this summer for a few days, all I heard from Marcus was, 'We going to beat y’all, we going to do this, we going to do that.'”

While the Landry brothers weren’t primarily guarding each other, Carl did show up his younger sibling by scoring 16 points on 50 percent shooting and grabbing six rebounds. However, it was Marcus who got the last laugh as he chipped in four points and five rebounds to help Wisconsin squeak by Purdue 69-64.

“The little time they had on each other, you could tell they were trying to take it at each other,” Wisconsin senior forward Alando Tucker said. “But Marcus definitely has the bragging rights now that we won.”

In the second half, Marcus found himself guarding his brother just once after a defensive switch. And Marcus made the most of the lone defensive matchup, swatting his big brother’s potential dunk.

But even though neither of the Landry brothers threw down a single dunk in the game, Carl said dunking is at the heart of their rivalry.

“We would have dunk contests in our backyard all the time,” Carl said. “Marcus was always the kind of guy who said, 'Come on, man. Dunk. Show me your dunk.’ And me being the oldest, I was just like, 'Whatever, get out of here.’

“He was always challenging me, and if I ever did compete with him in a real dunk contest, I don’t even know who would win. …If I did win, he would still say he won just because he’s the younger brother.”

During their childhood backyard-dunk contests, Carl said he always beat up on Marcus.

“Growing up, you always bully your brother,” he said. “You know, dunk on him, punch him in the stomach.”

Many fans, players and even coaches looked forward to Wednesday’s Wisconsin-Purdue game just because of the Landry brothers matchup.

“I think it’s something that’s unique, anytime you get a chance to go against your brother and compete like this,” Purdue head coach Matt Painter said. “Especially for Carl, coming back to the state of Wisconsin and being able to perform.

“It’s got to be a little bit eerie for them, but I think a lot of fans like to see it.”

The matchup wasn’t just eerie for Carl and Marcus, however. It was also rather awkward for the approximately 50 Landry friends and family who were in attendance, stuck in the middle of cheering for either Carl’s Boilermakers or Marcus’ Badgers.

“It’s crazy because my mom said when she comes to the game, she’s going to wear a Wisconsin hat and a Purdue shirt,” Carl said. “And when Marcus scores, it’s two claps and when I score, it’s two claps. She can’t cheer more for one son than the other.

“But it’s really just an honor for both my mother and my father to have two sons playing against each other.”