The Purdue Boilermakers came into tonight expected a tough matchup with a team fighting for their NCAA Tournament lives. Purdue never encountered that tough matchup on Sunday. Instead, Purdue got by the Michigan State Spartans easily in a 67-47 win.
It was almost shocking. Michigan State looked lifeless at some points in the game. Purdue held the Spartans to 33% shooting from the field. Proving how lethal the Purdue defense can be, seeing how Purdue only shot 43% from the field and still managed to pull out a 20 point win. This was Michigan State's lowest points scored at home this season.
This was the Boilermakers first season sweep of the Spartans since 1997. Purdue also gave Michigan State their worst home loss since 2003 when Michigan State lost to Duke by 22. Just when things look like they were getting better for Sparty, it looked like the Michigan State has thrown itself in reverse again.
Kalin Lucas was a big factor tonight for the Spartans.. as he seemed to be the only Spartan to show up. Lucas has 23 points for his team.. which was basically half of their total points. He more than tripled the scoring of any of his teammates. The next highest scorer was Draymond Green with seven.
Tom Izzo stated to the media after the game "I must say, I'm disappointed, but its been a recurring statement this year. Give Purdue credit. They played with a tremendous amount of toughness and we just didn't match it."
Izzo is right, this year, we have heard that plenty of times before from him. Tom Izzo, had a lot of trouble this year keeping his team together. Not even Tom Izzo can cure this Spartan epidemic.
Purdue had no trouble scoring, as JaJuan Johnson had a double-double very fast within what seemed like the first ten minutes of the game. He finished with 20 points, 17 rebounds and seven blocks, including two great three point shots. A monster night from JaJuan. E`Twaun Moore was a silent killer with 17 points. In the last few games, Lewis Jackson has stood up and took the role of Purdue's third scoring option. He had 16 points.
JaJuan Johnson's 17 rebounds helped Purdue out-rebound the Spartans 33-32. Out-rebounding any team is an encouraging sign for the Boilermakers who struggled to rebound the ball after Hummel went down with his torn ACL last year.
With this win, Purdue remains one game back of Ohio State, with one week to play. Purdue has remaining games against Illinois, at home, which will be JaJuan Johnson and E`Twaun Moore's senior night before traveling to Iowa. Purdue is rooting for Wisconsin and Penn State next week to take down Ohio State, so they can get a share of the Big Ten regular season crown, which would be their second straight.
Michigan State finds itself still fighting for that NCAA Tournament. They have games against Iowa, at home, which will be senior night, before traveling to rival Michigan, in a game both teams need badly.
My upcoming predictions would say that Purdue wins out, and Michigan State wins against Iowa and loses at Michigan.