In what can only be described as an unusual first half of basketball, Purdue somehow found a way to go into halftime tied at 35. This was a half that saw Purdue get just 20 seconds on two possessions based on a rule that I literally had no idea existed. According to rules aficionados on Twitter if the turnover occurs in the backcourt and you then get the ball in the front court the shot clock only resets to 20 seconds. Basketball keeps surprising me I guess.

Purdue started the game hot from the field going 5-5 and jumping to a quick lead over USC. It made sense. USC had played 50 minutes just about 24 hours prior and there legs would naturally be a little dead. Once they got into the flow though USC took full advantage of a sloppy first half from the Boilermakers. Purdue would turn the ball over 9 times in the first half and USC would turn that into 7 points. USC also went on a 13-2 run over 4:38. During this run TKR and Josh Cohen from USC got after each other on a couple of possessions including one in which it sure looked like Cohen dove on top of TKR to get a jump ball but nothing was called. The refs have a way of changing a game and shortly after that play was reviewed, no call was made, it seemed like there was a foul called on just about every possession for a few minutes. Purdue was rattled. They looked out of sorts on both offense and defense allowing easy cuts to the basket while taking some ill-advised shots of their own.

As in all games, a hero needed to step up and for Purdue it was the pair of sophomores who cam(e) in clutch (see what I did?). Camden Heide hit a corner three to reduce the USC lead to 28-21 and then USC committed three straight turnovers that helped Purdue to climb back in this one. Camden Heide dropped in another three to cut the lead to 28-26. A nifty bucket from TKR would tie the game at 28 a piece to cap off a 10-0 Purdue run over just 2:38. It was a far cry from the way Purdue had finished previous first halves that allowed their opponents to get back into games. Myles Colvin would get a nice pass from Braden Smith to finish the scoring at 35 each. Combined, Heide and Colvin had 11 points on 3-5 from deep in the first half. It was a welcome addition given that Braden Smith finished the half with just three points.

John Wooden Memorial Player of the Game (JWMPOTG) – I know that TKR had 30 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 assists, I know that, but he didn’t earn the award tonight. Instead, this honor goes to Camden Heide. The sophomore finished the game with 9 points on 3-3 rebounding but more importantly he grabbed 11 rebounds. Purdue needed each and every one of them as Purdue barely pulled this one out.

The second half was more of the same from the first. A back and forth contest that saw each team make difficult shot after difficult shot. Purdue was led by TKR who put up the aforementioned 30 points including three very clutch free throws at the end of the game.

This was yet another Big Ten game marred by bad officiating. Many of the bad calls went in Purdue’s favor including an out of bounds call late in the second half that was clearly off of Harris but the official on the opposite side of the court came sprinting over to change the call in favor of the Boilermakers. The USC bench lost their minds and rightfully so. Of course, TKR had been fouled on the play and it wasn’t called so it all worked out I guess? There were a couple other calls that Purdue fans should be lucky were not reviewable, but that’s what we’ve come to expect from Big Ten officials this year. They tried their best to control the game by calling six fouls in the first 3:30 of the second half, but eventually a basketball game was able to break out in the middle of the ref show.

TKR took the stage during the second half despite having some foul trouble. He scored 18 points in the second half including 6-10 from the free throw line. You would love it if he would hit 10-10 but what is a Purdue basketball game without some sweat am I right? Purdue fans did plenty of that as the game was in doubt up until the final seconds in large part thanks to Desmond Claude who became a master of the midrange jumper in the second half. He was 6-13 in the second half and finished the half with 14.

Purdue would win the game in a bit of a strange way as when up three USC had the ball but slipped and fell when trying to get their final possession going. Purdue had opted not to foul and it looked like USC was playing for a final three to tie it. As the USC player fell to the court Braden Smith was able to corral the ball and was fouled to head to the line and finish up the scoring at 76-71. Smith was off shooting the ball going 3-10 from the floor but impacted the game in other ways with 9 assists and 3 rebounds.

With the victory, Purdue will remain in the hunt for a Big Ten Tournament Championship with a game tomorrow, again around 9:00 PM against the Michigan Wolverines.