Indiana hasn’t just beaten Purdue in recent memory, they have dominated them.
Long before Indiana football coach Curt Cignetti declared “Purdue sucks” at a men’s basketball game the day he was introduced as head coach in December 2023, Indiana women’s basketball coach Teri Moren and crew had been living it on the hardwood with the women’s team.
Since their matchup in January of 2016, which was the last time Purdue won the Barn Burner Trophy, Indiana has only dropped one matchup to the Boilermakers which happened to not be that year’s trophy game due to the rivalry alternating home games for the trophy game.
That’s 17 wins and just one loss for those counting at home. Fourteen of those wins were decided by double digits, but you know what they say about rivalry games — throw the records out the window.
Despite all the recent history, Purdue was the dominant force Sunday in West Lafayette as they took down Indiana 80-69 to reclaim the Barn Burner Trophy. Outside of rebounding and free throws, Indiana lost every major statistical battle. The loss moves Indiana to 11-10 and 0-9 in Big Ten play.
Where Purdue showed a majority of their prowess was in their ability to knock down the long ball as they shot 50% from deep with 11 makes. Purdue was also flat out the more physical team as Indiana was missing Zania Socka-Nguemen as she picked up another lower leg injury before the contest.
A testament to the excellence of the Purdue defense is that they held Indiana to fewer made shots (19) than turnovers (20) which is the second straight contest the Hoosiers have done this feat.
“We’re sort of facing the same sort of dilemma that we’ve continued to be faced with and that’s just giving the other team more shots,” Moren said in her opening remarks. “Against Ohio State it was 25 (shots) tonight it was 10 (shots). Our turnovers, you know, they had 27 points off our turnovers. Those turnovers continue, have been a problem, continue to be a problem and have plagued us throughout the entire season.”
The losses continue to pile on for Moren and the Hoosiers despite some of the best efforts from her star player Shay Ciezki who scored 37 points while managing foul trouble in the contest.
Foul trouble was also an issue for Indiana’s backup options at center for Socka-Nguemen as her understudy Edessa Noyan and third stringer Jade Ondineme both fouled out.
It has been an emotional and difficult season for a young Indiana team who are still trying to get their feet wet for an Indiana side and fanbase that’s more used to retooling rather than rebuilding like they currently are.
“This has never been the standard and it never will be,” Lenée Beaumont said about her thoughts on the season. “The program that I committed to as a junior in high school is the same program I'm playing for and as for the players I think we got to take a lot of accountability… and as a leader on this team I have to take accountability there and figuring out the locker room.”
It’s a short and difficult turnaround for the Hoosiers as they welcome No. 7 ranked Michigan to Assembly Hall on Jan. 29.
