The Purdue Boilermakers dropped from No. 1 to No. 2 in the Coaches Poll last week after falling on the road at Nebraska, clearing a path for the defending champion UConn Huskies to take over.
Voters almost always drop teams who lose and reward teams who don’t lose, which is why it wasn’t a surprise to see UConn climb multiple spots, but even at the time a comparison of the two resumes made it clear the Boilermakers should have stayed in the top spot. Both teams were 15-2 but Purdue had more Quad 1 wins (6) than UConn (4) and was favored in both KenPom and the NET rankings.
Purdue showed what they are capable of on Tuesday evening, heading to Assembly Hall in Bloomington to take on a quality Indiana program and handing them a 87-66 blowout loss.
National Player of the Year frontrunner Zach Edey dominated the Hoosiers, dropping 33 points and 14 rebounds while going 11-12 from the free throw line. Fletcher Loyer contributed 19 points on just 5-6 shooting, while Lance Jones added 17.
Purdue’s two losses are both on the road in conference play, one coming in overtime against Northwestern back in early December and the other at Nebraska last week. UConn’s losses are better, at Kansas and at Seton Hall, but Purdue’s overall resume should have kept them in the top spot last week.
A big win over Indiana and a chance to pick up another victory on the road at Iowa on Saturday could help Purdue climb back to number one, although it will depend how UConn does the rest of the week, on Wednesday at home against Creighton and at Villanova on Saturday.