WEST LAFAYETTE — Indiana basketball suffered it most lopsided defeat in its rivalry against Purdue in 56 years on Friday night.
The Hoosiers (17-10 8-8 Big Ten) lost 93-64 to Purdue at Mackey Arena in a game that was never all that competitive.
Purdue guard Fletcher Loyer just about wrapped up the win with consecutive 3-pointers coming out of halftime for the No. 7 Boilermakers (22-5, 12-4). Braden Smith set up the second one with a no-look pass under the basket out to the corner with Loyer giving his team a 22-point lead.
Indiana offered little fight in the second half as Purdue shot 75% through the first 10 minutes of the second half. The Boilermakers scored on 12 of its first 14 possessions of the half — they had 16 points in the paint during that stretch and the rest coming from 3-point range — while averaging 1.86 points per possession.
It all added up to the ugliest loss of the season for the Hoosiers and Purdue’s biggest margin of victory in the series since beating the Hoosiers 120-76 on March 8, 1969 in West Lafayette.
Indiana basketball has no answers for Trey Kaufman-Renn
Trey Kaufman-Renn got an early put back on his own miss while battling Tucker DeVries in the paint. He let out a scream that showed a confidence that was lacking in the earlier meeting between the teams.
Kaufman-Renn beat IU up on the inside regardless of who was defending him. He was aggressive and played with purpose against a Hoosiers team lacking the size to put up much of a fight.
He had multiple 3-point plays in the first half by powering up shots through contact to help Purdue take a 46-29 lead into the half with a game-high 14 points.
On the first possession of the second half, the Boilermakers went right back to him for a quick score.
Rinse, wash and repeat.
Kaufman-Renn’s consecutive baskets with 15:53 to go in the game forced DeVries to burn his second timeout of the half, but the Hoosiers still couldn’t slow him down. On the possession out of the timeout, he came up with an offensive rebound and set up C.J. Cox for an easy layup.
He finished the game with 20 points, his third-most points in a single game this season, six rebounds and five assists. Loyer and Omer Mayer each had 18 points and four made 3-pointers.
Indiana basketball plays its worst first half of the season at Mackey Arena
Darian DeVries told reporters on Thursday the challenge of playing in an environment like Mackey Arena is a team staying poised through all the noise and distraction. The Hoosiers did not meet the moment on Friday night in the first half.
The Hoosiers went into halftime with more fouls (15) than made field goals (11). Purdue had just as many free-throw attempts at the half (15) than they had in the entire first meeting between the teams.
While the officiating wasn’t great, IU players didn’t adjust to the way the game was being called. The Hoosiers played the final 10 minutes of the half without Conor Enright and Sam Alexis, who were both in foul trouble.
Enright picked up three fouls in eight minutes.
It didn’t help that IU was mostly listless on both ends of the floor. Lamar Wilkerson, who was also in foul trouble during the first half, only attempted three shots in 15 minutes and went into halftime without a made field goal. Nick Dorn didn’t even attempt a shot until there was 17:55 to go int he game.
Tucker DeVries was the only player to get any points for the first 7:45 of the game for the Hoosiers while Purdue shot 62.5% from the floor.
Wilkerson led IU in scoring with 20 points, but much of that production came with the game already decided.
Michael Niziolek is the Indiana beat reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on X @michaelniziolek and read all his coverage by clicking here.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Indiana basketball handed embarrassing loss to Purdue