Wait, who are these guys? The Purdue Boilermakers were the lone Big Ten team to bring some pride in the annual ass-whipping that is known as the Big Ten/ACC Challenge last night, beating Virginia 61-59 on a last-second shot. You’ll have to excuse our confusion here at Boiled Sports since we’re not used to seeing Purdue teams win close games and have things break their way. Sure, it was at home, and that’s always nice, and Virginia is no powerhouse but they are #25 in the AP poll so they’re somebody.
In the game, Tarrance Crump hit a floated with under a second remaining to give the Boilers the two-point lead. The Mackey Arena crowd went nuts and Purdue moved to 5-1 on the year. Quietly, Matt Painter has put together a team that could very well be a competitive unit this year. None of us are ready to paint Purdue as a tourney sleeper or anything, but the 5-1 start against some reasonable competition is encouraging. It’s been a long time since there was anything to cheer about for Purdue hoops fans but the Gene Keady Era is officially over and you can see the Matt Painter Era taking shape.
As you can see from the photo, one of Purdue’s rarely-talked-about advantages is the fact that Carl Landry is several feet taller than most defenders.