Purdue vs Michigan State: Sparty Tackled our Magic Johnsons

Coming off of a huge win in Mackey against the Illini, the Boilermakers were forced to head up to East Lansing to face off against the Spartans.  Luckily the Boilermakers flight got there on time this season.  Sadly for the Boilermakers, the outcome didn't turn out like we all wanted.

Purdue played a great first 16 minutes, keeping the game in check, but the shooting was still less than what the Boilermakers needed, nonetheless, the physical play seemed to hep the Boilermakers, but it wasn't enough.

In the second half the Boilermakers were able to close the gap but then a few bad sequences and a few questionable calls, including another awful technical on Anthony Johnson.  The officiating was suspect in this one again.  The biggest problem I had was that it was a tale of two halves, in the first half a combined 12 total fouls.  In the second, there were 12 fouls at the 13:15 mark and a total of 32 in the half.  Now this isn't the reason why the Boilermakers lost the game, but it is something to note and extremely frustrating to watch.

The fouls in the second half were capped by the AJ technical.  Then for good measure, Brandon Dawson decided to punch Travis Carroll, and Terone got involved and a double T was issued, I wonder where the official review was there?  Either way he should be suspended, that is unacceptable, but since he goes to MSU he won't be.

One thing that was clear today was the difference between the bench of Purdue and the starters. The combo of Hammons and Lawson vs. the combo of Carroll and Hale.  While Hale is going to be a key contributor  if you haven't come to terms with it yet, Travis is not going to be.  Hammons did a great job containing Nix, but Nix was manhandling Carroll.  It got to the point where almost every possession Carroll was in on Nix, he got the ball. Carroll did get a good block on Dawson early in the game however.

Purdue's bench only scored 8 points, that hurts.

When Hammons got into foul trouble the game started getting out of hand.

While in there Hammons played a great game.  He finished with 20 points, 7 rebounds and 3 blocks.  He was awful from the line however going 4 for 10.  He was physical in the post and really kept Nix in check throughout the game.

The shooting was once again awful.  Terone's shots were not falling he went 5-19 on the game for 11 points and 3 rebounds.

Overall the turning point in the game was the technical on Anthony Johnson.  It allowed MSU to take control and like good teams do, they never looked back.

Today I was impressed by Purdue's ability to take control over the ball and not turn it over which is good to see going into conference and I have to admit, this was a lot better performance than last season up there.

It was tough to watch Gary Harris go off, but it was good to see the Boilers able to take out Appling by using a combination of Ronnie and Anthony.  The game could have went either way, but the Boilermakers were outmatched.

MSU is talented but they aren't invincible, for a let down game I thought Purdue came out and looked okay.  Look for Purdue to come out strong against Ohio State on Tuesday and if you aren't doing anything and don't have a ticket, you should go.