It's hard to tell much from watching warm-ups. Shots are taken, passes made, slam dunks attempted. But those slams told the tale Wednesday for Purdue's Basil Smotherman, whose energy fueled his team whenever the sellout crowd's adrenaline began to wane.
Though Rafael Davis led the Boilers with 19 points, it was Smotherman's end line-to-end line pushes that defined Purdue in a 83-67 win over a top-20 Indiana team.
The normally hot-shooting Hoosiers, who came into the game with one of the nation's best offenses, couldn't find a shooting rhythm for most of the game. IU averages nine three-pointers a game for the year, but coach Tom Crean's team connected on just 4 of its 19 attempts.
IU guard Yogi Ferrell (21 points) tried to match the Boilers' intensity, trying to keep the tempo up even as his team fell behind by as many as 20 in the second half.
The Hoosiers couldn't match the Boilers inside size and several IU defenders found themselves in quick foul trouble trying to guard the much taller A.J. Hammons and Isaac Haas. 6'6" guard Collin Hartman was overmatched and drew two early fouls. So too did 6'7" freshman Emmitt Holt.
But the story was the energy inside Mackey Arena, both on the floor and in the stands. Though home attendance for the school's revenue-generating sports has been lackluster this year, the standing room only crowd regularly buoyed the Boilers and at times made referees' whistles tough to hear.
Still, the team offered much to cheer about. A shaky end to the first half concluded with a length-of-the-court dribble drive from backup guard Bryson Scott, who sank a buzzer-beating layup to end the first half with the home team up 11.
Matt Painter's squad then came out hot in the second half, pushing its lead well into double digits and continuing its hot shooting, including going to the free throw line 33 times and pocketing 25 points from he charity stripe (76-percent).
IU and Purdue are now both 5-3 in Big Ten Conference play. Purdue plays at Northwestern Saturday.