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GoldanDBlack express • volume 24, express 21 • 1 BY STACY CLARDIE SClardie@GoldandBlack.com R apheal Davis nearly was car- ried off Keady Court on A.J. Hammons' shoulders, both armed with big smiles, celebrating like Purdue had just won a Big Ten championship. So were their teammates, de- livering jump-and-bumps with all player combinations, latching on for big hugs, issuing hardcore high-fives. Snapping a four-game los- ing streak to rival Indiana with a double-digit victory in front of a packed Mackey Arena had the Boilermakers jacked. In reality, though, Purdue moved only to 5-7 in the league and 15-10 overall. And now the gauntlet returns. Four of the next five games are against the Big Ten's best teams, the top four record-wise in the league, and all rank among the top 25 teams. The "other" game in that stretch is a road game at Nebraska, which just beat ninth- ranked Michigan State in East Lansing, Mich., and enters the week on a three-game winning streak with Penn State up before Purdue on Sunday. The Cornhuskers, who are a game ahead of Purdue in the league standings, have lost only once in 12 games at home this season, to Michigan. The Boilermak- ers haven't beaten a ranked team in four tries this season, and their last victory over a top-25 team was March 2, 2013, at No. 17 Wisconsin. The next chance is Thursday against the Spartans in Mackey. And that's as far as Coach Matt Painter's scope has reached. He won't talk stretches, only hopes his team gained some kind of confidence from, in some ways, a season-best performance against Hoosiers. "I thought we played a little bit harder," Painter said Monday when asked what encouraged him about his team's victory against Indiana. "I thought in the second half, our guys were able to take some made shots and really set our defense and do a good job of getting stops at the other end. Just that string of efficient play on the offensive end and good defense the first 10 min- utes of the second half was the difference in the game." Can Purdue rely on hot shooting, though, to push it for- ward in the final stretch? The 10 three-pointers against Indiana tied a season high, as did the 56-percent shooting from beyond the arc. Purdue's overall shooting percentage, 48 percent, was its highest during Big Ten play. volume 24, eX 21 • feb. 17, 2014 Inside | Purdue men beat IU 6-7 | More hoops notes 9–11 Women rally to beat Iowa 12–13 | Wilson steps up 15-16 shooting could help momentum Tom Campbell Terone Johnson broke from his scoring slump with a 14-point effort against the Hoosiers. His teammates fol- lowed along as the Boilermakers showed signs of life on the offensive end. 10 Three-pointers the men hit against IU, the most in a single game in two years and the high-water mark for the Matt Painter Era vs. IU. 12 Missed layups by the Hoosiers, ac- cording the IU Coach Tom Crean. He did admit the Boilermaker de- fense had something to do with it. 8 Consecutive Purdue-IU games that have failed to be decided by single digits in Mackey Arena, dating back to Gene Keady's last season at Purdue (2005). 13 Three-pointers needed by Courtney Moses to tie Katie Gearlds' career Purdue record of 238. Moses had seven in Purdue's comeback win vs. Iowa Sunday. THE NumbErs