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GOLDANDBLACK EXPRESS • VOLUME 25, EXPRESS 19 • 12 BY GOLD AND BLACK STAFF F or Purdue's season to be more than many ex- pected, it had to show toughness, athleticism and savvy on defense. It hadn't, at least consistently, until Big Ten play. Since then, though, the Boilermakers have dialed up the D, and it's a big reason why they are tied for second halfway through the league's schedule. "We've made improvements," Coach Matt Painter said last week. "Rapheal Davis has done a really good job kind of spearheading that for our team and Jon (Octeus) has been there for us. Our team defense has been a lot better. "I think we have a lot of room for improvement. … We're better defensively but we still have a long way to go." Purdue leads the conference in field goal per - centage defense, allowing opponents to shoot only 39 percent from the field, and it is fourth in scoring defense (64.8). Northwestern's 42-percent shooting Saturday was the first time in the last four games that an opponent made better than 40 percent of its shots against Purdue. The Boilermakers have held every league opponent un- der its pregame scoring average in regulation. Purdue will need to resume the dominance on the boards it had earlier this season to more consis- tently end solid possessions with a rebound, instead of allowing offensive boards. It held the rebounding edge over the Wildcats, but Northwestern still had 10 second-chance points. "If we could rebound the ball and stop giving up second-chance points, we could be one of the best defensive teams in the country," Davis said. "We just have guys who want to play hard, want to win. When you have guys who want to win and want to play hard and want to listen to the scouting report, there's no telling how good we can be when we rebound the basketball." M E N ' S BA S K E T BA L L : N E W S A N D N OT E S Tom Campbell Purdue, with guard Jon Octeus, has surged to its best Big Ten start since 2011-12 behind an improved defense. Defensive Resurgence For Season Stats Click Here www.MeetYouAtArnis.com LAFAYETTE • INDIANAPOLIS • GREENWOOD Visit one of our 18 Indiana locations Meet You At Arni's TM Celebrates Purdue's Student-Athletes SERVING BOILER FANS FOR 50 YEARS World Famous Pizza, Salads, Sandwiches Jordan Jurasevich RS Freshman, Major in Applied Exercise and Health Jurasevich, a tight end from Crown Point, Ind., was one of 20 football players to be named Academic All-Big Ten on Dec. 10. Seventy-one Purdue student-athletes received Academic recognition eclipsing last fall's total of 64 and 2012's total of 46. To be eligible for Academic All- Big Ten selection, student-athletes must be letterwinners, in at least their second year at their institution and carry a grade-point average of at least 3.0. Women's cross country was second only to football with number of honorees with 19. Women's soccer followed with 16, men's cross country had 11 members recognized and the volleyball team had five. PRESENTS vertime