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GOLDANDBLACK EXPRESS • VOLUME 25, EXPRESS 22 • 6 BY BRIAN NEUBERT BNeubert@GoldandBlack.com BLOOMINGTON — Purdue got that elusive quality road win and a regular-season sweep of its rival in one fell swoop. The Boilermakers stifled IU de- fensively from the 10-minute mark of the first half on, keeping the Hoosiers to their second-lowest point total of the season. Center A.J. Hammons led Purdue with 20 points on 8-of- 9 shooting and made two free throws in the final seconds to seal the victory. Rapheal Davis scored on back-to-back buckets in the final two minutes after Indiana took its only lead of the second half on a Yogi Ferrell three-pointer with just 1:45 to play. But Ferrell's go-ahead three-point try with six seconds remaining missed. Hammons re - bounded and was fouled. With the win, Purdue swept the Hoosiers in two regular-season meetings for the first time since 2010-11. The Boilermakers previously beat IU 83-67 in Mackey Arena on Jan. 28. Following are takeaways from the win: S The chemistry, cohesion and connectedness of this Boiler- maker team through the span of the past six weeks has been unlike anything the program has seen since its really good teams of a few years ago. It's been a night-and- day contrast from the issues that have plagued Purdue teams since 2011 and it's directly reflected in the marked defensive improve- ment, among other things. S If the season ended today, Hammons is a first-team All-Big Ten pick. Anyone who thinks oth- erwise is either over-valuing scor- ing or not paying attention. He's been as influential, if not more so, as any player in the con- ference, All-Americans included. S Amazingly, Purdue is red hot right now despite being on pace for one its worst three-point shooting Big Ten seasons in ages. The Boilermakers are shooting 28.7 percent from three-point territory in conference games. Purdue believes, and so do most others, it's a better shooting team than it's showing, but the lon- ger this goes, well, at some point, y o u a r e w h a t the per- c e n t - ages say you are. T h a t said, you're also what your record says you are and Purdue keeps finding ways to win in spite of it. S Indiana did Purdue some real favors by fronting the post throughout the game, but the IU game was one of the Boil- ermakers' finest in recent memory feeding the post. Purdue recorded 15 assists on 24 made field goals and that included at least four dunks be- tween Hammons and Isaac Haas off passes thrown over the top of the defense. Less has been more for Purdue on its post touches in Big Ten play and the entire operation just looks so much smoother now than it did in November and December, interesting considering the Boilermakers can't seem to make a jump shot to grease the rails for the post game. j FLASH FORWARD Opponent: Rutgers Location: Mackey Arena When: 9 p.m. Thursday Notables: Purdue won the first meeting between these two teams 61-51 in Piscataway, N.J., just two weeks ago. … The Scar- let Knights are riding an 11-game losing streak and coming off a 30-point home loss to Indiana. … Rutgers is the least productive of- fensive team in the Big Ten, averaging just 58.1 points. A LOOK BACK AT THE LAST WEEK OF BASKETBALL M E N ' S B A S K E T B A L L G O L D B O X L I N K S T O G A M E S T O R Y Tom Campbell Isaac Haas was hugely efficient vs. Indiana, with 12 points and nine boards in 12 minutes.