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GOLD & BLACK ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 25, ISSUE 4 58 Indiana in the second half, it was his 18th stuff of the Big Ten season, in Game 14. After shooting 45 percent in non-conference, Hammons is on pace to lead the conference at just under 63. Likewise, he's been not only a defensive game-changer as a shot-blocker, but also a significantly better all-around defensive player. His attentiveness, communication and activity in his dribble-containment responsibilities have been no small part of Purdue's stunning transfor- mation from defensive sieve in De- cember to defensive force in Big Ten play. The Boilermakers lead the Big Ten in field goal percentage defense and have re-established themselves as one of the most difficult teams in the conference to play. You're seeing charisma from Ham- mons now, the look of an unburdened player who knows what he can do to a basketball game, now knows how to do it and is having a hell of a good time doing it. And because of it all, Purdue's on the fast track to the NCAA Tour- nament, despite a few apocalyptic non-conference losses, and has been maybe the story of the Big Ten sea- son. This was a last-place team from a year ago picked to finish in the low- rent 12th- or 13th-place district of the Big Ten. After Purdue's profoundly disap- pointing 2014 season ended in the Big Ten Tournament last year, Paint- er said that the "next step" for Ham- mons would lie in his team's success. So of all the telling metrics you can use to illustrate Hammons' coming of age, the most important is this: Through the first 14 Big Ten games, Purdue had won 10. Last year, it won five. It's been a turnaround that's been as remarkable as it's been sudden. This is a kid who considered leav- ing for the NBA last spring, then found himself backing up a freshman for half the season that followed. That freshman, Isaac Haas, has been instrumental in Hammons' mat- uration, though. Hammons took re- sponsibility for the rookie from Day 1 and in so doing has apparently taught himself some things. Hammons has now taken greater responsibility for himself. "The things he was telling Isaac to do," Painter said, recalling earlier in the season, "he wasn't doing him- self." That's the thing with Hammons, Painter says: He's always known how to be really good. He's just never known how to apply it. He's figured it out now. "I don't know what it is," guard Jon Octeus said, "but I like it." Hammons is no longer defined, maybe even haunted, by flashes. The light has come on. And it doesn't look like it's going back out. j Over the last month, A.J. Hammons has become the player many hoped he'd be, wanting the ball in big situations on offense and dominating on defense. Tom Campbell