After slow start, Purdue hits stride

This season has been rough for Gene Keady and his Purdue Boilermakers. Trying to fight through the Big Ten without much defense, Keady has been left feeling a little under the weather.\n"These games lately, my chest has been hurting," Keady said. "January and February can get long. Thank goodness the weather's been nice." \nSun began to shine for the Boilermakers (11-11, 3-5 Big Ten) last week when they had two victories, beating Northwestern and Iowa.\nThe wins took Purdue back toward the middle of the Big Ten standings after opening the conference season with five losses in six games.\nBut after knocking off the Wildcats and the Hawkeyes at home, Purdue starts a three-game road trip tonight against the second-place Hoosiers at Assembly Hall.\nKeady was comfortable playing at home, but now that the Boilermakers have three away from Mackey Arena, he isn't so sure things will go as well.\n"We kind of got back on track. We feel like were getting a grip on it," said Keady, whose Boilermakers take on IU at 7 p.m. "Right now, we go on a three-game road trip, so the grip could get loose again. We need to win a road game."\nA victory tonight would entail stopping the Hoosiers' (13-6, 6-1) suddenly explosive offense that has scored at least 80 points in its last two games. That is a problem for Purdue considering the Boilermakers are dead last in the conference in scoring defense, yielding 73.3 points per game. \nThe porous defense is something that is new to Keady. He has always had teams that are aggressive on the defensive end. But at times this season, Keady has lost his patience with a team that seems much more content to launch three pointers than play defense.\nAgainst Minnesota earlier this month, Purdue blew an 11-point lead late in the first half and eventually lost 87-81 at home. In the days following the loss, Keady said his defense "can't guard anybody."\nWith that in mind, Keady isn't looking forward to trying to stop Jared Jeffries in the paint and containing the Hoosier guards who are shooting well of late.\nKeady catches IU after the Hoosiers knocked down 17 three pointers -- a Big Ten Record -- against Illinois Saturday. IU coach Mike Davis knows his team will be ready for Purdue, but he doesn't expect another offensive explosion like the one Saturday.\n "We may have a letdown as far as hitting 17 three-point shots," Davis said. "It won't be a letdown from a standpoint of being ready to play."\n Meanwhile, Keady has seen his offense transform from a physical one to a shooting team that scores points in bunches. Purdue has attempted more three pointers (443) than any other team in the conference but is only fifth in the accuracy department at 36.3 percent.\nGuard Willie Deane is second to Jeffries in conference scoring with 19.5 points per game. Maynard Lewis is averaging just under 11 points, and Darmetreis Kilgore is putting in 10.5 points per game. \nThe shooting is good enough to keep the Boilermakers in games, but then the defense fails them.\n"Defensively, each first half, we've played much better," Keady said. "Then, we have trouble holding a lead. We've got little brush fires we keep putting out."\nThe improved play by Purdue over that past week is reason enough for the Hoosiers to be cautious. Senior forward Jarrad Odle said the Boilermakers have improved steadily and their athleticism will be something IU will have to deal with.\n"(Purdue's) a team that was kind of struggling early, but I think they've got things back going a little better," Odle said. "They're so athletic and have so much firepower you never know what they're going to bring in here"