Positive Hoosiers take on last-place Boilers

IU will continue its fight for a spot in the NCAA Tournament tonight in West Lafayette armed with a few weapons that have gone missing for a while now. \nThe first of which, surprisingly, can't be seen between the baselines. IU coach Mike Davis calls it attitude. \nHe spoke heavily about a positive change in his team's attitude both after Sunday's win over Michigan State and during the Big Ten coaches' teleconference Monday morning. \n"Our guys have had a different attitude over the last week -- even in practice you can just feel the team getting back to where we were earlier," Davis said. "Right now I just feel us playing pretty good." \nThe second involves reemergence too -- but it can actually be seen on the court. \nOn Sunday afternoon, sophomore guard Robert Vaden played his best game since last month's outing at Iowa, flirting with a triple-double on 21 points, 10 rebounds and five assists. \nSince his 26-point stint in Iowa City, the sophomore has averaged nine points per game on just 33 percent shooting. Senior guard Marshall Strickland said Vaden is crucial to the entire team. \n"You throw Vaden in the mix, it's really hard to match up," Strickland said after Sunday's game. "We stretch teams out and we get other guys like (Errek) Suhr and (A.J.) Ratliff and (Rod) Wilmont open." \nStrickland said his teammate is more of a rhythm shooter, which was evidenced by the game-sealing 3-pointer Vaden hit Sunday to put his team up firmly at 75-69 in the closing minutes. \n"He's a guy who just needs to get in his rhythm," Strickland said. "He's a rhythm player, and once he gets in his rhythm he starts making really great plays." \nTrying to keep Vaden out of his rhythm will be conference-worst Purdue (9-16, 3-11 Big Ten). \nThe Boilermakers have beaten or contained several of the better teams in the conference at home this year. Earlier this month, they topped Michigan by 14 and Wisconsin by eight. \nBut senior forward Marco Killingsworth said records don't matter right now. \n"We beat them here, so they're going to come in all hungry ready to play," he said after the MSU game. \nLeading that effort against the Hoosiers (15-10, 7-7) in last month's contest was Purdue forward Marcus White, who scored a career-high 19 points, and center Matt Kiefer, who contributed seven points and 10 rebounds. \nDespite stellar play from a few reserves, the Boilers have been hampered all season by the absence of four probable starters, losing three to season-ending injuries and one to a season-long suspension. \nDavis still raved about the job done by Purdue coach Matt Painter. \n"I think Matt Painter has done probably the best job of any coach in our league," he said. "They still are able to come out and play -- that's a phenomenal job. I take my hat off to him, because that's just an amazing feat"