Hoosiers face Boilers with less than 40 hours to prep

Even three months of preparation might not be enough for IU to beat Purdue on Saturday.

Try 40 hours.

The Hoosiers (6-19, 1-12) will have no choice but to make the quick two-day turnaround. On Saturday, the Hoosiers will forget about the Badgers and focus on the Boilermakers when they travel to West Lafayette to face No. 19 Purdue (20-6, 9-4).

IU men’s basketball coach Tom Crean said Wednesday he’s been well aware of this portion of the schedule since the beginning of the year – and not because he was looking forward to it.

“I just think that every game is big – every game to every coach is the biggest game of the year – but there are certain games, in all leagues, that transcend the others,” Crean said. “And I think Indiana-Purdue is one of those games.”

After watching the Boilermakers humiliate No. 6 Michigan State 72-54 in West Lafayette on Tuesday night, IU’s coach isn’t sure how much extra preparation would even help the Hoosiers.

“Right now, to get Purdue, it wouldn’t matter if we had three months,” he said. “They are going to be a very hard team to play. What we saw (against Michigan State), my goodness ... I know coach (Tom) Izzo isn’t happy with how his team played, but I don’t know who would have beat Purdue (that night).”

The Boilermakers forced the Spartans to commit 22 turnovers and shoot 32.7 percent on the night. The upset marked the return of Purdue sophomore Robbie Hummel (12.3 ppg) to the starting lineup after sitting out with a nagging injury.

By the time the Hoosiers and the Boilermakers tip off at 2 p.m. in Mackey Arena, Purdue will have had three days to prepare for the rivalry’s lone game of the season and rest Hummel’s ailing back.

Even with Hummel sidelined, Crean said Purdue hasn’t “skipped a beat.”

In both his teleconference Monday and with local reporters Wednesday, Crean was questioned about the 40-hour turnaround and voiced his displeasure. While he did not complain, he did articulate he’d like to see a change in the future.

“I get it now. I get it for television,” he said. “But I think some concrete thought has to be put into not letting this happen.”

In addition, Crean said he’d like to see the Hoosiers face their in-state rival twice a season, rather than once, like this year.

Saturday’s game will give the Hoosiers a chance for redemption after failing to compete with two of their border rivals, Illinois and Kentucky, earlier this season. On Dec. 13, the Hoosiers lost by 18 to Kentucky in Rupp Arena. During the conference season, IU lost to Illinois twice by a combined 44 points.

Unlike the two Illinois games, IU will have junior guard Devan Dumes, the team’s leading scorer, at its disposal for the entire game. Freshman forward Tom Pritchard said Dumes “brings out the best in us” and his presence on the court will help them on both ends.

As for Purdue, the Boilermakers have now won nine of their last 11 games and are beginning to get healthy as the season winds down. Purdue coach Matt Painter’s team is only a game behind Michigan State, the team it throttled earlier this week, for the conference lead.

But Painter is making sure his team isn’t getting caught up dreaming about conference titles.

“We don’t sit around and talk about winning a Big Ten Championship,” Painter said. “You do in the spring, the summer and the fall. Once the season starts, you move to the next game. Now, we worry about Indiana.”