Column: Seven days of hell

WEST LAFAYETTE – This might be the worst seven-day stretch for IU basketball under Tom Crean.

That statement might appear overblown, but considering the team went 0-3 and one of their rotation players was arrested on Friday morning, this might be rock bottom.

The ‘seven days in hell mini-series’, which won’t sell a lot of copies in Bloomington, ended with humiliation in enemy territory.

Purdue (15-10, 5-7) beat the living daylights out of IU (14-11, 4-8), 82-64 in the two schools' only meeting this season.

Flash back one week, when IU traveled to Minneapolis, Minn., to face a Gophers team that had lost their previous three games.

IU held a 36-30 lead at halftime, and then got outscored by 12 points in the second half.

Disappointing? Yes. But completely demoralizing? No. There is no shame in losing at Minnesota.

Flash back to Wednesday night in Assembly Hall.

Now that was demoralizing and shameful. Another 36-30 halftime lead, another loss.

No need to rehash the epic collapse. The quick story is – IU led by 11 with three minutes and 19 seconds left. And somehow lost.

Then early Friday morning news broke that sophomore forward Hanner Mosquera-Perea, who is averaging eight minutes a game, was arrested for operating a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol.

And on Saturday – wow.

IU and Purdue were playing well and making shots in the first half. IU even had a five-point lead at one point. And then the wheels came off.

It's no secret shooting is one of if not the biggest weakness for this team. And in the middle first half to the start of the second half, IU shot themselves out of the game and relevancy in the Big Ten.

From 8:03 left in the first half to 13:04 left in the second half, IU made exactly one field goal.

One field goal in nearly 15 minutes of game time.

One.

During that time frame, Purdue outscored the Hoosiers by 19 points. Purdue ran away from the Hoosiers which, you know, happens when you don’t score.

Suddenly what looked like was going to be a rivalry week showdown turned into a rivalry week beatdown.

Give it to Purdue. They came out with intensity. They shot 57 percent from the field in the second half. On the game they were 10-for-18 from behind the arc. And their defense stifled the Hoosiers to 32 percent shooting for the game.

And that crowd.

The crowd was one of the best I’ve witnessed. For 40 solid minutes the Purdue faithful created an environment so hostile and loud, I actually had trouble hearing for about 10 minutes at the conclusion of the game.

This brings up an important question – with the Hoosiers season in a tailspin, will the fans continue to show up with that patented Assembly Hall passion that carried IU to wins against Wisconsin and Michigan?

We’ll find out Tuesday when a talented Iowa team comes to town. But optimistic fans have something to look forward to.

There’s nowhere to go from rock bottom but up.

I think.