It was another storied moment in the Crossroads of America El Clasico. The #16 Purdue Boilermakers beat their hated arch-rival, the Indiana Hoosiers 86-75 in a clash that wasn’t really all that much in doubt at any point after the first ten minutes.
The Boilermakers closed out their home slate for 2016-17 by celebrating their 23rd B1G men’s basketball title. They are now alone in first place in that department. Indiana has 22, as does Ohio State, who actually have 20 with the Buckeyes seeing two of their titles vacated.
Here is the link to the official team site’s photo gallery, and the link to their audio highlights.
It’s a very special night for Purdue Boilermakers everywhere. At this link you can read the recap of the game itself. In this post we give you the sights and sounds, notes and quotes, photos and videos from the league title celebration.
Said Purdue Boilermakers Guard Dakota Mathias: “It feels pretty good. It’s something we’ve been working on. It’s a testament to the guys in our locker room.”
https://twitter.com/PaulMBanks/status/836738371397484549
https://twitter.com/PaulMBanks/status/836775768176873473
https://twitter.com/PaulMBanks/status/836766367856660480
Looks good. pic.twitter.com/YEF8PaWkFW
— Hammer and Rails (@HammerAndRails) March 1, 2017
Remember when people made a fuss over @BoilerBall's "Making our STATEment" motto?
Purdue just swept IU, beat ND & won the B1G #STATEmentMade— Hammer and Rails (@HammerAndRails) March 1, 2017
Said Purdue Boilermakers Coach Matt Painter: “This is something they (the players) will cherish forever. I’m happy for those guys. We’ve had a lot of people doubt them.”
The Purdue Boilermakers became the fourth Big Ten team in league history to finish last in the league race just three (or fewer) years prior to winning a Big Ten title. The others were Indiana (2011; won in 2013), Indiana (1970; won in 1973), Purdue (1966; won in 1969) and Michigan (1961; won in 1964).
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times and NBC Chicago.com, contributes to Chicago Tribune.com, Bold, WGN CLTV and KOZN.
Follow him on Twitter, Instagram, Sound Cloud and YouTube