Entries in Mark Wohlford (2)
Purdue Cruises Past IU -- My Trip to Mackey
Thursday, March 4, 2010 at 1:57AM 
AP Photo/Michael ConroyAll season I have been looking to go to Mackey Arena and cover Purdue. With just two of us in the sports department, it is hard to find the flexibility on a slow night to get away. Tonight worked out perfectly, and it was ironic that the Boilers hosted arch rival Indiana. NEWS 25 meteorologist David Heckard made the trip with me. Ironically, all of our weather guys are huge sports fans, and Heckard is a Purdue alum. Thanks to him for his help and driving the entire trip!
I am not a fan of either team, but I certainly root for both. I have always admired Purdue Football and Basketball, and I really thought this was the year for the Boilers to make it to the Final Four. Then star junior Robbie Hummel went down for the season with a blown knee last week. I briefly talked with Hummel tonight. I said to him, “Get back better than ever next year.” With a big smile Hummel responded, “I guarantee you I will, I can’t wait.”
Tonight was just the second game for Purdue without Hummel. They lost on Sunday to Michigan State. The Boilers were not going to be denied on senior night against IU. Chris Kramer had one of his best games of his career on his final game at Mackey. He had 18 points and was met with loud ovations throughout the night.
One thing I love about my job is developing a relationship with players and coaches. Granted, for players on Purdue I have only interviewed them twice all year. However, you can learn a lot about players during one on one meetups. Chris was very accommodating and we talked for quite awhile. He told me how much he loved his time at Purdue and the fans that have supported him, how the team is responding without Hummel, and how much they want to beat Penn State this weekend to claim a share of the Big Ten Title.
JaJuan Johnson is also very respectful and pleasant to be around. He also granted me a one on one interview. He was really happy for his senior teammates for going out on top. Johnson had 14 points and 7 rebounds against IU. I said it last time, and I will reinforce it…Johnson is a nightmare matchup for teams. He’s a tall athletic inside outside player that can hit free throws. Those are hard to find.
There is not a lot to say about the game. It was never close, and I don’t think fans from either team thought it would be. The atmosphere at Mackey is fantastic. The student section all had the same shirts on and they were all over the Indiana team. The “IU Sucks” chant was frequent, and there was one IU fan at the top of Mackey above the student section. I am not exaggerating when I say that half of the arena pointed him out and continued the chant. Now you could make the argument that is classless, and you may be right….but I laughed. I also laughed when I saw a sign that said: “You can’t spell SUCK IT without IU”. Oh to be a college kid again!
The Hoosiers look like beaten down mules. I feel terrible for them. They have lost 11 straight games, and it has been in some regards an even worse season than last year. Tom Crean was all over the referees tonight. I thought a little too much. After awhile that becomes the boy who cried wolf. I am sure Crean is just extremely frustrated.
I know that Crean has a near impossible task and it will take a lot of time to get the program back to respectability, but one moment stuck out for me. In the first part of the second half, there was a loose ball. Two Purdue players got to it and because they were fighting with themselves the ball squirted loose again. It just rolled on the court for seemingly forever. Not one IU player dove on the ball or made an effort. That set off an alarm for me. You cannot be out-hustled or outworked even if you are in the middle of an eleven game losing streak.
Back to the Boilers…can they make it to the Final Four? I doubt it. How can you expect a team to overcome such a huge loss with just three games left in the season? I hope I am wrong, I would love to see such a great group of kids make a deep run into the post-season.
Here is my story from tonight. The players shown in order on the video: Chris Kramer, JaJuan Johnson, Mark Wohlford of Purdue and Verdell Jones of Indiana. Also included are some highlights from both halves. Enjoy: