Indiana and Purdue met for another matchup in their elite rivalry’s history on Sunday, and the showdown was a true tale of two halves. In the end, it resulted in a statement and rare highlight for Mike Woodson’s squad this season and a story of the Boilermakers’ continued unraveling.

To start the game, Purdue was dominating on both sides of the ball. The Boilermakers ended the first half with a strong push that built a 37-25 lead over Indiana entering halftime.

However, it did not take long for things to go south for Purdue in the 2nd half. The Hoosiers quickly tied things up with a 14-2 push coming out of halftime and went on to deliver a 48-21 swing after the break for the 73-58 win for Indiana.

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The win for Indiana snaps a 3-game losing streak to Purdue in the rivalry series. It also gives the Hoosiers a 2nd ranked upset in the past 3 games after also taking down No. 11 Michigan State as IU tries to end Mike Woodson’s swan song by storming back into the NCAA Tournament picture.

ESPN’s Joe Lunardi still had IU in the “Next Four Out” section entering Sunday but indicated the game against Purdue was an opportunity to reach the “First Four Out” grouping. Indiana won’t boost their portfolio much in games against Penn State, Washington and Ohio State down the stretch but a contest at Oregon on March 4 will be crucial.

A loss in any of those games for IU likely puts the Hoosiers in a must-win mode for the Big Ten Tournament, but a sweep could have them back on the bubble of reaching the final field.

On a bigger scale, Purdue’s now 4-game losing streak is especially significant as it likely ends Purdue’s hunt for at least a share of the league title for a 3rd straight season. The first 3 setbacks were all to ranked opponents, but falling to unranked IU — even as a road rivalry game — is particularly disheartening.

Now, the Boilermakers can turn their attention to a 3-game stretch against UCLA, Rutgers and Illinois to end the regular season. For Matt Painter, the key has suddenly become fixing the issues that have cropped up in this skid with the postseason looming.