Purdue has bigger goals this season than beating Indiana on Saturday.

But with a victory, the Boilermakers can inch a step closer to winning a 2nd consecutive Big Ten title; they can stay undefeated in Mackey Arena; and they can keep momentum toward the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Along with those bigger objectives, No. 2 Purdue can also earn a regular-season sweep of Indiana, a year after being swept by IU, and not only that, but also the Boilermakers can potentially hammer the Hoosiers in an embarrassing fashion. And that, at least for this game, might be sweetest of all.

Purdue already nuked Indiana 87-66 in mid-January, a 21-point margin that marked the largest (for the Boilermakers) in the series since 2002-03 and the largest in Assembly Hall since 1934. After being a 9.5-point favorite then, the Boilermakers are likely to be favored by at least a dozen — potentially more — once they tip with IU at 8 p.m. Saturday in Mackey.

Purdue last sweep the series by double-figures in each game in 2011, although Indiana returned the favor 2 years later, and by absolutely destroying the then-sliding Boilermakers (who would finish last in the Big Ten a year later) by margins of 37 and 28 points. Series momentum seems to have swung back hard in the other direction 11 years later. The last time Purdue won both regular-season contests by at least 20 points came 90 years ago.

What would handing the Hoosiers a significant loss do for the Indiana program? Already, there are questions about Mike Woodson’s fitness for his job. Even after its upset win at Ohio State on Tuesday — a game that might have said more about the bottoming-out of Chris Holtmann’s Buckeyes than any sort of resurgence, temporary or otherwise, of the Hoosiers — Indiana has a long, long way to go to build an NCAA résumé. IU is 14-9 overall, 6-6 in the Big Ten, but its NET ranking, a significant marker in NCAA selection, is only 97, as the Hoosiers have only 1 Quad 1 victory in 8 chances.

Sure, beating Purdue would be a signature win that could push the Hoosiers toward the bubble, but upsetting the Boilermakers might be a Herculean task, especially when considering the current state of Indiana. The Hoosiers have played the past 2 games without point guard Xavier Johnson, who injured his left elbow in a hard fall vs. Iowa nearly 2 weeks ago. He’s out indefinitely and thought to be doubtful for Saturday’s game. Center Kel’el Ware’s status is lesser known, however, after the Indiana big man landed awkwardly on his left leg near the end of the Ohio State game, leaving him to limp to the locker room. He’s been limited in practices since. Without Ware, who has been one of the best all-around newcomers to the Big Ten this season after his transfer from Oregon, the Hoosiers might be in a world of difficulty in trying to matchup with Purdue All-America center Zach Edey.

Ware faced foul trouble in the first game, leaving him to score only 5 points on 2-for-6 shooting, with 6 rebounds and 2 blocks in 26 minutes vs. Edey. His backup, Peyton Sparks, played 7 minutes, as Indiana opted to play small at times, although with expectedly poor results. Indiana’s lack of interior size contributed significantly to the Boilermakers’ ability to build a 20-point 1st-half lead, then hang on in the 2nd.

Even with Johnson and Ware in the lineup, the matchup is troublesome for the Hoosiers, because Indiana’s strength in the front-court is exceeded by Purdue’s, and IU can’t make up the deficit by hitting from long range; it ranks near the bottom of the NCAA in most 3-point efficiency categories. They rank 335th (out of 351 teams) in the country in made 3s per game — just 5.1.

Time is running out for Indiana. And it might be for Woodson too, although there will likely be a strong sense from Indiana athletic director Scott Dolson and others that the 3rd-year head coach, a former player great and disciple of legendary coach Bobby Knight, deserves at least another season. And maybe so. Woodson, after all, had built Indiana back to respectability, with back-to-back trips to the NCAA Tournament, after years of starts and stops by previous coaches.

After Saturday night, there will be plenty of noise. For Purdue, as the Boilermakers build toward a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament (and their demons that have plagued them). And for Indiana, if the game goes as expected, perhaps a different kind of noise, one that leaves a lot of questions to be answered in the coming weeks.