Indiana–Purdue rivalry

Indiana Hoosiers Purdue Boilermakers
Sport	Football,basketball,baseball

60km
37miles

Purdue

Indiana

   

Locations of Indiana and Purdue

TheIndiana–Purdue rivalry is a rivalry between theIndiana University BloomingtonHoosiers and thePurdue UniversityBoilermakers, the two flagship public universities in the state ofIndiana. It is regarded as one of the most intense collegiate rivalries in the United States, and one of the strongest and most followed collegiate rivalries in theBig Ten Conference. Among all of college sports rivalries,Newsweek listed it among the top 12 andHuffington Post listed it as the fifth best rivalry overall.^[1][2]

The intensity of the rivalry is augmented by the deep passion within Indiana for basketball (seeHoosier Hysteria). Both universities have very large student bodies in the tens of thousands; Purdue is aland-grantresearch university located in the northern portion of Indiana that traditionally focuses onengineering,science,agriculture, andtechnology, while IU Bloomington is located in the southern portion of the state and primarily focuses onliberal arts,business,law, andmusic. However, both universities offer a wide range of academic programs. The geographic and academic divergence of the two institutions polarizes the state of Indiana into two large fan bases.^{[citation needed]}

Purdue is the founding member of theBig Ten Conference and both universities have been members of the Big Ten for over 100 years, ensuring yearly competition across all sports and adding conference standing implications to the rivalry.

Indiana–Purdue men's basketball rivalry

Purdue Boilermakers Indiana Hoosiers
Sport	Basketball
First meeting	March 2, 1901 Purdue 20 – Indiana 15
Latest meeting	February 23, 2025 Indiana 73 – Purdue 58
Next meeting	TBD
Statistics
Meetings total	221
All-time series	Purdue leads, 128–93
Largest victory	Purdue, 62–15 (1910)
Longest win streak	Indiana, 13 (1949–1955)
Current win streak	Indiana, 1 (2025–present)

Indiana and Purdue played against each other in men's basketball for the first time on March 2, 1901. The two teams have played at least once a year since then, and until 2001 they usually met twice a year. Purdue leads the all-time series 128–93. Purdue has won the Big Ten Conference regular season title 26 times, and Indiana has won it 22. Since the Big Ten began basketball in the 1904–05 season, the schools have combined to win or share over 39% of the conference championships. Both are among the winningest programs in Division I basketball; through the end of the 2022–23 season, Indiana is 10th on the list, while Purdue is 12th.^[3]

Additionally, Indiana has won 5NCAA championships in basketball. Indiana was also voted the UPI National Champions in 1975. Purdue was retroactively awarded the 1932Helms Foundation andPremo-Porretta Power Poll national titles.^[4][5] Both Indiana and Purdue have captured one post-seasonNIT championship; Purdue won in 1974 and Indiana won in 1979. The two teams also met in the postseason the following year in the1980 NCAA Sweet 16, with Purdue winning on their way to the Final Four. That was their first, and only, head-to-head NCAA Tournament game.

Purdue won 51 of the first 62 games through 1939, including four winning streaks of more than eight games. In 1940, Indiana won both yearly contests for the first time ever and went on to win their first NCAA Championship. The rivalry favored Indiana in the 1940s and 1950s, with the Hoosiers winning 25 out of the 37 games during the two decades. The intensity of the rivalry reached new heights throughout the 1970s, 80s, and 90s whenBob Knight andGene Keady coached Indiana and Purdue, respectively. The two legends combined for 17 Big Ten titles and 13 Big Ten Coach of the Year awards while leading the Hoosiers and Boilers. The rivalry has become re-energized in recent years under Purdue'sMatt Painter dominance and Indiana's constant changing of head coaches, helping restore the rivalry. ESPN has labeled the basketball rivalry as "one of the two or three best rivalries in the sport,"^[6] whileCollege Magazine ranked it as the 10th bestcollege basketball rivalry and TotalProSports listed it as the seventh best.^[7][8]

Indiana and Purdue first met on March 2, 1901, in Bloomington, with a 20–15 Purdue win. Indiana originally planned to play a second game against Purdue in West Lafayette, but according toThePurdue Exponent, the game was "declared off on account of General[Benjamin] Harrison's death."^[9] Harrison – a former U.S. president and sitting Purdue trustee – had died on March 13, 1901 – two days prior to the scheduled contest.^[10] Additionally, theArbutus (the Indiana school yearbook) states that those games were "declared off, and the season ended at Indiana."^[11] Furthermore, the 1901Debris (Purdue's school yearbook) did not include this game in its 1900-01 basketball season results.^[12] The official records of Indiana and Purdue indicate that Indiana lost to Purdue 23–19 in West Lafayette on March 15, 1901. However, theIndiana University Basketball Encyclopedia by Jason Hiner notes that an absence of newspaper reports about the game suggests that it never took place.^[13] That source lists Indiana's record for the1900–01 season as 1–3.

On March 8, 1969, and on their way to the1969 National Championship game, the Boilermakers trounced the Hoosiers 120–76 behind 40 fromRick Mount and 31 fromBilly Keller. Indiana coachLou Watson remarked after the game, "I'm so glad that's over. That Keller killed us."^[14] The Boilermakers would eventually fall 92–72 to the UCLA Bruins in the 1969 National Championship Game.^[15]

On February 16, 1976, IU defeated Purdue at Mackey Arena 74–71. This victory was IU's 6th in a row over Purdue. The Indiana Hoosiers would go on to finish the Big Ten undefeated at 18-0 for the second season in a row and win their 4th straight Big Ten Championship. The Indiana Hoosiers would also go on to finish the season undefeated at 32-0 and win the school's 3rd National Championship: no other D-1 basketball program has finished a season undefeated since IU did so in 1976. The Hoosiers only lost one game during the 1974–75 and 1975–76 seasons, which has also not been accomplished by any D-1 program since during a 2-season period.

After splitting the regular season series at one win apiece, Indiana and No. 15 ranked Purdue met on March 21, 1979, in the final game of the1979 NIT Championship. Going toe to toe during this game was Indiana star Ray Tolbert. Tolbert would go on to receive co-MVP honors for the NIT Tournament. Purdue'sJoe Barry Carroll would be the main star for the Boilermakers.^[16] Indiana squeaked by with a 53–52 win in the first-ever post-season meeting between the Hoosiers and Boilermakers.

On March 13, 1980, No. 7 ranked Indiana faced No. 20 Purdue in the1980 NCAA Sweet 16, held in Lexington. This is the only time the two schools have ever met in the NCAA Tournament. Although Indiana freshmanIsiah Thomas scored 30 points, Purdue ultimately won the game 76–69 behind 20 points from Keith Edmonson and Drake Morris. Purdue reached theFinal Four before losing toUCLA.^[17] This would be Purdue's most recent Final Four appearance until2024.

In a game at Bloomington on January 31, 1981, between Indiana and Purdue, Hoosier starIsiah Thomas hit Purdue guardRoosevelt Barnes with a sucker punch.^[18] When the two schools played their second game of the season at Purdue on February 7, 1981, Knight claimed a number of derisive chants were directed at him, his wife, and Indiana University. In response Knight invited Purdue athletic director George King on his weekly television show to discuss the matter, but King declined. Therefore, in place of King, Knight brought onto the show a "jackass" (maledonkey) wearing a Purdue hat as a representative of Purdue.^[19][20] The1980–81 Hoosiers would go on to win the1981 NCAA National Championship, the school's fourth national title.

The February 23, 1985 game at Bloomington between Purdue and Indiana would provide a defining moment in the Indiana-Purdue basketball rivalry. Just five minutes into the game, a scramble for a loose ball resulted in a foul call on Indiana's Steve Alford. Knight, irate, insisted the call should have been for ajump ball and seconds later after the Purdue inbounds, a subsequent foul was called on Daryl Thomas. Knight ultimately received atechnical foul and then threw a red plastic chair from Indiana's bench across the floor toward the basket and received his 2nd technical. Knight continued until he received a 3rd technical and was ejected from the game by NCAA rule (since then, NCAA rules have changed so that two technical fouls earn an automatic ejection).

Knight was ejected, but he received a standing ovation as he left the floor from the home crowd atAssembly Hall, and the crowd quickly became hostile and dangerous. Fans went so far as to throw coins at the Purdue bench after Knight's ejection. Despite the crowd, Purdue went on to defeat Indiana 72–63 on their way to a 20–9 season, while Indiana finished the year 16–13 and missed theNCAA tournament.

Knight apologized for his actions the next day and was given a one-game suspension and two years probation from theBig Ten. Since the incident, Knight has occasionally joked about throwing the chair. A common joke told by Knight is that he saw an old lady standing on the opposite sideline and threw her the chair so she could sit down. The picture of Knight throwing the red plastic chair across the floor in front of Reid has since become the symbol of the Indiana–Purdue rivalry. Replays of the toss have been shown during nearly every match-up atMackey Arena since 1985.^[21][22]

On January 31, 1987, Indiana and Purdue met for the first time with both teams ranked in the Top 10; coincidentally, they were tied in theAP poll at #4. Indiana won the first meeting of the year in Bloomington 88–77. In their second match-up, on February 26, 1987, in West Lafayette, both teams came into the game still ranked in the Top 10 (Purdue at #6 and Indiana at #3). IndianaAll-AmericanSteve Alford was held to only 1 point in the first half as Purdue led by 9 points at the break. Behind 18 points from Troy Lewis, Purdue won 75–64. Despite the loss, the1986–87 Hoosiers would go on to win the1987 NCAA National Championship, the school's 5th national title.

At a practice leading up to an Indiana-Purdue game in West Lafayette in 1991, Bob Knight unleashed a torrent of expletives and threats designed to motivate his Indiana team. In one portion he exclaims he is "fucking tired of losing to Purdue." Unknown to most, someone was secretly taping the speech. The speech has since gone viral and has over 1.83 million views on YouTube alone.^[23] Although the source of who taped the speech remains unknown, many former players suspect it was former manager and currentNBA coachLawrence Frank.^[24] Indiana would go on to beat Purdue 65–62.^[25]

In a February 18, 1997 game at Bloomington, No. 24 ranked Indiana was led by 31 points from freshmanA. J. Guyton, including a three-pointer to tie the game at 87 in overtime. However, Purdue's Chad Austin hit the game winner with 0.6 seconds left in overtime to give Purdue their 4th win in a row against the Hoosiers. It was practically an instant replay from the previous season when Austin sank a three-pointer with 13.7 seconds left to lift Purdue to a 74–72 win in Bloomington. Austin scored 18 and Purdue freshmanBrian Cardinal added 25 points in the 1997 game. The victory was the 400th of Gene Keady's career.^[26]

The Big Ten had featured an imbalanced conference schedule since increasing to 11 members in 1993, and it finally reached the Indiana–Purdue rivalry as the two were only scheduled for one meeting in each of the 2001–02 and 2002–03 seasons. However, the two schools planned a non-conference game for December 14, 2002, at theRCA Dome inIndianapolis. The game was nicknamed the "Duel in the Dome" and a total of 32,055 Hoosier and Boiler fans filled into the Dome to see the game.

The #7 ranked Hoosiers held off Purdue 66–63 in the game. Indiana jumped out early and led by as many as six points at 17–11 before Purdue used a 12–1 run to go ahead by six points themselves at 27–21. But Indiana closed the gap and at halftime Purdue led 29–27. After only one lead change in the first half, the second half featured 5 ties and 9 lead changes as the teams battled back and forth. Indiana took the lead for good at 50–49 with 5:36 left, but Purdue never trailed by more than five points and the game wasn't over until Jeff Newton stole Purdue's inbound pass with a second left. Newton scored 16 points to lead the Hoosiers, including 9 crucial points in the final three minutes.^[27]

On January 15, 2005, Indiana and Purdue faced off in Mackey Arena in what would be Keady's final home game of the rivalry. Purdue had led the entire game until Indiana used a 14–0 run to take a four-point lead with twelve minutes remaining in the second half. The teams battled back and forth untilDavid Teague gave Purdue a 55–52 lead with only 25 seconds remaining. However, Indiana'sMarshall Strickland tied the game on a three-point play to send the game into overtime.

In the first overtime, the Hoosiers and Boilermakers were tied at 61 when a foul was called on Purdue's Andrew Ford with 0.9 seconds remaining. Strickland hit two free throws to give Indiana the lead. But Purdue heaved a pass to the opposite end of the court whereCarl Landry made a layup and was fouled as he shot. After reviewing the call on video replay, the referees ruled that although Landry had released the shot after the buzzer, he had been fouled before time expired. They allowed continuation and counted the basket. However, Landry ended up missing the ensuing free-throw with no time on the clock, and the teams went to double-overtime tied at 63.^[28]

In the second overtime, Indiana had a 74–70 lead before Teague hit a three-pointer with 5.7 seconds remaining to pull Purdue within one.Bracey Wright then made one free throw for Indiana, and Purdue's Brandon McKnight missed a last-second heave to make the final score 75–73 in favor of the Hoosiers. This was the first, and thus far only, double-overtime game in the history of the Indiana-Purdue basketball series.^[29]

On February 19, 2008, No. 15 ranked Indiana faced No. 14 ranked Purdue in Bloomington. It would be the Hoosiers' last game before the completion of the school's investigation into accusations thatKelvin Sampson committed major rules violations, and would ultimately be Sampson's final game as Indiana's head coach as he would resign two days later. Hoosier starEric Gordon scored 22 points to lead Indiana to a 77–68 victory. The win snapped Purdue's 11-game winning streak and brought Indiana within one-half game of the Boilermakers at the top of the Big Ten conference standings.^[30]

On February 27, 2017, No.16 ranked Purdue faced the defending Big Ten Champion but unranked Hoosiers in Mackey Arena. The previous year Indiana won the Big Ten Regular Season Title to join Purdue with 22 conference titles, tied for the most in conference history. Ninety minutes before game time, the pedestrian areas around Mackey Arena were overflowing with bodies and when the gates opened 60 minutes prior to tip the entire student section was filled in minutes. Caleb Swanigan led the way with 21 points with Dakota Mathias adding 19 points to lead Purdue to a 86–75 victory. This victory clinched a share of the Big Ten Conference Championship for Purdue's 23rd all-time title, which put them alone in first place.^[31]

On February 19, 2019, No. 16 ranked Purdue played unranked Indiana at Assembly Hall in what can only be called a rock-fight of a game. The two teams combined for only 94 points, the lowest combined score in the rivalry since 1950. The game was laced with profane chants from the IU fanbase aimed at Purdue's 7'3" Sophomore Matt Haarms, after Haarms was involved in two loose ball battles with De'Ron Davis and received a technical foul on the second scuffle. The chants could be heard clearly on the TV and radio broadcast with the fan base yelling "F--- You Haarms". As the defensive struggle continued, and the game tied at 46 a piece, Purdue put the ball in the hands of their All-American Junior Guard Carsen Edwards who struggled all night from the field. With 5 seconds remaining, his shot went off the back heel and Matt Haarms rose over Indiana's Juwan Morgan and tipped the rebound back in with his left hand for the game winner with 3.1 seconds remaining.

After the game, IU athletic director Fred Glass called his counterpart at Purdue, Mike Bobinski, and apologized for the profane chants. Former Indiana great Alan Henderson also weighed in on the controversy via Twitter to say "we should not hear curse chants at opponents, that's not what Indiana basketball is about." Purdue would go on to win a share of the Big Ten Conference Title for their league-leading 24th title.^[32]

Ranking of the team at the time of the game is shown next to the team name. Purdue leads the all-time head-to-head series with Indiana 128–93.^[33]

Indiana and Purdue first met in football in 1891. The rivalry has been renewed annually during every peacetime season since then, except when the 1903 game was canceled due to 14 players of the Purdue team dying ina railroad accident the morning of the game. In 1908 the two schools began a tradition of concluding their regular seasons by playing each other. This tradition has been interrupted only occasionally (World War I, 9/11 (game with ND moved to 12/1), late season games @ Hawaii), but for the most part, Indiana and Purdue have ended the season by playing each other. Purdue leads the all-time series 77–42–6.

In 1925 the teams played for theOld Oaken Bucket for the first time. While the presentation of the trophy dates 86 years, the bucket itself is more than 100 years old. The winner of the bucket gets a "P" or "I" link added to the chain of the bucket with the score, date and the city where the game was played engraved on the link. In case of a tie, an "I–P" link is added. The first Old Oaken Bucket game ended in a 0–0 tie, resulting in the first "I-P" link. Purdue leads the all-time Bucket series 63–32–3.

When the Big Tenexpanded to 14 teams in 2014 and the conference realigned into geographically based divisions, Indiana and Purdue were placed in opposite divisions (respectively East and West). The Indiana–Purdue game was the only protected cross-division rivalry in that alignment, ensuring that the Old Oaken Bucket will still be contested every year.^[34] The Old Oaken Bucket game continued to be a protected rivalry after the conferenceexpanded to 18 teams in 2023.

The rivalry between Indiana and Purdue has spilled over into other arenas. Beginning in the fall of 2001, the rivalry was strengthened by the creation of an official rivalry cup. It was introduced in the fall of 2001 as theTitan Series, but renamed theCrimson and Gold Cup in the fall of 2004^[35] and theGovernor's Cup in 2013.^[36] The schools accumulate points based on the results of head-to-head competition or standings at the Big Ten championships for shared varsity sports, and the program with the most points at the end of the year wins the trophy. From the cup's establishment through the 2018–19 season Indiana has claimed the cup 14 times, Purdue has won the cup 7 times, and the schools have tied twice.

Other sports also have their own traveling trophy.^[37] In addition to theOld Oaken Bucket in football, there is theMonon Spike in volleyball, which was introduced in 1981 as reminder of the competition on the court as well as a reference to the historicMonon Railroad in the state. As with its sister trophy, the Old Oaken Bucket, a "P" or an "I" link is added to the chain signifying the season's winner.^[38] In women's basketball there is theBarn Burner Trophy, which was introduced during the 1993–94 season. It is a wood plaque with a drawing of a barn and an attached basketball hoop. Women's soccer also features theGolden Boot, introduced in 2002. After each victory, the winning team takes the trophy home and adds a letter to the chain attached to the gold-dipped soccer shoe. On each letter is engraved the date and score of the match it represents.

The two programs played each other in men's soccer from 1973 when Indiana began fielding a men's soccer program until 1985, when Purdue disbanded their program.^[39]

• NCAA 'convinced' that basketball championship would prosper by Kay Hawes (NCAA News Century Series)

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