With an improved Zach Edey (yes...improved), the No. 2 Boilers put the hammer down on the Hoosiers

It was a 22-point game at halftime. It was a 21-point game in the end. For IU, it was a miserable performance. For Purdue, it was another step on its way to the Final Four (we mean it this time).

BLOOMINGTON – There were roughly three-and-a-half minutes left in Purdue’s blowout victory over IU at Assembly Hall, the ball loose on the floor in the Hoosiers’ front court. Kel’el Ware saw it, moved gingerly to retrieve the basketball when a 7-foot-4, 300-pound force of nature named Zach Edey dove, grabbed the ball and pushed it ahead for a Lance Jones run-out.

The Boilers were leading by 18 points at the time.

Yes, if you were wondering, it was Matt Painter’s favorite moment in a game filled with great moments, notably Edey’s 33 points and 14 rebounds, Fletcher Loyer’s 19 points and, well, the list of excellence goes on. Road victories have not come easily for the Boilers this season. This one did.

“Who the hell is diving up 18 at 7-4, 300?” Painter said later. “That just shows you who he is.”

Edey and his teammates have a long memory: One year ago, IU swept the series against the Boilers. Tuesday night, that wasn’t an option. Purdue controlled it early and controlled it late, the exclamation point coming when Edey sacrificed his body as Ware looked on.

“It was my last chance to get a win in this building…” Edey said. “I think our team took this matchup very seriously. Whether you’re up 18, 19, I’m going to play the same way.”