subject: Purdue Boilermakers Basketball Tickets - Boilers Stay In Top Rankings [print this page] The Purdue University Boilermakers men's basketball team has been one of the top-ranked crews in the NCAA this season, and a come-from-behind win at Alabama's Coleman Coliseum on Dec. 12 solidified the Boilers' place in the Top Five of the AP poll once again. Notching a No. 4 power ranking (as of Dec. 14), Purdue now sits behind No. 1 Kansas, No. 2 Texas and No. 3 Kentucky as the top NCAA teams in the nation well through the first part of the 2009-10 basketball season.
Junior forward Robbie Hummel is the go-to guy on Purdue's basketball team again this year, but without a little help on both sides of the ball from senior guard Chris Kramer the Boilers would have wound up with the first loss of their season against a solid Alabama team on Dec. 12. The Crimson Tide opened the game with fervor, posting a 46-30 lead on the Boilermakers after the first half. It was here that Purdue started rebounding, however, becoming an unrelenting force by the end of the game.
Led by Chris Kramer's 14-point swing late in the game and superb defensive tactics, Matt Painter's Boilermakers took the opportunity in the second half of the Purdue-Alabama game to morph into that classic black-and-gold team that typically sells out Purdue Boilermakers basketball tickets. Purdue started pouring on the heat in the second half, and with just under six minutes left in the game to play, Purdue came back from a 64-59 deficit, with D.J. Byrd making a foul shot and Kramer converting a stolen ball into a layup.
The rest of the game went in Purdue's favor, with Hummel ending the day with 23 points, Kramer with 14 and E'Twaun Moore with 15 points contributing to the Boilermakers' big win. The game was over with two-and-a-half minutes to play, when a shot by the unstoppable Kramer put Purdue up 69-64. Moore then nailed down two free throws and Kramer sunk two in on top of that, and a steal with just seconds left in the game gave Purdue its ninth consecutive win of the season, a victory which Purdue coach Matt Painter said Kramer "willed" to happen.
Of the team's come-from-behind win against the Crimson Tide, Painter continued, "It was amazing. It was just one of those games where we've shown nothing in the game to indicate [a turnaround] was going to happen. We were down 16 and there was no indication that we were going to turn it on."
But turn it on they did, and the victory in Alabama against the Crimson Tide Saturday night tasted sweet to the still-undefeated Purdue men's basketball team, which still leads the Big Ten and could now have a shot at a top NCAA tournament seed if it continues with this powerful winning streak. Purdue still has big games against Ohio State, Wisconsin, Michigan State and Illinois coming up over the next several weeks, and the Boilermakers need to keep the momentum both at Mackey Arena and away if they're going to make a solid run at the Big Dance this March.
