Mackey Arena is a very special place. Purdue fans know it and love it. It is a home court advantage that is rarely matched anywhere else in college basketball. How often have we seen highly rated teams
come in and visibly wilt in the unique crucible it provides. It is a force multiplier and sixth man that is one of the best in the country.
Which is why Iowa State rolling in and winning by an astonishing 23 points is so stunning. Since Matt Painter took over the program in the 2005-06 season Purdue is now 286-47 in the friendly confines of Mackey Arema. It has only lost 7 times there since the start of the 2020-21 season which has gone down as a Golden Era of Purdue basketball.
Even when Purdue loses, it is rare that it is by this much. Of those 47 losses, here are the ones that were by 10 points or more:
1/11/2006 – Ohio State 80-64
3/1/2006 – Indiana 70-59
1/31/2007 – Ohio State 78-60
12/2/2008 – Duke 76-60
2/4/2012 – Indiana 78-61
2/19/2012 – Michigan State 76-62
1/8/2013 – Ohio State 74-64
1/30/2013 – Indiana 97-60
2/9/2013 – Michigan State 78-65
1/25/2014 – Wisconsin 72-58
2/20/2014 – Michigan State 94-79
1/21/2020 – Illinois 79-62
2/11/2020 – Penn State 88-76
1/22/2021 – Michigan 70-53
2/15/2025 – Wisconsin 94-84
12/6/2025 – Iowa State 81-58
This was also Purdue’s first non-conference loss since dropping an early season game to Texas in 2019-20. This is jsut the seventh time under Matt Painter that a Purdue team that either made the NCAA Tournament or will make the NCAA Tournament (because this team WILL make the tournament) has lost by 10 points or more on Keady Court. It is only the second time a non-conference opponents has done so, and it is the largest home defeat Painter has suffered outside of the disastrous 97-60 win by Indiana in 2012-13. That game feels like a lifetime ago now, TBH.
Purdue has been especially dominant against non-Big Ten foes in Mackey Arena, losing only ten times under Matt Painter:
12/19/2007 – Wofford 69-66
12/2/2008 – Duke 76-60
11/9/2012 – Bucknell 70-65
12/1/2012 – Xavier 63-57
3/25/2013 – Santa Clara 86-83* (Postseason game in the CBI)
12/6/2014 – North Florida 73-70
12/22/2014 – Gardner-Webb 89-84
11/14/2016 – Villanova 79-76
11/9/2019 – Texas 70-66
12/6/2025 – Iowa State 81-58
So Iowa State basically found a unicorn. They are a non-Big Ten team that beat Matt Painter in Mackey by double digits. They are one of two, and the last to do so was one of the bluebloods of college basketball more than 17 years ago. Also, the 23-point defeat is the largest nonconference home loss by a No. 1 team in AP poll history, and is tied for the largest home loss ever by a No. 1 team. Five of the 10 losses came in a three-season span between the Baby Boilers era and the current era. Basically, since Purdue turned it on and made the tournament after that bizarre Gardner-Webb loss in the 2014-15 season (which was basically the turning point of the entire Painter era since there is a decent chance he is fired if Purdue misses a third straight tournament that year) the Boilers have been absolutely dominant on Keady Court, especially in the non-conference.
That’s all a credit to Iowa State. They are a really, really good team. If you had told me before tipoff that one team was going to win by 23 points I would have taken Purdue without hesitation. That’s what Mackey is. I can break it down with statistics, wins and losses, history, opponents, whatever. What Iowa State did in taking a close game today and absolutely blowing it out is what Purdue has done time, and time, and time, and time again under Matt Painter to so many highly ranked foes. Think Virginia in 2019-20. Think Michigan State a number of times. Think Ohio State in 2011. All of those games where Purdue just mashed the gas and destroyed a highly rated team at home.
Today, maybe for the first time ever under coach Painter, it went the opposite way, and there was a moment where it could have gone as games like that memorable Virginia blowout went.
With 9:40 left in the first half Braden Smith connected on a three-pointer to put Purdue in front 21-16. To that point Iowa State had turned it over six times, and it would turn it over on the possession following the Smith three. Against Texas Tech, this was the moment where Purdue stomped on the gas in a similar type of game and blew the Red Raiders out. It had a chance to do so again.
After the Iowa State turnover and a non-shooting foul with Dominykas Pleta with exactly nine minutes left Purdue had the possession that could have changed the game. Smith is facing tremendous defensive pressure and dribbles into a double team on the left side. Before he is trapped he kicks one of those cross-court passes to Omer Mayer at the right wing. Mayer catches it about 18-24 inches behind the arc with 9 seconds left on the shot clock and the nearest Cyclone defender down in the paint.
In short, it is the shot you want: an absolutely wide open three from the preferred spot of a guy who was under 30% from three to start the year, but he is still a promising freshman that is more than capable of burying it. If it drops, Purdue is up 8 on a 10-2 run and the Cyclones hadn’t scored in three minutes. It’s the type of three that we have seen dozens of times, where it is essentially the “on” switch for the force multiplier that is the Mackey crowd. Many of our home blowouts have happened exactly like that, and this was the moment where we could have dragged Iowa State into hell because they were being sloppy with the basketball and they were the team out of sorts offensively.
His shot came up short.
Even then, Purdue got another chance. The Cyclones rebounded and came down, Tamin Lipsey airballed a short-range jumper, and Braden rebounded.He quickly pushed the ball up the floor, but as he drives into traffic without a real place to dump it off he turns it over.
Mayer’s three came with 8:48 left. Smith’s turnover came with 8:31 left. In those 17 seconds Purdue had the opportunity to take full control of the game early. A three, airball, and score in transition has happened so many times to blow open games at home you can close your eyes and see it happening clearly. You can even hear the deafening din of Mackey in that moment as the opponent frantically calls timeout. If Mayer hits the three and Braden can find a way to convert the transition Purdue is suddenly up 10 and Mackey is at full boil.
Similar moments to this have launched so many dominant home wins, and today it could have done so yet again. The Cyclones were not playing well offensively to that point. Purdue had the chance to really put the pressure on them there.
They missed it.
Purdue did not hit a field goal after Braden’s three with 9:40 until Daniel Jacobsen dunked it with 5:19 left in the half to make it 26-25. the 10-2 run push in four minutes there when Purdue could have taken control of the game shifted everything. The Boilermakers had some other chances in there, as the game was a one-point game as late as 2:23 left in the half when Killyan Toure hit a three to make it 33-29.
Things fell apart from there. Purdue’s offense went into a slump unlike we have seen all year to this point, and in the second half the defense utterly folded as Iowa State shot 59.4% from the floor, was 7 of 12 on threes, and blew the game wide open with a 31-12 spurt over a 10 minute stretch.
Obviously, there is no guarantee Purdue wins this game if that Mayer three drops and they convert in transition, but that was a crucial turning point. It was the point where we have seen Purdue begin to pull away and where Mackey makes its presence known dozens of times. You can easily see it happening again with the way the game was flowing to that point.
Instead, it became a microcosm for how Iowa State was able to flip the script. They survived the chance Purdue had at a kill shot and turned it on, dominating in the second half. That 17 second stretch was a showcase in that it just was not Purdue’s day. Between poor shooting (a dismal 4 of 18 from three), 15 turnovers, a complete defensive breakdown, poor rebounding, and Iowa State finding a way to turn on its pressure against Fletcher Loyer and Trey Kaufman-Renn it was over from there.
And that was really it. It was not Purdue’s day. Period. When it is not your day there is not much you can do no matter how talented you are. When it is not your day TKR is missing a little putback at a key point that pauses on the lip of the rim before falling off. It is Milan Momcilovic hitting a shot clock-beating midrange shot as he is falling out of bounds. It is all of Purdue’s three-point shooters missing open three after open three.
And it all could have gone the opposite way in 17 seconds.
In the long run, I am not worried one iota. Wen Purdue is at its A game it is one of the best teams in the country. Today it had about a D- game, as it played the worst game it has played at home in over 10 years. When you have a D- game agaisnt a team like Iowa State it doesn’t matter where it is played, you’re not winning.
This does not affect the Big Ten race, as Purdue is still the favorite there. It does not hurt us for a No. 1 seed, as completing a 10-1 non-conference slate against this schedule with a Big Ten title will have us on the top line in March. It is far more likely this is a gross aberration, as more often we have seen that Purdue is the team that can (and will) unleash a similar fury as to what the Cyclones did.
Better it happened now in a game that is ultimately meaningless than later. If Purdue is playing in Indy in April this will be forgotten.
