The historic four game winning streak for Rutgers against ranked foes came to an end on Sunday night in the hardest place to play in the Big Ten aside from the RAC, formally known as Jersey Mike’s Arena. No. 5 Purdue were winners in eight of their last nine games but had Mackey Arena rocking to max against the hottest team in the country. Matt Painter’s team played to their high ceiling potential and won the game 84-72, allowing the Boilermaker faithful to exhale in a way that was equal parts sigh of joy and relief.
That’s right, Rutgers brought the best out of the first place team in the Big Ten after defeating the Boilermakers in the last four meetings between the two teams, including on Ron Harper Jr.