LOS ANGELES (AP) — Purdue survived a scare against USC to open a stretch of six of eight games on the road, although the fifth-ranked Boilermakers felt right at home on Saturday.
A noisy crowd of 8,629 mostly black-and-gold clad Purdue fans invaded Galen Center to see the Boilermakers’ first visit to Los Angeles to play the Trojans in 53 years. It was double USC’s usual attendance. Over 900 tickets were snapped up by Purdue alumni, who chanted “Boiler up!” throughout a 69-64 victory.
“They cheered for us louder than the USC people cheered for them when we first walked out,” center Oscar Cluff said. “I was like, ‘Oh, this is like a home game. This is goosebumps.’”
The 80-degree (26 Celsius) weather outside was about the only reminder the Boilermakers weren’t back in West Lafayette, where it was 21 degrees (minus-6 Celsius).
“It’s great,” said Cluff, who is from Australia’s Sunshine Coast. “I was sitting out in the sun today having a good time.”
The Boilermakers (17-1, 7-0 Big Ten) have two days off in Los Angeles before traveling across town to visit UCLA (12-6, 4-3) on Tuesday night. But coach Matt Painter says there’ll be no trips to the beach or Hollywood.
“Strictly business,” he said.
Painter, who played at Purdue under his coaching predecessor Gene Keady, is making his first visits to Galen Center and Pauley Pavilion. The Boilermakers haven’t visited Westwood since 1999, when they won 55-53.
The Bruins will be giving out John Wooden bobbleheads to the first 7,500 fans at the Purdue game.
“Hope to get one,” Painter said.
Wooden was an All-American player at Purdue before going on to win a record 10 national championships as UCLA coach. His former seat behind the UCLA bench is covered in gold fabric while all the others are blue. Wooden died at age 99 in 2010.
“We’ll definitely talk about it,” Painter said.
The Boilermakers rallied from 15 points down to beat the Trojans for their ninth straight win and move into a tie with No. 8 Nebraska atop the Big Ten standings. Three days earlier, they came back from a nine-point deficit to beat Iowa at home.
Saturday’s five-point win made Purdue the last team in the country not to play in a game decided by six points or less.
Braden Smith led the Boilermakers with 22 points. He had four rebounds to go over 600 in his career and become the second player in NCAA history with at least 1,600 points, 900 assists and 600 rebounds.
He knocked knees with a USC player early in the game and had to leave the court for a bit. He said his left leg got stiff and gave out a couple times.
“I think it’s crazy somebody is allowed to come run over and that’s not a foul call,” Smith said. “It was just hard to push off my legs on my jump shot and to really even move. At the end of the day, my team needs me to play, whether I’m hurt or not.”
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