Boilers prepare for tough road trip

Purdue to play five of remaining eight games on the road

By Kyle Charters
Senior Writer

Coach Gene Keady is happy about where the Boilers stand at the midpoint of the Big Ten season, but he also knows they have a tough second-half schedule.

With a 5-3 record in the conference, Purdue (13-6 overall) is in fourth place in the Big Ten. Illinois (16-4, 6-1 Big Ten) is in first place, followed by Michigan State (16-2, 5-2) and Iowa (16-4, 5-2), which are both a half game behind.

"With the way we've been playing, after the Minnesota game, we've got to feel much better," said Keady.

With five of their final eight games away from Mackey Arena, though, the Boilers face a difficult task in keeping near the top of the conference race. Purdue plays home contests vs. Illinois on Feb. 10, Ohio State (13-7, 4-4) on Feb. 14 and Indiana (12-9, 3-4) in the regular season finale on either March 3 or 4.

The Boilers' road schedule begins with this Sunday's 1 p.m. game against Michigan State in East Lansing, Mich. They also play road games against Wisconsin (13-4, 4-3) on Feb. 7, Penn State (12-6, 2-5) on Feb. 17, Iowa on Feb. 21 and Michigan (9-9, 3-4) on Feb. 24.

Winning on the road has been difficult for every team in the Big Ten, especially this season when road teams have a record of 10-30.

"It's hard to win in other people's venues and we've all had trouble with that this year," said Keady. "So (Michigan State) losing at Ohio State (on Saturday) didn't surprise me. I think that's kind of the way it's going to go down this home stretch."

Keady said he didn't know exactly why teams have had so much trouble on the road this year.

"It seems like the home teams are getting more free throws with the new rough play emphasis … I really don't have the answer," he said. "You're supposed to play better at home and for some reason, it's worked out that way this year."

Because of the tough upcoming schedule, Keady said the weeklong break from games will be good for his team. After taking a day off Sunday, the Boilers have six days to prepare for the No. 5 Spartans.

"I think it's coming at a very good time," said Keady. "We need this. We were so busy with other games we didn’t realize — it sort of snuck up on us. But it was nice to be able to tell the players that for a couple days we're going to have a little break here."

Keady said he will use the layoff to teach and encourage the Boilers as they prepare for the rest of the season.

"We've got a long road ahead of us," said senior guard Carson Cunningham, "and we've got to get better in a lot of areas. We've got a lot of tough games down the stretch."

But Keady stressed that his team isn't the only one with a difficult remaining schedule.

"It's always been hard for some teams to hang in there," he said. "Luckily over the years we've always had a pretty good finish. But with this schedule, it's really going to test us this time."

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