It had been a great past week for Micah Shrewsberry and his Penn State program, with the head coach having earned his first two Big Ten victories over good Indiana and Northwestern programs, the latter involving coming back from a ten-point second half deficit to get the dub. This set things up for an epic showdown against his former employer in No. 3 ranked Purdue.
The Boilermakers struck early, jumping out to a 7-2 start before Penn State punched back with healthy dose of Jalen Pickett, John Harrar, and Jalanni White coming off the bench. The Lions would eventually leap out to a seven-point advantage midway through the first half before Purdue went on a massive 15-3 run over the next several minutes to reclaim a lead they would only briefly relinquish before leading 35-30 at the half.