Damn you, COVID.
In recent years Mackey Arena has been a fortress. It has been a dungeon of noise and pain for opposing teams, where the crowd makes them wilt under the pressure. Last season when Purdue lost the second game of the year to Texas there was almost an audible sound off horror as the buzzer sounded, as if crowd said “wait a minute, we’re not supposed to lose in Mackey!” Later on Illinois, Michigan, Penn State (!?!?!) and Rutgers (!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!) would solve Mackey, giving Purdue five home losses when it had four in the previous four seasons combined.