Saturday February 21st, 2016: Purdue headed to Bloomington, Indiana for a match-up showcasing the best rivalry in all of sports, in my opinion.

I arrived about 3 and a half hours early to make sure I got my spot, got the location scouted, where I needed to be when, etc etc. First, I went up to the balcony to grab a wide fisheye shot of Assembly Hall:

The staff at Assembly Hall, from the security and the floor staff, to the Athletics personnel are all so friendly and helpful.

It was if I wasn’t even wearing my Purdue polo 😉

All jokes aside, I walked in and down to the lower level, asked where the media/photographer area was and Nathan Wiechers walked me to the media room, showed me where my spot on the floor was, and since I was there so early, IU practice was still going on showed me places I could go and ways to get around until practice was over. He was just the nicest guy.

Then, I ran into Mike Dickbernd, the head IU photographer, and I had previously seen his great photos from up top, and so I asked if there was anyway I would be able to go up with him, and he could have said anything but yes. He could have said “aw, no we just went up” or “Sorry, that is for IU staff only” or anything else resembling that, but he didn’t.

He said, “Yeah! We are about to head up right now to check lights and you’re welcome to come up and setup if you’d like!” He was just the nicest guy as well. Other than the students/fans who of course gave me flack for my polo, every IU person I saw was helpful, nice, and polite. Not to say I was surprised, but it was just very cool to see how professional everyone is once you look beyond the rivalry.

So we headed up to the rafters:

The stairs going up are narrow and once you get out over the floor, there is, rightly so, chicken wire covering everything up.

So I got to setup one of my cameras.

I also had to entrust the GoPro to get the shot because each of the DSLRs I had with me, would be used for photos during the game.

And every time I have, it has pulled through. The Hero 4 Black is an absolute workhorse of a camera.

The game began with introductions:

AJ Hammons tipped it away and had the first bucket:

The Boilermakers started the game off well, but that lead didn’t last long.

Troy Williams had 13 in the first half, 19 total.

Kevin “Yogi” Ferrell is an absolute show to watch. He is so explosive, and not just that, he is in control as well in everything he does. He had 18 points.

Purdue outrebounded the Hoosiers, but couldn’t grab the offensive rebounds. They only grabbed 5 on the offensive boards.

“Their pressure bothered us, not so much inside, but on the perimeter,” Boilermakers coach Matt Painter said. “The difference in the game was all the points they got off turnovers. It also seemed like every one of their guys made a 3-pointer.”

I love this shot of a loose ball between Vince Edwards and Troy Williams. It just shows the never-ending battle the two teams fight each time they meet on the court.

Johnny Hill played only 9 minutes and had only 2 points. To win the game next Saturday vs Maryland, Johnny will have to nab a few steals and be more of an offensive factor for the Boilermakers.

All in all, the Boilermakers came back from 19 down in the 2nd half to down 2 right at the end (75-73), which is impressive. Look forward to what the Boilermakers can do going into the 2016-17 season where they will play IU twice.

I am also looking forward to next weekend’s game vs. Maryland, it is a much needed win for the Boilermakers. Boiler Up.