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On January 17 Purdue was 10-7 overall, 2-2 in the Big Ten, and was coming off of losses to Wisconsin and Maryland before having a week off. The dream of the NCAA Tournament was just that: a dream, and for most of their visit to Happy Valley it looked like it would be more of a coma than a dream. Down three points, Jon Octeus went to the free throw line with only two shots and less than 10 seconds left. He proceeded to miss the first one, and Purdue officially needed a miracle.
It got one.
A.J. Hammons tipped the second miss to Kendall Stephens, who hit a fall away three-pointer in the corner to improbably send the game to overtime. The Boilers would dominate the OT before winning eight of their next ten games to crawl out of the grave and likely into the NCAA Tournament. For Penn State, it was a fifth straight loss and one of nine by seven points or less in B1G play.
So we're here again. The Boilers are likely safe in the NCAAs with a win, while a loss would not be horrible as it would raise Penn State's RPI of 101 into the top 100 quite safely (and give Purdue another top 100 true road win in the process). Is Penn State about to become an amazing story or is Purdue about to seal its bid? Let's find out.