Seniors leave Mackey satisfied
A.J. Hammons had a few smiles left, a few more pictures in him, nearly an hour after finishing his final game in Mackey Arena Sunday.
Having already posed for a bevy of photos with different family and teammate combinations on the court and having met media obligations after Purdue’s 91-80 victory over Wisconsin on senior night, Hammons sauntered out of the tunnel at nearly 11 p.m. to head for home. Before he could even hit the stands, he was stopped by a fan asking for an autograph, then, after five more steps, two more fans slipped over hoping for a picture.
Hammons paused, smiled, stood tall and graciously obliged each request. Then he headed up the steps, out of the stands, out of the building.
He could leave happy.
In his final game in front of an adoring Paint Crew and the rest of a sold-out arena, Hammons had a very Hammons-like game: 16 points on 7-of-10 shooting, eight rebounds and two blocks in helping the Boilermakers secure a No. 4 seed for the Big Ten Tournament.
“I think I played well,” Hammons said after, though he lamented four fouls limiting him to 25 minutes. “I wasn’t really paying attention to it being my last time. It hit me after the game: I don’t have any more games in Mackey, don’t get to do the home game ritual.
“It’s sad, but I’ve been here long enough. It’s time to move onto the (Big Ten) tournament, then the NCAA Tournament and then move onto the next level.”
The length of Hammons’ stay — a full four seasons after many figured the 7-footer would leave early for the NBA — seems small in comparison to fellow senior Rapheal Davis’ long-standing relationship with Purdue.
Davis consistently says he’s been with the program for eight years, something that drew laughs in his postgame speech on the court, but it’s a statement he considers absolute truth, having committed as a freshman.
The length of that commitment helped Davis become ingrained in the Boilermaker culture, knowing what that meant and knowing how to get Purdue back there after a devastating last-place season during his tenure.
Though Davis didn’t have a career-best game Sunday, perhaps his understated five-point, three-assist, two-rebound performance actually said a lot: With Caleb Swanigan and P.J. Thompson turning in career nights on the offensive end and Hammons nearly automatic in the post, Davis stayed poised and deferred, not forcing things on the offensive end. Instead, he accepted what was working and watched it work.
And then savored the end result, leaving the court to a standing ovation with Hammons and fifth-year senior transfer Johnny Hill with 12.7 seconds left.
“It was crazy,” Davis said of the emotions and environment of the finale. “Like I said, I’ve been coming here since … I was committed my freshman year. Me and A.J. committed the same time. Mine was just verbal, his was unspoken. Once he decided to play with our AAU team and once I decided to commit to Purdue, he decided to commit to Purdue. Even though he fought it for the four years in high school, I knew, our AAU coach knew, I told Coach Paint, everybody knew but him. It’s one of those things we’ve been a part of this program for eight years now.
“It’s over, playing in Mackey. ... It was a great experience. It was a great ride. Love the fans. Love the John Purdue Club. Love the atmosphere, but I’ll be back.”
With Thompson so hot offensively — he made a career-high six three-pointers en route to a career-high 22 points — fellow point guard Hill played only 11 minutes. But he was quietly effective, dishing out four assists and not having a turnover.
Because of the double-digit margin, even hometown walk-on Stephen Toyra was able to get onto the court for his final game — after the crowd seranded Painter with “We want Toyra” chants. The ball actually was in Toyra’s hands to end the game, though he quickly passed it off to the closest official and moved on to celebrate with teammates.
And celebrating seemed right, Thompson said.
“We really wanted to get it done for those guys,” he said. “Ray has been on me since last year, this summer hard, pushing me, ‘You can be a really good player, but you’ve got to do this, do that.’ We’ve gotten into before, but I really respect him and I really look up to him as a big brother. That’s my guy. I’m really going to miss him. It’s starting to sink in now as the season goes on.
“A.J. might not know it, but he does a really good job of keeping my confidence high in the game. If I don’t shoot one and there’s 28 seconds in the shot clock, he’s on me about it. Then with Johnny, sharing minutes with him and like Coach was saying, picking up his energy. He has the most energy on the team, and it’s March. (Toyra) does a really good job as well.
“But we really wanted to get it done for those guys because they’re like big brothers to me. I’m glad we could send them out on a high note.”
Copyright, Boilers, Inc. 2016. All Rights Reserved. Reproducing or using editorial or graphical content, in whole or in part, without permission, is strictly prohibited.