Purdue vs Indiana Odds, Pick for Tuesday

One of the great basketball rivalries in the Big Ten — if not the entire country — is set to renew with another chapter on Tuesday.

Purdue is clearly a superior team on paper, yet it's appeared vulnerable in its three road games. Assembly Hall will be full and loud to help the home Hoosiers in their attempt to pull the upset over the Boilermakers.

Here's Purdue vs. Indiana odds and a pick for Tuesday.

Zach Edey entered the season as the reigning Wooden Award recipient. While many voters tend to have fatigue when it comes to voting for the National Player of the Year, Edey is leaving little doubt as to who may be the most deserving player this season.

Edey is consistently facing the best an opposing defense can offer. As former Louisville coach Chris Mack said recently on a postgame reaction show, there's a major difference between a player simply appearing on the scouting report and a player an opponent is scouting for.

Edey clearly falls into the latter category and is still putting up numbers that would imply defenses just don't have a proper answer.

The effectiveness of Purdue actually may rely upon Edey's supporting pieces. The embarrassing loss to Fairleigh Dickinson exposed the glaring need for Matt Painter to either develop his existing supporting cast or gather additional pieces in the offseason.

Fletcher Loyer and Braden Smith have been especially crucial to Purdue's early success in their sophomore seasons. Both have seemed more confident and are taking care of the ball against pressure much better this year.

If Purdue has designs on winning in Bloomington, Smith and Loyer will need to limit turnovers and knock down perimeter shots in what will surely be a stressful road environment.

An underwhelming non-conference performance by the Hoosiers has been somewhat offset by a respectable 4-2 start to Big Ten play.

However, Indiana is still well outside the NCAA tournament bubble, and it needs big wins.

The first order of business will be handling the challenge Edey presents. Indiana theoretically has a capable body to throw at Edey in Kel'el Ware, who transferred from Oregon. Ware is a seven-foot sophomore who weighs in at about 245 pounds.

In most matchups, Ware would have a significant physical advantage, but he clearly won't against Edey. The Hoosiers will likely defend Edey with double teams and make entry passes as difficult as possible.

Finding scoring will be the second challenge when facing Purdue. Edey does a wonderful job defending without fouling and often alters shots shots at the rim.

Unfortunately, the Hoosiers are far from excellent in terms of perimeter shooting. Purdue can be beat if its opponents are able to knock down long-range jumpers and stretch its defense. But if Purdue is able to pack the paint and prevent driving opportunities for Indiana, the Hoosiers could endure long scoring droughts.

Trey Galloway was able to stretch the defense of Kansas about a month ago by making numerous perimeter jumpers on his way to a career-high 28 points. If Galloway could muster a similar performance against Purdue, he may be able to keep his team within arms length.

Despite the respect I have for the advantage Indiana will have in Assembly Hall, Purdue will assuredly be focused on beating Indiana after getting swept by the Hoosiers last year.

Take Purdue to get a crucial road win by a comfortable margin.

Pick: Purdue -9.5