Purdue center Matt Haarms answers profane chant with winning shot against Indiana
Gregg DoyelBLOOMINGTON, Indiana — If you were in the arena, you heard it. If you were watching the game on ESPN, you heard it. Chances are, if you were simply awake and within 50 miles of Assembly Hall on Tuesday night, you heard it:
(Bleep) you, Haarms!
Clap, clap, clap-clap-clap
(Bleep) you Haarms!
That’s what the Indiana student section was shouting at Haarms, the Purdue center who plays like he talks — 7 feet, 3 inches of caffeinated energy.
“They were all over me," Haarms said after hitting the last-second shot that beat Indiana 48-46 Tuesday night. "It was bad. It’s always bad. It’s bad at Michigan, at Michigan State, at Maryland, at Iowa, but not like this.”
To understand all of this, you really need to understand Matt Haarms: He plays hard and emotionally, not dirty at all, but he does it in a frenzied, animated, gangly sort of way. He’s 7-3, all arms and legs, and those arms and legs tend go all over the place.
On this night, they tended to go all over Indian center De’Ron Davis: In his chest, his stomach, over his shoulders. Once the referees called a double foul on Haarms and Davis. Once they called a foul only on Haarms, and a technical as well.
(Bleep) you, Haarms!
Clap, clap, clap-clap-clap
(Bleep) you Haarms!
That was the message, and it was all game, not just those two times he tangled up with Davis. He tangled with Romeo Langford another time, his feet finding Langford’s feet as both went down. Haarms got the foul and Langford got the free throws and the crowd got the opportunity to do it again:
(Bleep) you, Haarms!
Clap, clap, clap-clap-clap
(Bleep) you Haarms!
Middle of the second half, Haarms has the ball, and those feet start going all over the place. He gets called for a turnover. Traveling. Bedlam.
(Bleep) you, Haarms!
Clap, clap, clap-clap-clap
(Bleep) you Haarms!
Which makes the way this game ended just about perfect. Well, perfect for Haarms. And perfect for Purdue, which won for the 10th time in 11 games as it barrels down on a possible Big Ten title.
Not so perfect for Indiana, which lost for the 11th time in 12 games as it barrels down on an impossible collapse. Once a 12-2 team with wins against Marquette, Louisville and Butler, the Hoosiers now are 13-13 overall, 4-11 in the Big Ten.
On the final play of the game for Purdue, it was Haarms clubbing the ball — not tapping it, but clubbing it — off the glass and into the basket.
And the crowd? Not a word. Not a peep. Stunned silence.
Haarms left the court, pumping his fist and running through the tunnel, past the students who had been cursing him. Ask if the crowd was still yelling at him after the game.
“Probably,” he says. “I didn’t hear. I wasn’t listening. I was too busy being happy about this win.”