But the biggest matchup of the day pitted the top teams from the Pac-12 and Big Ten in No. 1 Arizona and No. 3 Purdue in the Indy Classic.

Since 1980, Purdue had gone 1-9 when facing the No. 1 team in the country. That one win came in 2000, against Arizona.

Twenty-three years and three weeks later, the outcome would be the same with just a slightly larger margin than that game’s three points, with the Boilermakers prevailing 92-84.

“We knew this was going to be a tough haul,” Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd said. “Purdue, you tip your hats off to them. They played great and their good players played really well. That’s a credit to them.”

The question going into this one was whether the Purdue guards would be good enough to compete with their Arizona counterparts, or if they would be too much of a liability.

The Boilermaker pair of Fletcher Loyer and Braden Smith finished with 53 combined points on 20-33 shooting from the floor and 9-16 on threes.

Loyer’s 27 points matched a career-high on a day when Purdue big man Zach Edey would struggle by his standards.

That had a lot to do with how Arizona defended him, but his guards carried things and found him in the second half when they needed to.

“I don’t know if we did a great job on those guards, but those guards are really good players,” Lloyd said. “We lost Loyer a bit early and maybe got him comfortable and he hit some really tough floaters, which you are probably living with a little bit. That’s how it goes.”

Arizona was paced by Keshad Johnson with 24 and Caleb Love with 29. Omar Ballo drew the tough assignment against Edey, who added 13 points nonetheless.

While the Wildcats gave up 49 points in the opening half, they clawed back in the second half with a strong defensive effort, holding Purdue without a field goal for eight-plus minutes.

The big key was Tommy Lloyd switching to a zone against the suddenly sharp-shooting Boilers, enabling the Wildcats to get as close as four points on multiple occasions.

“We’ve been working on that zone defense for a while and just haven’t had to use it,” Lloyd said. “You have it ready for situations like this. They are obviously very well-organized and very good players and they were kind of torching our man-to-man defense a little bit.”

But consecutive threes from Lance Jones and Smith opened it back up.

The Boilermakers ultimately cemented their control of the game in the final seven minutes of the first half and the first five minutes of the second.

During that 12-minute middle stretch, Purdue outscored Arizona 43-26 to open up a 15-point lead that would prove to be the largest of the contest.

Arizona shot an impressive 51.6% from the field in a hostile environment, but couldn’t weather a dry spell and get back in it with a chance at the end.

It marked the second time in the last 23 years that Arizona came to Indianapolis ranked first in the nation and left with a loss to Purdue.

But it also was a game that will make the Cats better in March.

“I’m excited,” Lloyd said. “I love this team we have. I love all these guys and I can’t wait to hop on the plane, get home, and prepare for a really good Alabama team on Wednesday.”