The rivalry has been one-sided, and these Boilers are really good. What IU must do to win.

Mike Woodson considers it of utmost importance that Indiana not lose a game at home this season. That’s the first prerequisite for trying to win a Big Ten title, he said, and the 1979-80 Big Ten championship team he played on never did lose a conference home game.

Thus far, the Hoosiers haven’t lost any game at Assembly Hall in Woodson’s tenure, winning their first 12 home games, including Big Ten victories over Nebraska, Ohio State and Minnesota. But they haven’t seen anything this season like what’s coming Thursday when the Hoosiers (14-4 overall, 4-3 in the Big Ten) face No. 4 Purdue. The Boilermakers have beaten Indiana nine straight times with a winning streak going back to 2016 that includes five wins in Bloomington, and this Purdue team appears to have more talent and depth than any other team from that era.

Here are three things I’ll be watching for Thursday inside Assembly Hall in the 214th meeting between the state’s top basketball programs.

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How (on Earth) does IU defend Jaden Ivey?

IU has had to deal with higher scoring perimeter players this year in Wisconsin’s Johnny Davis, Syracuse’s Buddy Boeheim and Iowa’s Keegan Murray, but Purdue sophomore Jaden Ivey might be the best guard in the country. His explosiveness, ability to create off the bounce and finish at the rim make him nearly impossible to stop when he wants to attack off the dribble. Now he has the jump shot to force opponents to play him honestly, making 34 of 79 attempts this season (43%). He’s averaging 16.4 points per game, and that figure would be much higher if Purdue didn’t have two All-Big Ten caliber centers to alternate in the post.

"He's a handful, man," Woodson said. "I can't help but think if he continues to grow and learn, he's going to be really, really, really good. I mean, he's a good player now and he does a lot of wonderful things on the floor. His speed up and down the floor really changes the game and he's able to do his thing and get shots on his own."

So the Hoosiers have to find a way to at least slow Ivey down. They don’t have a guard with his combination of length and athleticism, but it seems their best bet would be to use somebody they generally trust to stop dribble penetration. Being good against the dribble against most players isn’t the same as stopping Ivey, but it’s at least wise to try to make it difficult for him to get downhill. Point guards Xavier Johnson and Rob Phinisee seem to be the best options in that department. Sophomore Trey Galloway might also draw the assignment when he comes off the bench, and it wouldn't be crazy to see him moved into the starting lineup for the assignment. But those would seem to be the three men capable of at least hanging in there and it won't be easy for any of them to stop them.

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How will Trayce Jackson-Davis fare against Trevion Williams and Zach Edey?

Jackson-Davis has a reputation for struggling against centers who are bigger and wider than him, though a lot of that comes from his struggles against Illinois' Kofi Cockburn, who is bigger and wider than pretty much everyone in college basketball. Individually at least, his previous matchups with Purdue's Trevion Williams have been thrilling and Jackson-Davis has held his own and sometimes more. In the January game between the two teams in Assembly Hall last year, Jackson-Davis scored 25 points on 9 of 16 shooting while Williams posted 22 points and 10 rebounds.

That being said, the 7-4 Zach Edey is a different story, especially as he's found his footing in college basketball. In the game at Indiana in January, he scored zero points on 0-of-4 shooting in nine minutes. In the game in West Lafayette in March, he had 20 points on 8 of 10 shooting and nine rebounds.

Purdue's Matt Painter has essentially decided he can't play both men together, but they're still a devastating force splitting the minutes in half at center. Both are averaging double-figure scoring with Edey at 15.6 points per game and Williams at 13.4. They're both also over 7.0 rebounds per game. Williams is shooting a healthy 57.9% from the field and Edey is beyond that at 70.7%.

"They both are great players down low on the block," Woodson said. "That's a big part of their initial thrust on offense, playing inside out. We're going to have to deal with it."

The Hoosiers could choose to use a bigger body than Jackson-Davis on Edey in 7-footer Michael Durr, but it's hard to imagine the Hoosiers keeping him in for the 18 minutes per game Edey plays. Durr is averaging 7.2 minutes per game and just 5.6 minutes in Big Ten play, largely because he's proven ineffective in those spurts.

Still, Woodson says Durr should be ready to play and be able to anchor the center position. He won't play him together with Jackson-Davis.

"He's going to have to play some minutes (Thursday)," Woodson said. "They have a double threat in Williams and the big fella. We have to keep bodies on him. He will have to play some, more than he's played in the past."

Can IU either match or stifle Purdue's shooters?

Even if you figure out a way to defend Ivey on the perimeter and Williams and Edey in the post, you still have to account for Purdue's other perimeter threats. Indiana is only so well equipped to do so.

Purdue senior Sasha Stefanovic leads the Big Ten in 3-point field goal percentage among the few players with a qualifying number of attempts at 41.7% and ranks second in the conference in made 3s with 45, second only to Illinois' Alfonzo Plummer's 52. Redshirt sophomore Brandon Newman has hit 25 3s off the bench, point guard Isaiah Thompson has 23 and power forward Mason Gillis has 16 on just 30 attempts. Guards Eric Hunter Jr. and Ethan Morton and forward Caleb Furst have 20 3s among them, but they can each knock down shots when left open. The Boilermakers lead the Big Ten with 166 3-pointers.

Stefanovic, Newman and Thompson each take a vast majority of their shots from beyond the arc, so all IU guards Parker Stewart, Miller Kopp, Trey Galloway and Tamar Bates have to do is chase them around, but that's obviously easier said than done, and Stewart and Kopp in particular have not proven to be exceptional defenders.

If they can't shut Purdue's guards down, Stewart and Kopp could really help the Hoosiers by equaling their production from outside. Stewart himself is 11th in the Big Ten with 35 3-pointers and Kopp has hit 20 this season. As a team the Hoosiers are 11th in the conference with 110 and they haven't hit more than nine in a Big Ten game, but if they can at least stay close with Purdue in the 3-point game they might have a puncher's chance at home.

Follow Herald-Times IU Insider Dustin Dopirak on Twitter at @DustinDopirak or email him at DDopirak@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: IU basketball vs. Purdue preview: Hoosiers have to slow Jaden Ivey, bigs