The Purdue Sweet 16 matchup against Texas tonight is the talk of Greater Lafayette.
“It’s always exciting getting this late in the tournament. I just hope that we can go back to the Final Four, because sophomore year, that was awesome,” Purdue senior Matt Brewer said.
Bars and restaurants across Greater Lafayette are expecting a big business boom with Purdue’s Sweet 16 game tonight.
“We have a good business to begin with, but it doubles or triples when Purdue plays as well,” Tom Riehle, owner of Magoos Pizza Pub said. “The deeper they go into the tournament, the more fun it is for us because the excitement’s there.”
Riehle said he expects another night of a packed crowd cheering on the Boilermakers.
“The 7:10 p.m. game time tonight is perfect for us. They’ll start rolling in about 4:30p.m. to get a good table and the excitement builds from there,” he said. “We get on the microphone and fire everybody up a little bit about that. But, I couldn’t be more proud of this team. I couldn’t be more proud of this university.”
Some fans said they are getting to Harry’s Chocolate Shop early to make sure they have a spot to watch the Purdue game.
“You can get a table upstairs when the upstairs opens to watch a game. It’s a pretty small bar, so you kind of have to get here early if you want a good spot,” Purdue fan Will Asplin said.
Brewer said he enjoys watching the big games at West Lafayette staples like Harry’s.
“It’s pretty awesome being around a bunch of people that have the same mindset as you, and we all want to root on the team. You see all your friends out there, so it’s pretty fun,” Brewer said.
Many fans said they are hoping they can continue to watch what they call a “special group of seniors” continue playing.
“They’ve played together for four years,” Riehle said.
“It’s cool seeing them on a national stage and being talked about nationally,” Brewer said. “It’s cool they’ve been able to stick together throughout this era of college basketball, you never know if someone’s gonna get poached. I think it’s a huge advantage for us that we have. These guys have been playing all these minutes together for so long.”
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