Before his team traveled to face No. 14 Michigan State on Tuesday, Purdue coach Matt Painter talked openly about the No. 13 Boilermakers improving on the defensive end after allowing 94 points in a loss to then-No. 16 Wisconsin.
“We have to be better on the basketball,” Painter said. “We can’t get beat as bad as we got beat the other night and expect to have positive results. When people are constantly getting angles … that’s where we have to do a better job.”
Painter could probably use the same comments ahead of his team’s game against rival Indiana on Sunday in Bloomington, Ind. Another poor defensive showing lowlighted a 75-66 loss to the Spartans and likely knocked the Boilermakers out of the race for the Big Ten regular-season title.
While taking a third straight loss for the first time in five seasons, Purdue allowed Michigan State to shoot 58.3 percent from the field and hit 68.6 percent of its 2-point attempts. That came on the heels of allowing Wisconsin to hit a staggering 20 of 22 (90.9 percent) on 2-point tries.
Add in a dozen turnovers against Michigan State, six from star point guard Braden Smith, and you have a recipe for failure that could cost the Boilermakers some seed lines for the NCAA Tournament if they can’t correct it soon.
“We just have to do a better job, when they get aggressive, not over-dribbling,” Painter said of his team’s reaction to heavy ball pressure. “We’ll keep re-screening it, doing it multiple times to try and drag those bigs out.”
Purdue (19-8, 11-5 Big Ten) has fallen into a tie for fourth in the conference with Maryland heading into the weekend. A double bye for the Big Ten tournament, given to the top four teams, that seemed certain for most of the year is now in danger of being just a single bye if the Boilermakers can’t fix their flaws.
While Purdue is trying to find its form, the Hoosiers (15-11, 6-9) are hoping they aren’t rusty. They have been idle since Feb. 14, when they fell 72-68 at home to UCLA, their sixth loss in seven games. It was the start of a three-game homestand for a team making its last, desperate attempt help its chances for an at-large NCAA bid.
The Bruins game was the latest in a series of close losses that have not only painted the Hoosiers into a corner but contributed to coach Mike Woodson’s decision to leave at season’s end.
“If you win one or two of them, you’re feeling good about yourself when you’re in close games,” he said. “Nine out of 10 times, you make the plays that you need to make. The fact that we’ve lost them, it’s been guys are searching. I’m searching as the coach in terms of trying to get them over the finish line.”
Making it more disappointing is that Indiana spent plenty of NIL money to attract top transfers, beefing up a flagging roster in the offseason. But the team simply hasn’t played as well together as Woodson hoped, particularly at the defensive end.
A poor defense and ballhandling made the difference in the Hoosiers’ 81-76 loss at Purdue on Jan. 31. The Boilermakers sank 52.7 percent from the field while committing 10 turnovers. Indiana hit 56.6 percent from the floor but gave the ball away 20 times.
