Takeaways: Purdue's narrow Sweet 16 loss to Houston

INDIANAPOLIS — A few additional thoughts and notes from Purdue’s thrilling 62-60 loss to top-seeded Houston Friday night at the Midwest Regional.

GOING DOWN SWINGING

Purdue’s program is well past moral victories, but Houston is a national title-caliber team not all that unlike the UConn machine the Boilermakers lost to in last year’s title game and just as good as the Auburn team they didn’t look like they belonged on the floor with in December.

There’s no victory in losing in the final seconds, but there surely isn’t any shame either.

Purdue fought like hell in a variety of the forms fight comes in; in the big picture, it took a game that could have broken open in Houston’s favor on several occasions and forced the Cougars to deliver one shining moment to win. Every national champion seems to have a game like this it has to win, and maybe this is the battle scar Houston carries to San Antonio.

Again, there is victory in defeat, but no shame, either, especially considering the flaws in this Purdue team that surfaced throughout the season and taking into account the way the regular season ended.

This was a Purdue team that could have won more, but had a ceiling, not nearly as complete as its predecessor team. The goal line is to add credible size and physicality to this (presumably) returning core to take it to another level.

Friday night was a loss but a solid tone to set heading into the off-season before another season in which the stars maybe can align.

A FITTING END

The Houston in-bound play that won it kind of reflected its season and the gaps it had to overcome.

First off, Purdue had to be really detailed and really connected on defense — better as a whole than the sum of its parts — to overcome its glaring vulnerable at the rim. One breakdown, one miscommunication or mix-up and that was that.

That was the final play. One moment where defenders may not have been on the same page and it’s a bucket.

Broadly, did Purdue overachieve this season? That’s a tough sell, because this is still a very good team that easily could have won four or five more games than it did. But in more granular ways, yes Purdue overachieved.

It wasn’t big enough. It wasn’t physical enough. Daniel Jacobsen‘s injury mattered.

Purdue can’t be in this position again, with a great team held down by one prohibitive deficiency.

TOUGH BREAKS

Purdue needed to make a few more shots, grab a few more rebounds and commit two or three fewer over-aggressive turnovers, but there were some difficult breaks here as well that are just part of basketball.

Yes, Houston pushed off on that final jump shot. That was not Braden Smith flopping. It was a clear (on replay) offensive foul, yes.

But no, they’re never going to call that in that moment. That’s just not the way it is. If Trey Kaufman-Renn trucked somebody in the post in that same situation, they probably wouldn’t have called that, either.

But beyond that, there were two out-of-bounds possession calls that appeared to be incorrectly called, both in Houston’s favor, both in the final six minutes. They are not reviewable outside the final two minutes.

Were there bad calls that helped Purdue? Yeah. There was a first-half goal tend that was blown for one thing.

But those three calls in the final minutes denied Purdue three possessions and ultimately yielded Houston’s game-winner.

Tough deal, but those are the breaks of the game.