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First taste of adversity awaits top-ranked Purdue basketball at Ohio State

b8vTr9Hoby:Mike Carmin•01/04/23
Purdue's Braden Smith
Purdue's Braden Smith (Photo: Chad Krockover)

WEST LAFAYETTE – When Purdue vaulted into the national spotlight by winning the Phil Knight Legacy over Thanksgiving weekend, how the Boilermakers handled their newfound success was a key question.  

They quickly became a top-five team and eventually landed in the No. 1 spot in the rankings, reeling off 13 straight wins to start the season.  

Now Purdue must face another question – how does it respond after suffering its first loss?  

Adding to the intrigue is the Boilermakers face two games away from Mackey Arena – Thursday at No. 24 Ohio State (7 p.m., Fox Sports 1) and Sunday against Penn State at The Palestra in Philadelphia.  

“As great as the success was, a lot of times how you deal with this kind of adversity is a lot more important for us as a group,” junior Ethan Morton said. “We’re excited for the challenge and it’s a big challenge coming up.” 

No one expected coach Matt Painter’s team to go through this season unbeaten, but the shortcomings from the last few weeks came to the forefront in the one-point loss to Rutgers.  

The struggles from 3-point range continued but the unforced turnovers and the lack of a dominating rebounding performance prevented the Boilermakers from closing out the victory.  

The numbers were pretty much even across the board, but Purdue separated itself from its first 13 opponents by controlling the rebounding, keeping the bad shot attempts to a minimum and limiting the unforced turnovers.  

“It’s something that we needed, something we’ll learn from, and we’ll move onto the next one,” freshman point guard Braden Smith said.  

Smith struggled against the Scarlet Knights’ pressure, leading to turnovers and empty possessions. A handful of the turnovers were a result of the Boilermakers playing off one foot and instead of Painter’s everyday philosophy of playing off two feet.  

Purdue was able to get away with some sloppy play against lesser non-conference opponents. Now that the Big Ten season has resumed, the Boilermakers must be more fundamentally sound.  

“I feel like I have to kind of jump on passes – I’m not tall enough obviously – I try to get up in the air and try to make those passes,” Smith said. “I have to figure out how to play off two and go from there.”  

The turnovers were a combination of Rutgers’ defense and Purdue’s lapses.  

“We work on playing on two feet every day,” Morton said. “We got away from that and they do a really good job – and you’ve got to give them credit – of pressuring us and putting us in tough situations.”  

The Boilermakers needed to show more patience but also resolve in dealing with the Scarlet Knights’ tough defense. But the physical defensive pressure isn’t going away since the Buckeyes and the Nittany Lions will bring similar elements this week.  

“We have to do a better job especially when we get into a sea of people,” Painter said.  

Monday’s loss should provide plenty of lessons and is expected to make the Boilermakers stronger as the conference season continues.  

“They’re a very physical team and being able to see that and see how the Big Ten is going to go is helpful to me to get over that hump and try to figure it out,” Smith said.  

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