Purdue nearly knocks off defending champs in 79-76 loss to Villanova
By KEITH CARRELL (@BoilerColts)
ISL Purdue Writer
Self-inflicted wounds resulted in a failed attempt at upsetting the defending national champions Monday night in West Lafayette. A raucous, sold out Mackey Arena attempted to will the 15th ranked Boilermakers onto victory, but the 3rdranked Wildcats defeated the Boilermakers 79-76.
Isaac Haas pulled Purdue to within one on an uncontested layup with 32 seconds remaining. Villanova inbounded the ball and the Boilermakers attempted to foul Josh Hart (who had missed four free throw attempts on the night), but it wasn’t called and Dakota Mathias was eventually able to foul Jalen Brunson, who went to the line for a one-and-one with 23 seconds left. Brunson’s first attempt bounced off the back of the iron and fell through and his second shot was good to give the Wildcats a three point lead. Haas again was able to close the gap with a jumper and Vincent Edwards fouled Brunson to send Brunson back to the line for two shots. Brunson sank both to extend the lead to 79-76 with 12 seconds to play. P.J. Thompson brought the ball up the court and found Caleb Swanigan, who attempted a three at the top of the key that missed badly. Mathias rebounded and found Carsen Edwards in the corner for a last ditch effort three that also missed the mark to seal Purdue’s fate.
Came up short on a great night in Mackey Arena. Ready to get after it again on Friday. #BoilerUp https://t.co/jwVwesXst1
— Purdue Basketball (@BoilerBall) November 15, 2016
The game started out with a back and forth battle featuring both teams’ strengths as Swanigan kicked off scoring with a short jumper and Villanova’s Brunson and Hart each contributed a three in a back and forth contest that saw Purdue take an early 13-9 lead into the first media timeout five minutes into the contest. Out of the timeout, Villanova reeled off an impressive 19-5 run over the next seven minutes to take a 28-18 advantage.
Purdue responded and clawed back into the game steadily on a 13-3 run of their own behind contributions from Swanigan, Haas, and Spike Albrecht. Villanova began to pull ahead slight again until a Swanigan layup with 21 seconds remaining closed the margin to three and it appeared the Boilers might head into the break down slightly. The Boilermakers had a different opinion though, as newly reinstated Basil Smotherman knocked the ball away from Darryl Reynolds where Edwards took control of it and found Thompson near midcourt. With time expiring, Thompson heaved up a shot from the hip that streaked off of the glass and into the net just before the buzzer sounded to knot the game at 39.
Another angle of @pj_thompson11‘s buzzer-beating halftime 3-pointer. #Purdue pic.twitter.com/wZvIwo036D
— Purdue Basketball (@BoilerBall) November 15, 2016
Smotherman on Thompson’s buzzer beater: “It just gave us a spark. We were down ten at one point and then we came back and were making all the right plays when that happened.”
The second half began with a back and forth slugfest that saw the Wildcats hold a slim advantage at 47-45 before a similar story to the first half unfolded, Villanova reeled off nine unanswered points to take a 56-45 lead. Again, Purdue answered the bell by responding with a 12-2 run of their own by re-finding their advantage of size (all twelve scored by Haas and Swanigan) to get within one at the twelve minute mark. Purdue could never quite get over the hump in the second half, though, as the Wildcats were able to maintain a slim lead the rest of the way.
Purdue will likely be a very good team this year, but whether it has been March misfires, injuries, or struggles against upper echelon opponents, Purdue under head coach Matt Painter can never quite seem to get over the hump. On a night where Purdue arguably appeared to be the better squad on the court, self-inflicted wounds were the death knell. Be it a short-handed roster (sharpshooter Ryan Cline continuing to serve his suspension and Jacquil Taylor out indefinitely after having surgery on his injured ankle), getting into foul trouble early and often (four Boilers had two or more by halftime and Haas’ three fouls limited him to five total minutes of action in the opening half), poor free throw shooting (12-19), or unforced errors and inexperience (15 turnovers, many bad passes and traveling violations – five players had two or more, to go along with some apparent early season jitters by a future star in C. Edwards) the Boilermakers undoubtedly beat themselves and found themselves unable to notch a signature win early into the season.
“I thought we beat ourselves at times trying to make the right play. I thought we had a travel in front of the bench and then a couple of passing turnovers and where there was nothing wrong with the pass, you just have to complete it and make a simple play in that stretch,” Painter illustrated on the self-inflicted wounds and later elaborated, “I didn’t think our effort was bad. I thought our execution at times could have been better.”
Still, this Purdue squad has a high level of talent and potential this season. To play a high caliber opponent like Villanova, especially this early in the season can be invaluable to a team which may still be unearthing its identity. “I thought we gave really good fight and everything was there, just some small things we have to adjust, but we’re definitely going to take this experience and move on.” Haas continued, “I don’t think there’s a better challenge than (Villanova) this early in the season.”
Quick Hits:
With Haas in foul trouble early, Smotherman logged major minutes in his first action of the season and performed at a high level making the scrappy plays and contributing five points, six boards, three assists, and a steal in 21 minutes… Albrecht appeared to be having a solid night, but was subbed out with 9:30remaining and never returned to the game… With Purdue down three Purdue ideally would have had more shooters on the court to end the game, but Painter opted to leave Albrecht on the bench and Cline was serving his fourth of a six game suspension… Purdue shot 49% from the field including 36% from long range, but were outscored by six on the free throw line… Purdue continues to share the ball well having assisted on 26 of their 28 made field goals… Five players ended the game with at least four fouls: Villanova’s Eric Paschall fouled out and Reynolds had four while Purdue’s V. Edwards, Swanigan, and Mathias each had four (Haas played 15 minutes in the 2nd half without picking up a foul)… Purdue’s starting frontcourt accounted for 52 points behind 22 from Haas, 20 from Swanigan, and 10 from V. Edwards… Hart led all scorers with 24 points… Purdue held Villanova to 7-17 threes a game after the Wildcats attempted 41 treys… V. Edwards had a career high eight assists… Purdue is now 0-6 against top-5 non-conference opponents (0-3 against defending national champions – UCLA in 1967 and Louisville in 1987) in Mackey Arena… This was only the second home loss in November for Purdue under Painter, who is 38-2 for the month (Bucknell, Villanova head coach Jay Wright’s alma mater)… This was the first non-conference loss at home for the Boilers since losing the Gardner-Webb in December of 2014… On a related note, the movie ‘Hoosiers’ was released in theaters 30 years ago today.
