Klemet: Pride on the line for Purdue and Northwestern
ISL Correspondent
Pride is the extent of what is on the line Sunday at Mackey Arena.
The Boilers have lost five of six, including three in a row. The Wildcats are losers of four straight.
Purdue’s struggles lately have been about more than getting the ball in the basket. Head coach Matt Painter has stressed concern with his team’s ability to simply compete.
The Boilermakers haven’t scored more than 65 points in a game in a month and have given up at least 75 points in each of their past five losses. But, they have struggled to even remain in games past the first 20 minutes.
Terone Johnson has been the only player close to consistent. He is averaging 12.9 points per game, but his supporting cast has often been absent.
The only other player averaging double figures is freshman A.J. Hammons, but the seven-footer is experiencing first-year growing pains. In the Boilers last time out, he was dominated by Indiana center Cody Zeller, scoring just six points while his counterpart poured in 19 points and nine rebounds.
The good news for Purdue is Northwestern has no one of Zeller’s caliber and Hammons should be able to replicate his 19-point, 13-rebound performance from the first meeting with the Wildcats.
Northwestern also will not have Jared Swopshire this time around. The senior scored 13 in the Wildcats 75-60 win in Evanston earlier this month, but he is out for the season after undergoing knee surgery.
It won’t matter, though, if Purdue can’t do a better job defending, especially the around perimeter. Northwestern connected on 11 triples in the February 2nd meeting, including three from Reggie Hearn on his way to a career-high 26 points.
Purdue is coming off a brutal three game stretch against teams that likely will be in the NCAA tournament. But Sunday against the Wildcats is the first of two games against NIT-caliber opponents. They also have had a week off; a week Painter hopes has lit a spark under his team that has played emotionless more often than not.
Wins won’t change the direction of Purdue’s season. But, for a team still in transition, any taste of success can be used as a building block for the coming years.
And, there is always pride in winning.
