Embarrassed in Sleepy Valley: Boilers Lose 65-45

Each time I watch a game that takes place in Happy Valley, it's either break or there's a blizzard outside; at least that's what it looks like. Tonight was no different as Purdue made the trip to the most-quiet, least-attended venue in the league...and pooped the bed.

Shooting 32% from the field while allowing an opponent to shoot 43% is a recipe for disaster. Getting out-rebounded by 10 is playing with fire. Hitting a quarter of your threes and allowing an opponent to hit half of theirs? Craziness.  Purdue did all of this tonight...but at least their freethrows (high five?).

Hummel, Jackson and TJohn looked listless in this one for much of the contest. Lawson and Carroll looked overmatched.  Purdue has lost big under Painter before, but never can I remember a game in which a team that is not good simply dominated his Purdue team from start to finish. After the Butler game I said this team might struggle to make the tournament if things didn't change...the team that drew that comment due to poor play in the second half at Conseco was at the Bryce Jordan Center tonight for 36 minutes.

We all know Purdue struggles against teams that play really disciplined, hard-nosed zone.  Tonight, they struggled against a team that played an OK zone.  No one looked to drive, no big men carved out space while bodying up PSU's forwards and Purdue hardly ever pushed the ball to thwart PSU's effort to set up the zone...and on the other end, simple high screens created chasms in Purdue's defense and gave PSU open look after open look.

Angry Sparty forces Pete to lose bowel control. Boilers rolled 74-56.

That train wasn't wrecked...it's just lying down for a nap.

Coming in, J and I had a rotten feeling about this one. We looked at MSU's players, we looked at their legendary coach and we said, "these guys and this record don't belong together."

Everyone who watches college basketball knew they had this in them. And not many, myself included understood why Sparty played like it did all season. Well, thanks to our Boilers, the sleeping giant was seemingly awakened this evening in Indy...all as Purdue slumbered.

The game started out poorly. The deficit was into double digits before the half way point in the half. But it wasn't over. As Kalin Lucas put on a gimpy shooting clinic Purdue sagged back on defense, didn't deny him the ball and allowed him to get clean look after clean look. Just before the half, Purdue was shooting 0% from behind the arc...MSU was white hot at 83%. As the lead swelled to nearly 15 and the minutes got small in the first half, Purdue had 20 points...and so did Lucas.

At the advent of the second half, it felt another Columbus '11-type performance. The halftime adjustments that Painter usually brilliantly orchestrates were no where to be found. MSU was like a bully with its hand on the forehead of the wimpy kid on the playground...and Purdue played the patsy to a tee until about the midway of the second half.

But before Purdue joined the contest, they simply weren't able to stop MSU. They were dominated on the glass, did not shoot well and continually played off the ball...and after more than a game and one-half of this, Painter's frustration boiled over. In an event that happens with the regularity of Haley's Comet making a fly-by earth, Matty was teched up after watching JJ get grabbed and battered one-too-many times in the blocks. Gene Keady's technical fouls used to wake up the likes of Steve Reid, Troy Lewis and Porter Roberts...but the message took a few minutes to sink in to the lethargic Boilers. In fact, the rarity of the event wasn't enough as it took another ten minutes for Purdue to find a heart beat.

After being continually slapped around and kept down by around 15 points, Purdue finally cut the lead to single digits...then they went cold one last time. About five minutes passed without Purdue scoring and the game was over. The Boilers fell back into a listless sleep, and as Sparty stepped on the Purdue's collective throat, they simply drifted into dreamland. They probably didn't feel a thing.

For those keeping score at home, that's two straight games in which The Forces of Good have been in a carb-induced food coma. The lightning fast, swarming, frustrating and maddening defensive juggernaut that scored in bunches has been replaced with a slow-footed, small-hearted unrecognizable team that makes bad decisions and plays a fragmented style of basketball.

Fundamentals and unmatched effort are the things that have made Purdue teams great. They make their free throws, play physical, unrelenting defense, and get after loose balls. Painter's teams are also normally great at picking eachother up. The sum of their parts is almost always greater than the individuals within the system. But the last two games, this team has not showed the effort, ability, continuity or, most damning, the heart. That one stings...and it makes no sense.

Sure, MSU was playing for its life...and before them, Iowa was playing to send their Senior off with a win. But, Purdue's lofty perch near the top of the nation is now a memory. The discussions of a possible one seed or two seed in Chicago are long gone. How far has Purdue slipped in the eyes of the committee? Are they a 4 or worse? Probably. If Purdue gets shipped as far West as the national border will allow, and they have to play an upstart 29-win, high-RPI mid-major, they have no one to blame but themselves. Oh, and when we hear all week about how Purdue isn't favored and doesn't have a chance, as fans, we'd better not get angry. Our Alma Mater made this bed over the last two games, now they have to lie in it.

Hardworking Hawkeyes Humble Boilers 67-65

Painful.

It was Senior Day at Carver Hawkeye Arena and only one player was honored, but he played inspired...and so did the rest of his team. Jarryd Cole has played well against the Boilers in the past- he did so last season, but this was his best game versus our Boilers. He finished with a team-leading 16 points and 10 rebounds. The Hawkeyes seemingly wanted to send Cole out in style...and they did by giving the beleaguered Hawkeye fans a reason to cheer in a rebuilding season.

All season, we had given Coach Fran and the Hawkeyes a ton of credit for being better than their record...sadly, we saw proof of their improvement at the worst-possible time.

On the 50/50 plays, Iowa won almost all of them. If the Hawkeyes needed a rebound...they got it. Fran's squad played like they were the ones looking to cinch up a high seed and close locale for the NCAA tourney...and their opponent acted as if grit and guts were optional on this Saturday evening.

Purdue's effort was atrocious. Its defense was uninspired and the effort on the glass was lax at best. Just as we ask for our favorite team to get credit when they hold a team down and force them into a game they don't want to play, Iowa deserves the credit. They made Purdue look un-Purdue like...and the fellas in the black uniforms better not miss this: Purdue is not talented enough top to bottom to not play as a cohesive unit.

Matty's boys pride themselves on being a team that has someone step up each contest in unexpected ways...there was none of that today. In fact, even the guys you expect big things from wilted and disappeared.

You look at the stats and might say, "No one was helping Jackson and Johnson." But the truth is everyone on Purdue failed at some point in this contest.

With over 13 minutes left, JJ had 20 points...he ended with 22. The shots that are typically-automatic for him weren't falling. His 12 boards and 2 blocks were good, but down the stretch with Purdue needed to grab one of Iowa's missed shots, he couldn't come up with the ball. Plus, the help defense that Purdue seems to funnel toward Johnson seemed to fail on the backside quite a few times in the game.

I liked what I saw from Jackson at times today. But, it was clear that the hand injury knocked him down a rung, at least for a portion of the second half. He didn't push the ball, which is critical in this system and Purdue got very few easy run outs. He finished with 13pts, 4reb, 4ast, 4stls, but it wasn't enough.

Byrd, Smith, TJohn, Hart and Moore finished 5-of-23 from behind the arc. It seemed that after Jackson, no one was willing to shoot anything inside of 20ft. 9in. But why? Once again, it was a lazy looking offense. In fact, with just over a minute left and Purdue down by 2, Purdue missed two threes, got both rebounds and looked like they were going to shoot another three...so Painter signaled for a timeout. After the timeout, Byrd shot and missed a 24 footer...I'm hoping Matty didn't draw that up.

Moore was on the bench for a long stretch (around 10:00) in the first half due to foul trouble, but he didn't do a whole bunch outside of his 13 points when given the opportunity. His usual ability to make his teammates better through rebounding and dealing the ball simply wasn't there as he finished with 1 board, 1 assist and 1 steal.

Barlow wasn't in sync either- he finished with 4 points, shot 2/5 from the stripe, had 2 turnovers, 0 assists and 3 fouls in his 14 minutes of action.

And Barlow wasn't the only one to struggle at the free throw line. Purdue shot an uncharacteristic 58.8% from the line and left at least 7 points on the floor. So even while getting whipped on the glass (47-32) and not coming up with hustle plays, they still could have won had they hit their free throws.

Purdue got exactly what it deserved in Iowa City: A loss. But now, the fallout and ramifications of this loss will probably be pretty severe. Judging by what we've seen the past few years, people will more than likely remember this game, not the 7 wins in a row that led up to it. This upset was the front story on EsPN.com, and rightfully so...and it'll probably be at the forefront of the tourney committee's minds a week from today unless Purdue does something to erase the memory.

On Twitter people were asking if this loss is an important, and possibly-positive moment, for this team. We don't know that, and really, we can't say what it is in the long view for weeks. After the game JJ reiterated this point by saying,

"A lot of people will say it's a bad loss, but it's a matter of how we respond to it to see if we can turn it into a good loss."

But, right now, it stinks. Painter often says that teams don't play "on edge" enough as their winning...and that definitely was the case today. Everyone from the coaches to the players did not take the Hawkeyes seriously and because of that, Purdue's standing the college basketball world is now much different than it was this morning. Hopefully they regain the chip on their collective shoulder that made them great in the month of February.

Boilers Sleepwalk to Columbus and Lose Spectacularly

Last season, Purdue was knocked out of the BT tourney in historically-bad fashion as they lost by 27 points to Minnesota. In that game, Purdue barely showed a pulse offensively while allowing nearly 40 points in the first half. The game was over at the break.

This game was similar in its end result...but probably worse. Tonight, the nation put much of its attention on the match-up that many thought would be a real test for the number 1-ranked Buckeyes. They were never tested. From the beginning, aOSU shot its way in the lead while simply stifling Purdue's offense.

The Discount Arena is a pro-style building...and at times, it looked like Matta's pros were playing a high school team.

Gone was Purdue's team defense that cuts off passing lanes, denies entry passes and defends nearly every look. In its place, was a team of Boilers that looked confused about their assignments, couldn't switch as the Buckeyes drove in and kicked out, and couldn't defend three.

After being down 17 just after the ten-minute mark in the first half, it only got worse. Matta's club entered the second half with a 20-point lead and it swelled to 29 before Matta and Painter seemingly tipped their caps to each other and pulled their leading scorers with around 10:00 left. Purdue ended up losing 87-64...but it felt much worse (and could have been).

JJ was effective at times, but couldn't match the physicality or moxy of Sullinger. On more than one occasion, Sullinger threw a hard elbow to get around the slighter Johnson only to see the refs whistle Johnson for the foul. JJ was probably Purdue's most-effective rebounder, and he wasn't very effective. He finished with 7 rebounds to go along with his 22 points.

I'd love to tell you Johnson was a bright spot on a gloomy day. But, I'd bet 25 thinks about this evening like I do- that it was flat-out ugly for everybody. The Buckeyes, and specifically their Freshman made a mockery of Purdue, and the worst part is Purdue did NOTHING to stop it. Our Boilers had no toughness from the starters, no goon off the bench to use up some fouls, no grit to dig in and fight back, no strategy to counter the onslaught. Purdue merely whimpered, put its tail between its legs and crawled out of the arena, thoroughly and completely beaten.

Purdue was out of sync in about every way on both ends of the court. Ohio State was motivated and sharp while Purdue looked over-matched, listless, slow and most-painfully soft. I'm not going to talk about individuals outside of Johnson simply because I might say something that I wouldn't usually say. This was a bad night, and while I hated what I saw, I still love the guys on this team.

Looking Forward

Matty's Boilers can rule out receiving any respect from the national media during the remainder of the season...Simply because respect should be earned. Purdue was tested and they failed in a massive way. And this game, while it's just one loss, is a huge blow to what this team really wanted to do this season. As a result of tonight, they might have a very hard time getting a high seed in the tournament and they'll have to do more from this point forward to be put in a position for success in March.

The Wofford game, in the Freshman season of the then Baby Boilers, became a watershed moment and rally cry for Matty and the staff. The only positive that could come out of a collapse like this, is if it becomes the same.

Next up, Matty's boys return to the friendly confines to face Minnesota...and hopefully take out some of their angst on the 18th-ranked Gophers.

Gigantic Portobello Mushrooms.