More ($): Analysis | Wrap Video | Stat Blast | Final Thoughts | Podcast
MILWAUKEE — For the second time in as many games, Purdue put itself in position to win, and for the second time in as many games, it didn't.
This time, an 18-point late-first-half lead went by the wayside and the Boilermakers were outscored 40-17 after halftime en route to a 65-55 Gavitt Games loss at Marquette.
WHAT HAPPENED
Simple, if you listen to Matt Painter: "We blew the game."
To that end, Purdue's coach was punctuating the reality that the Boilermakers were 9-of-21 at the foul line, let slip countless opportunities at the rim, and simply should have been ahead by more than the 13 that stood as the halftime margin.
"We should be up 20 at halftime," Painter said. "We should have had the game at a distance."
That wasn't the case, however, so Purdue went into the locker room up a little more than a dozen.
Starting second halves has not been Purdue's strength, starting with its private scrimmage against Providence, and certainly including its loss this past weekend to Texas.
"We're in (the locker room) talking, that, 'This can't happen again,'" center Matt Haarms said of Purdue's halftime gathering. "Every game we've played we come out and the other team just has more than we have.
"We've got to do something about it. We can't keep coming out flat."
As good as Purdue was in the first half, defensively and on the glass, and in its defensive effort against Marquette star Markus Howard, the script was flipped after halftime.
The Golden Eagles turned the tables on the glass. After being outrebounded by 11 in the opening 20 minutes, Marquette won the glass by 10 in the final 20.
While Purdue did about the best it could have hoped for against Howard, despite premier defender Nojel Eastern's worst-case-scenario-type foul trouble, no other Golden Eagle did much in the first half. In the second, Kobe McEwen — the transfer from Utah State — carried Marquette, finishing with 23 points, and Howard's supporting cast won the game while he finished with a paltry-by-his-standards 18.
Purdue's offense ground to a halt when it mattered most, as it closed the game on an 0-for-8 shooting streak. The Boilermakers were 5-of-25 from the floor in the second half, seeing Marquette's 30-percent first-half shooting and raising it a 20-percent second-half clip.
It might not have mattered as much had Purdue not shot 9-of-21 at the foul line, including three missed one-and-one front ends.
Again, though, the downward slide began for Purdue again as soon as it came out of the locker room in the second half.
They'd just gotten done talking about the issue, too.
"We just have to be men of our word, and do it," guard Eric Hunter said. "Come out and play hard and focus on the right things even when we're not making shots."
WHO MADE IT HAPPEN
Kobe McEwen made a big shot for Marquette before halftime, while Purdue missed four good looks from three in the final two minutes that could have built an even bigger cushion.
He was the classic example of a team slowing a superstar, then getting beat by somebody else. Eighteen of McEwen's points came in the second half.
Had Purdue won this game, though, the story might have been Eric Hunter, largely responsible for leading Purdue's effort against Howard, who got just 12 shots off.
Nojel Eastern, Purdue's go-to perimeter defender, picked up an offensive foul at 15:38 of the first half. Matt Painter brought him back in at 14:41 and 15 seconds later, he picked up No. 2. Around the 10-minute mark, Eastern came back in. At 8:50, he picked up his third foul.
That was Purdue's nightmare scenario, but it hardly mattered.
"Eric Hunter did a fantastic job on Markus Howard," Painter said.
WHY IT HAPPENED
Purdue couldn't score. It's as simple as that.
The free throws were the most egregious failing — being free, as they say, and all — but again, the numbers from the final 20 minutes bear repeating: 5-of-25. Purdue was 1-of-10 from three-point range, too, and finishing 6-of-24.
"We have to pay attention to the details," Jahaad Proctor said. "Setting screens, knowing what we're doing, because when we execute, we look really good, because we have so many people who can score the ball and play basketball in general.
"But when we don't execute, we get very stagnant and we look like how we did in the second half."
That being said, Purdue had opportunities.
This play stands out: As Purdue looked to get Matt Haarms involved down low, with 17-and-a-half minutes left, it got him the ball, and Marquette brought a rare post double. Haarms stepped out of it, and did exactly as he was supposed to, hitting diving 4 man Aaron Wheeler at the rim for what was nearly an easy bucket. It missed, some of Purdue's best offense of the day resulting in nothing, as was the case so often when Boilermakers worked their way to the foul line.
This is not a team with a pre-eminent offensive talent, as was the case the past few years. It's a team offensively with some solid parts, but parts nonetheless, and when the entire operation works, and yet nothing comes from it, It hurts, and a team can run the risk of a "domino effect," as Jahaad Proctor called it, impacting the defensive end.
WHAT IT MEANS
Purdue obviously can lament another missed opportunity for a quality non-conference win, but there's bigger-picture issues at play here that were exposed, again.
Painter lamented his team's "fight," something it may have to grow into, or it may just never have, for all we know.
"You have to more resolve to you, more physical and mental toughness about you," Painter said. "That's what we lack. We don't have that. We're going to have to get that figured out, because you can be In a game and execute, and play the game, but at some point, you've got to fight.
"We have to be able to sustain our fight. We fight people for 15, 20, 25 minutes. We've yet to fight anybody for 40 minutes."
Membership Info: Sign up for GoldandBlack.com now | Why join? | Questions?
Follow GoldandBlack.com: Twitter | Facebook | YouTube
More: Gold and Black Illustrated/Gold and Black Express | Subscribe to our podcast
Copyright, Boilers, Inc. 2019. All Rights Reserved. Reproducing or using editorial or graphical content, in whole or in part, without permission, is strictly prohibited.
