Breakdown: Purdue's loss to No. 17 Butler

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INDIANAPOLIS — Done in again by offensive difficulties, Purdue fell again at the Crossroads Classic to 17th-ranked Butler, 70-61.

Here's our Breakdown from the Boilermakers' final marquee non-conference game of the season.

Purdue started off well enough, opening up a quick seven-point lead against one of the best defensive teams in the nation.

Then, though, the Boilermakers' season-long offensive struggles, combined with the fact they were playing one of the top defensive teams in the nation, took hold and things changed considerably.

The Boilermakers shot a paltry 21.4 percent in the first half and were lucky to be down only five at halftime, thanks in part to Butler's 1-of-6 foul shooting in the opening 20 minutes.

Its luck ran out after halftime.

Butler opened on an 8-0 run and built a lead that peaked at 17 with 10-and-a-half minutes left, then again with five-and-a-half left, after Purdue had gotten within 11.

But, Aaron Wheeler made a couple threes to spur a Boilermaker comeback that put the margin at just four with 55.6 seconds left. Eric Hunter had a chance to get Purdue within a single possession from the foul line, but could only split the pair.

It was a moot point, because Purdue missed its next three shots and Butler salted the final minute away at the foul line.

That final scramble-mode surge by Purdue distorted the overlying reality of the game. Purdue shot 33.3 percent for the game, but a few minutes Into the second half, it was shooting less than 20 percent.

Two of its offensive stalwarts struggled badly.

Trevion Williams, essentially Purdue's go-to guy the past few games and now even more so as the Boilermakers played again without the concussed Matt Haarms, was just 5-of-14 from the floor, 4-of-13 prior to his irrelevant-to-the-outcome three rolling In prior to the final buzzer.

Williams came in as roughly a 70-percent shooter.

Meanwhile, leading scorer Jahaad Proctor made only two of his 13 shots.

"You're going to have some games where you struggle shooting the ball from the perimeter," said Coach Matt Painter, whose team actually finished a very good 9-of-20 from three-point range. "I think that's the one thing that we've put a lot of time into, recruiting people that can shoot threes.

"But when you get the ball to the rim and you miss lay-ups — especially against a team without a shot blocker — that's what I told them in (the locker room), our concentration level has got to be better, and that's what we've got to work on, whether that's a post move or a drive or a dump-down, or an offensive rebound put-back. We had a lot of opportunities in and around the basket that we just didn't finish. We've got to do a better job with that."

That was the most obvious failing for Purdue, its inability, again, to cash in on high-percentage offense, whether it was the highly efficient Williams missing shots he normally makes or the series of layups the Boilermakers blew, an on-going issue for a team that has consistently run productive offense this season only to not "reward Itself," as Painter often puts it, with the most important part — points.

Butler is a good defensive team. Its metrics suggest it's an outstanding defensive team, and its record — 10-1 prior to Saturday — back it up.

But this game was far too familiar a story for Purdue, the offensive inefficiency and inability to cash in.

That said, give Butler credit for its defense on Williams. Bryce Golden — the most productive big man In this game, as he scored 14 and was two rim-outs away from 19 — battled Williams in the post, and when backup Derrik Smits was on the floor, the 7-footer's size seemed to affect Williams' ability to score.

But the layups are on Purdue.

Eric Hunter missed one in the first half, after a Nojel Eastern steal had gotten Purdue in transition.

"I think it's just concentration, simple as that," Hunter said, echoing his coach, of Purdue's team-wide issues scoring at the rim. "The one I missed in the first half, I was too busy worrying about what was going on behind me instead of just going at the rim and finishing it myself."

Painter believes offensive struggles have affected his team in other ways.

"I think that is discouraging from a player standpoint because nobody is trying to miss them," Painter said. "It's like missing a free throw, like nobody is trying to miss a free throw. But it's discouraging. You feel as a player you should make lay-ups and you should make free throws, and then it affects other part of the game, and you kind of get down on yourself.

"Collectively we're not a mature group," Painter said. "We're just not. We're mature people, but we're not a mature basketball team yet. We've got to do a better job of being connected. We've got to do a better job of just being consistent. A lot of times with groups that haven't done it yet, it's not the failures that mess them up. They'll respond to a failure. They don't respond to success. When you beat Virginia, that messes with them way more than when you get beat by Butler because it's obvious people leaving this game right here, it's obvious. The things I just said, it's easy to say.

It goes without saying, too, that Purdue badly missed Matt Haarms in this one. Butler had a good deal of success beating the Boilermakers off the dribble and getting the ball to the basket, where Haarms' presence would have really mattered. Furthermore, Haarms Is a key piece In dribble containment, so he was missed at both ends of that scenario.

And when Purdue went to its bench at the 5, it was felt.

Purdue — and foul trouble — shut down Butler star Kamar Baldwin, who finished with as many turnovers (five) as points and was just 2-of-9 from the floor.

But front-court players Golden and Bryce Nze outproduced the Boilermaker frontcourt, combining to make 9-of-14 shots for 22 points.

Honestly, though, Purdue's Inability to produce offensively was the deciding factor In this game.

Whether you want to chalk that up to the Boilermakers' failings or Butler's defensive acumen, that's in the eye of the beholder.

It means Purdue continues to show itself to be extremely limited offensively, as well as inconsistent. The most disconcerting, and puzzling, part of this Is Its Inability to score when the hard part has already been taken care of.

Saturday's struggles to make layups and such comes two games after the loss at Nebraska in which that was the singular difference in a bad loss for the Boilermakers.

That said, Purdue could have made three or four more layups vs. Butler and there's no guarantee things would have turned out much different. Butler is now 11-1 for a reason.

Also, this was a game that punctuated Matt Haarms' value to Purdue. He is arguably Purdue's best, and certainly its best at both ends, player, and the Boilermakers missed him profoundly vs. the Bulldogs.

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