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Question: Do you feel like you now need to win the Big Ten Tournament?

Matt Painter: "Yes."

That was Purdue's stark reality Saturday afternoon, after Rutgers visited Mackey Arena and left with a 71-68 overtime win, marring senior day and likely delivering a killshot to the Boilermakers' already-iffy NCAA Tournament at-large hopes. It would have required some measure of success in Indianapolis, but the Rutgers win was probably a needed component to Purdue's path to March Madness.

Instead, Purdue's third loss in Mackey Arena out of its last four home games, a final regular season record of just 16-15, 9-11 in the Big Ten and the No. 10 seed in the Big Ten Tournament.

Our breakdown.

To end a back-and-forth game typical of this Big Ten season, Eric Hunter gave Purdue a 60-59 lead with 30 seconds left in regulation, Geo Baker seized the late lead, then Hunter followed his own miss and drew a foul.

The first free throw — to tie it with 2.7 seconds left — was good.

The second — likely to win it — was not.

And so Purdue and Rutgers played on, extending their regular seasons by five minutes.

The game continued, and so did Rutgers' guards' game-deciding surge.

After Baker scored eight of his 19 points in the final 4:12 of regulation, Jacob Young blistered Purdue off the dribble twice to open OT, Ron Harper Jr. made a three in a switch over forward Evan Boudreaux with 1:08 left, creating a three-point lead, and Baker made the dagger with 11.7 left, pushing the lead back to three after Hunter made two of three foul shots with an opportunity to tie the game up again.

Purdue just couldn't get stops in overtime.

"They just went into high-ball screen situations and isolation situations, and Geo's really good in those situations," Purdue guard Sasha Stefanovic said. "He made some tough shots and we got some fouls. They just kept going to it and it kept working for them."

On Purdue's final series, Evan Boudreaux's three at the buzzer was short after Purdue's initial action to get Sasha Stefanovic a shot was closed off. Hunter wound up throwing the ball inside to Trevion Williams as the seconds wound down, but Williams passed quickly to Boudreaux.

Whether the shot would have counted, that may have required a review, as the ball came off as the senior's hand just as the shot clock lit up. (The official real-time did raise his arm as the shot went up.)

The Boilermakers never led in overtime, as Young's bucket to open the extra session was the game's 11th lead change. The game's 12th and 13th ties came soon after, but Purdue never led, capping the regular season with a difficult-to-swallow loss defined by such defeats as much as Purdue's most memorable moments.

At the end, Purdue didn't play flawless defense, but even if it had, as they say good offense beats good defense

"This wasn't one of those grinder-type games where neither team could score, even though we struggled to score at times," Painter said. "They just made more plays than we did."

Rutgers wasn't fazed by Mackey Arena, nor has any visitor seemed terribly affected by it the past month or so. Its road record in the Big Ten prior to Saturday was lousy, but also deceiving, because the Scarlet Knights had been so close so often to this very sort of win.

They played well to start, but this game went as rebounding went. Rutgers basically doubled Purdue up on the boards early, but once the Boilermakers started benefiting from offensive rebounds — a godsend for a team with offensive challenges — Purdue turned this game into a coin toss.

Once Rutgers stopped making all its threes — a 5-of-6 start for a 30.8-percent shooting team in Big Ten play — then Purdue had a chance.

Rebounding gave Purdue that chance.

"We knew we couldn't let them keep killing us on the glass," Boudreaux said, after grabbing 10 rebounds on his senior night.

But, guard play ultimately decided this game.

That is more a compliment to Rutgers than indictment of Purdue.

Rutgers' guards carried their team In the big moment every single time.

That said, Hunter and Stefanovic made big plays themselves, but as Painter said, Baker, Young, etc., made just a couple more.

Geo Baker was unstoppable, getting to the basket, shooting step-back jumpers, whatever it was.

"When he gets hot like that, he makes those plays," Painter said. "It's amazing he averages 11 points, because he's had a handful of games like he had today where he just makes impossible shots."

Baker was 8-of-14 from the floor for the game.

Prior to his takeover, though, Akwasi Yeboah buoyed Rutgers through the first half and start of the second, scoring 11 points, and big man Myles Johnson's size loomed large in Rutgers mostly controlling the glass when he was on the floor, but also in holding Trevion Williams to just eight points on seven shots.

Harper was a handful for Purdue's switching defense, as well, but also in transition, a key element to the Scarlet Knights' solid start.

For Purdue, Sasha Stefanovic essentially scoffed after the game at taking 13 threes to get his game-high 22 points. But 22 points are 22 points, and his last triple tied the game up with a minute-and-a-half or so left in overtime. Moments earlier, another went halfway down and out.

And it should be said, too, that though Eric Hunter saw some important free throws miss, there's no overtime without his key plays in the final 30 seconds of regulation.

Coming full circle here ...

Question: Do you feel like you now need to win the Big Ten Tournament?

Matt Painter: "Yes."

Purdue's chances of making the NCAA Tournament without winning the Big Ten Tournament likely perished today during its third overtime loss in four tries this season.

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