Louisville shuts Purdue down most of the night then rally falls short
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LOUISVILLE - Purdue left the KFC Yum! Center Wednesday night, fresh off a 71-64 loss to Louisville in a game that probably wasn't as close as the final score suggests for the majority of the evening, pointing a finger inward and its coach lamenting a lack of "mental toughness."
The 15th-ranked Boilermakers needed to limit their turnovers, an open wound for them of late, even in victory. It committed 17 of them, 10 in the decisive first half.
They needed to leverage their strength up front, their foundational frontcourt. Instead, Isaac Haas and Caleb Swanigan went deep into the second half before scoring a field goal. Vincent Edwards scored just a single point on a late free throw. The trio combined to shoot an almost unthinkable 5-of-20, with 10 turnovers.
And, they were the focal point of Louisville's game plan. The Cardinals attacked Purdue's size repeatedly offensively and got the best of it, totaling 32 points in the paint to the Boilermakers' 18.
But more than anything, what Purdue needed to do was compete.
In the first half, it did not.
Purdue trailed 33-19 at halftime, following what Coach Matt Painter called, "our worst half of the season," a dubious distinction for which there's no close second. The Boilermakers made 7-of-28 shots in the first half, committed double-digit turnovers and got what was coming to it for those transgressions.
"I thought our fight, in the second half, was good enough to win," point guard P.J. Thompson said, "but obviously if you put yourself in a position like that, you're not going to win more times than not."
Thompson called Purdue's offense in the first half "stagnant" and labeled the Boilermakers' play as "playing scared."
"Nobody wanted to make a play," Thompson said.
Louisville's length and athleticism in the frontcourt stymied Purdue's focal points down low and consistently beat the visiting team to the ball coming off the glass. Purdue came in suggesting it had to win the glass to win the game and it did not.
Painter talks often about how his own team's size is something opponents can't simulate in practice and thus perhaps a shock to the systems of opponents on game days. It looked like the script was flipped by Louisville, which overcame its brawn deficiency with length and explosiveness.
"At first it's a little daunting, the first five minutes, and they have a lot of guys (like that) they bring in after that," Swanigan said. "But after that you just get used to it and have to play the game of basketball."
It didn't seem like Purdue did that until the second half, when it seemed to find some answers for the Cardinals' doubling and trapping in the halfcourt.
But after trailing by as many as 18, Purdue had numerous chances to get within single digits mid-second half. Just like the Villanova game at the same juncture, the Boilermakers emerged defensively and strung together stops and defensive rebounds.
But, it turned the ball over once. Then again, then again, costing it valuable time in which to rally.
"That was a big stretch for us," guard Dakota Mathias said. "We were struggling to get stops before then, then we do, but we give it right back to them.
"It's tough, part of the mentally-tough aspect Coach Painter was talking about. When we get those stops, we have to convert on the other end and shrink that lead, especially when we're playing from behind like that. We've got to be perfect."
Still, Purdue got within just four points later on Ryan Cline's third three-pointer of the night.
The problem: Just a minute-and-a-half remained.
Purdue was out of time, left to lament missed second-half opportunities and the end of its seven-game ACC/Big Ten Challenge win streak.
"Louisville gave us a bigger fight, overall, 1 through 5," Thompson said, "and that showed tonight
| Player of the Game | Play of the Game | Stat of the Game |
|---|---|---|
|
P.J. Thompson scored 13 points on 3-of-4 three-point shooting and went 22 minutes without a turnover, the only Purdue player to not turn the ball over. Then, afterward, he took responsibility for the loss, because he's the point guard. |
Most of the candidates were made by Louisville, but Purdue's highlight might have come with 5:15 left to play, when Dakota Mathias broke into the lane, navigated traffic, then threw the ball behind him over his head to Caleb Swanigan rolling to the basket for a one-handed dunk. It was a rare bit of offensive swagger for Purdue. |
Purdue's starting frontcourt: 5-of-20 from the floor, including no field goals in the first half. Taking that into account, it's a minor miracle Purdue lost this game by only seven points. The frontcourt is its foundation and its foundation struggled mightily tonight. |
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