Breakdown: Purdue's loss at Rutgers

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A few things came to light for Purdue Tuesday night at 14th-ranked Rutgers.

First, the Boilermakers are good enough to at least put themselves in positions to win marquee games like this. They didn't, falling 81-76 in the end after leading by five with just under 11 minutes left. But in erasing a 15-point first-half deficit and bringing the game down to the final minute, Purdue showed something.

But also, it was shown once again that unless Matt Painter's team find some real answers defensively, and quick, breaking through in games like this won't happen by accident.

It was one of those shooting nights for the host Scarlet Knights — 11-of-21 from three-point range, 5-of-5 from Montez Mathis, who scored 25 — so much so that it didn't seem to matter all that much who Rutgers didn't have. That would be All-America candidate Ron Harper Jr., who missed the game with an ankle injury.

A break for Purdue? As it turned out, not so much, because the Boilermakers' defensive limitations came to bear again. Rutgers shot 50 percent overall from the floor, knifing Purdue off both the dribble and from long range, and scoring 80-plus without a player who's averaging 24.

"We have to be better than this," Painter said afterward. "We have to make things harder than we did."

Painter says his team has no "defensive foundation" at this point, in part due to its general inexperience level.

Against Rutgers, there was too little solid footing to be found, in part because the personnel Purdue needed on the floor tonight to score might not have been the groups that would give it the best chance defensively.

Eric Hunter is Purdue's best defender, and though he's young, Brandon Newman is probably has the most potential. Both struggled offensively at Rutgers, combining to shoot 4-of-15. The two starters sat to open the second half, as Painter went with Jaden Ivey and Isaiah Thompson, who dug the Boilermakers out of a 15-point first-half ditch almost single-handedly.

"We just didn't have a great combination tonight of offense and defense," Painter said.

"We just couldn't get enough stops in the second half, especially after we were in position to win the game."

Purdue tight-roped a first-half danger zone, down 38-23 with 4:18 left before halftime.

But when Mason Gillis rebounded Newman's missed three and kicked out to Thompson for a triple, the run began. That was the first of Thompson's three threes in the final 2:59 of the first half and the jumping-off point for a 23-6 run covering the end of the first half and start of the second.

Afterwards, though, Purdue was left lamenting its ongoing defensive challenges, after losing despite a 21-point, 10-of-12, 12-rebound showing from Trevion Williams and a 7-of-8, 17-point outburst from Thompson off the bench. Sasha Stefanovic scored 14.

"We need some guys to establish themselves as productive players at both ends of the court," Painter said.

It's been an up-and-down season for Thompson, the sophomore who was thrust into a leading role to start the season due to injuries to Eric Hunter and Jaden Ivey, only to see that role diminish slightly once those players come back. Consistency has been an issue for Thompson, as it's been for Purdue in general.

But the version of Thompson Purdue saw — at least at the offensive end — at Rutgers reminded of the scoring outburst from Ann Arbor last season, when he helped carry the Boilermakers to near-win at Michigan.

Thompson made three consecutive threes in the final three minutes of the first half, before missing a heat check. He carried it over to the second half, too.

"I just got in a quick rhythm," Thompson said. "I got a little hot and tried to keep it going.

"I've put in the time to get better and improve my game. Today was a day my shots were falling. It wasn't necessarily more opportunities. It was just just picking my spots and things opened up and I was able to make some shots to get us on a good run."

Thompson was 3-of-4 from three-point range, but Purdue was just 7-of-26 overall, continuing a trend of not shooting well in true road games this season, albeit only three of them to this point.

Purdue didn't play well defensively.

It again struggled to contain the dribble and its lane-protection-minded defense was exploited from three-point range left and right, Harper or no Harper.

But Rutgers also enjoyed one of those nights.

Purdue nemesis Geo Baker has been coming back from an ankle injury. He was shooting 30 percent prior to tonight and averaging less than eight points. His return to the starting five, though, yielded 19 points on 7-of-15 shooting, including a three to start the game and a couple buckets off the very high-ball screen action Purdue struggles often to contain.

But it was another long-time thorn in Purdue's side that was the real difference-maker.

Purdue likes to play the percentages defensively.

At Rutgers, the percentages were again thrown out the window.

Mathis had made eight threes in seven games prior to Tuesday night. He was shooting 29 percent. He made five on as many tries against the Boilermakers.

"Some of those guys who made threes tonight didn't have the greatest percentages going Into the game," Sasha Stefanovic said. "Early in the game we were trying to stop drives and stop the ball. A lot of credit to them, they made a lot of open threes when they were available."

At the offensive end and on the glass at least, this is the standard Purdue holds Trevion Williams to, a night where he looked every bit the Preseason All-Big Ten player he's been chosen as.

Head to head with Rutgers standout center Myles Johnson, Williams scored 21, missed just two of 12 shots and came away with a really important and-one off a putback in the game's final minute, keeping hope for Purdue alive.

Williams' 12 rebounds led Purdue to a win on the glass, and his four offensive rebounds helped the Boilermakers score 14 second-chance points.

"When it's your night, it's your night and when it's not, it's not," Williams said. "I've been continuing to do extra work, my same routine and some shots just fell for me.

"But it's not about me. It's about Purdue winning."

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