Breakdown: Purdue's win over Valparaiso

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Matt Painter may not have necessarily preferred it this way, but now that it's over — Purdue's come-from-behind 68-61 win over Valparaiso — he may find a valuable teaching tool in the Boilermakers winning despite a thoroughly flawed showing.

"It's one of those things where you've got to learn some lessons about preparation and being ready to play," Painter said, "and be able to be a functional player when things don't go your way."

This might have been a natural step and inevitable bump in the road for a Purdue team playing as many first-year players as not and missing one of its most important veterans, Eric Hunter.

To have come out of it without incurring a loss may be something that turns out for the better.

Purdue trailed Valpo 34-23 at halftime, following a bottoming-out of the three-point shooting that had buoyed the Boilermakers through three games, a series of blown opportunities at the rim, and just what most involved described afterward as lackluster effort.

Then, Stefanovic himself did something about it with his defining skill.

The Boilermaker junior sank four threes and scored 17 of his 19 points after halftime, essentially rescuing his team when it needed a catalyst in the worst way.

Stefanovic provided the offense. So did Trevion Williams with a season-best 17 points and Isaiah Thompson with 14 points over 36 turnover-free minutes.

But offense was only part of the story.

"Nothing (was different)," Stefanovic said of the second half. "We just played harder. In the first half, we didn't play hard at all. We let them hit us first. We were lethargic. Same thing as the Oakland game. We started out slow and they capitalized."

The game turned in Purdue's favor shortly after a sequence in which the Boilermakers' effort showed up, as it grabbed four offensive rebounds in the span of seconds near the midway point of the second half, Mason Gillis being part of the surge.

By most standards, this was a hideous game.

The Boilermakers shot nearly 40 percent from three-point range during their first three games. Friday night, they were 6-of-23. The Crusaders committed 17 turnovers.

Valparaiso was called for 32 fouls and Purdue shot 37 free throws because of it, but missed 13 of 'em.

But Purdue made them when it mattered.

At the 6:48 mark, Zach Edey — coming off a rough first half — made two free throws to give Purdue the lead for good. Stefanovic's foul shots at 4:12 capped a 10-0 Purdue run that put it up seven, cushion enough to salt the game away at the foul line.

"Sometimes the ball's not gonna go in the basket," Thompson said. "You've got to find ways to do other things to win the game. And I feel like we did a good job of that of having a fight to us in the second half.

"We've got really good shooters on our team but like I say the ball isn't going to go in every time. So what are you going to do to get stops? What are you going to do offensively if you're not making shots like moving without the ball, like just different stuff like that? You can dominate the game even if the ball doesn't go in. And I felt like we did a good job of just being the aggressor in the second half after Valpo was the aggressor first half."

Zach Edey was the Big Ten's co-Freshman of the Week and came into this Valparaiso game leading Purdue in scoring at 15--plus points per game and making 83 percent of his shots.

He's been a revelation for Purdue.

But on Friday night, he reflected the inevitable inconsistencies this largely young Purdue team will face.

In the first half, Purdue generated several looks for Edey right at the basket, the very shots that are the reason the 7-foot-4 rookie was shooting 83 percent.

He missed all of them, all while Valparaiso's small-ball offense exploited his size on the perimeter defensively, making several threes over him and driving past him on other occasions, the sort of give-and-take Painter will accept sometimes when size Is dominating on offense, which Edey was in position to do, but didn't.

"He wasn't ready to play," Painter said, echoed by other players.

In the second half, Purdue made certain he was.

The same shots came Edey's way, and he made all of them, a run of six points in a minute that took the Boilermakers from down three to up one. Those were all six of Edey's points on the night.

"I was just more ready for the second half," Edey said. "I knew they're gonna come with the double and the pressure, but it's different when you see it in the game, so I was more ready for it and it worked out better."

This could be one of those lessons that this team will have to learn as it goes this season.

"It's definitely a building game for," Edey said. "I have to learn that when my shot's not falling, I have to keep locking in, keep playing through it and not let it affect me with my rebounding ability or on the defensive end of the ball. That's what I'll really take from this game."

Meanwhile, Trevion Williams scored a season-best 17 points to go along with 11 rebounds, his best offensive game of the season.

This was a significant showing for Isaiah Thompson, Purdue's lead guard cast into being Its primary ball-handler with Hunter and Jaden Ivey both sidelined.

Thompson logged 36 minutes against a VU team that was pressuring on the perimeter. He didn't turn the ball over once, as he hasn't now in three of Purdue's five games. The other: His five-turnover showing against Clemson.

"You just have to stay composed," Thompson said. "... Just taking care of the ball, that's huge as a point guard, especially when they're putting pressure on you, they're switching (screens) and their defense is kind of junky.

Purdue only turned the ball over nine times, just three in the second half.

"I feel like our guards did a pretty good job of staying composed and controlling the game."

Purdue aimed to be the "aggressor" in the second half, and Thompson's offensive demeanor to open the second half drove it. He scored four points in the first two minutes of the second half, attacked the basket for a few of Valpo's many fouls, and seemed to want the ball In his hands when Purdue needed free throws to close it out.

"I wouldn't necessarily say I was trying to the guy," Thompson said. "I just felt like the whole team needed a push offensively and defensively."

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