Matt Painter and Purdue haven't lost a non-conference game in over three seasons.

Unless you count exhibition games. Purdue has lost two of them now, one last year, on the road, against a top-20ish Arkansas team, and this year, against a top-15 Creighton team on the road.

They counted. They count. Maybe not on the standings sheet, but they do in the locker room.

"To have that taste of losing to where like now you're really trying to fix things," Matt Painter says after the game.

"We need to fix things."

The court stops. Braden Smith has the basketball. Someone, anyone, sets him a screen and it's enough. That half step advantage is the moment. Smith is inside his defender and he pauses, he can feel the urgency behind him. His defenders knows he never had a chance, but now, now he's hopeless.

Smith is faking, spinning. From here, there are multiple futures. Smith dumps it off inside for a layup. Smith rises up, finds the net.

He's scored 31 points before it's all over. It would be a career-high if this game counted.

It counts. Smith is finally there - the place Painter has always wanted him to be.

"I really want him to do what he did tonight," Painter said.

"He needs to stay on the hunt."

60% of the shots Creighton took went in. At times, it didn't look that hard. Purdue has a defense problem.

"We need to fix things," Painter declares after the game.

Zach Edey is gone. Mason Gillis is gone. Ethan Morton is gone. Purdue doesn't have a talent problem. A lot left, a lot arrived.

"I thought our two freshmen guards played really hard," Painter said.

Gicarri Harris, true freshman, son of the Big Dog, drew the start today. He's a big guard, defensive minded, but he was also behind, caught in s mess of screens. Still, he played hard. CJ Cox played better, but both showed themselves to be ready even if they're not, you know, ready right now.

In fact, 12 players played tonight and they all showed they were ready, but Purdue's not ready, not yet.

"It gives us the truth of our real problems," Painter said about losing this game. "I think that's what the Arkansas game did for us last year."

That game went to overtime. Purdue was experienced then, still had Zach Edey, but it needed that loss. It needed to know it had work to do.

Purdue did that work last season, and you know how that story ended.

Braden Smith, Fletcher Loyer, and Trey Kaufman-Renn were the best versions of themselves on offense. They carried Purdue's offense.

31 points for Smith. Loyer 17. TKR 22.

But they didn't carry, not the way Purdue needed. Purdue scored 87 points. The offense will be good enough.

"They gotta do a better job more than anybody at defending," Painter said about the three. "They gotta carry the weight. They're the ones that have played in Final Fours. They're the ones that won Big Ten Championships... And defensively they made some plays but they weren't consistently good defensively. You can't go after the guys that play 8-12 minutes and put the onus on them."

As Purdue goes through this season, the program, this team's identity will become clear. Zach Edey is gone, but Braden Smith and Fletcher Loyer are here. Trey Kaufman-Renn is here. They no longer have the protection of being great in a shadow. Instead, they have to stand cover for all the 8-12 minute players around them.

There's going to be a lot of them.

"We played twelve people," Painter said. "I don't doubt the effort... but I didn't think our discipline was very good."

More than the points of Zach Edey. More than the shooting of Mason Gillis. More than the energy of Lance Jones. More than defense of Ethan Morton.

When Purdue's seniors last year left, they took their voices with them.

Purdue had enough points against Creighton.

"Biggest concern is lack of communication," Painter said.

For the last few years, a special group of Boilers were led by Zach Edey in the backline, Mason Gillis in the corner, Lance Jones everywhere, and Ethan Morton on defense, called out and talked and talked and talked.

Now Smith, Loyer, and Kaufman-Renn will have to learn to not just lead by example but to lead while being loud.

This loss couldn't be better placed.

Purdue's young players will find their way, but if Purdue is going to find its path to the top of the Big Ten, it'll need its leaders to find their voices.