Breakdown: Purdue's win over Indiana State

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Matt Painter's been preaching simplicity to Trevion Williams, hoping to help his preseason All-Big Ten big man break out of an early-season funk.

To that end, Painter pushed a familiar button. He pulled Williams from the starting five, a move he always says he makes hoping to benefit both the player moving in and the player moving out of the first unit.

Whatever the impetus was, a simpler Williams made things look easy against Indiana State Saturday night, dropping 30 points on the Sycamores in the Boilermakers' 80-68 win.

"I've just been trying to work on being simple," said Williams, who also grabbed 11 rebounds. "Simple is best for me. And it's easy for me to just get to my moneymaker, which is my jump hook. I've been trying to work on being simple and I think today, that showed."

Indiana State jumped ahead 8-1 early, sucker-punching Purdue's new starting unit — Zach Edey started for Williams, Mason Gillis for Aaron Wheeler and Eric Hunter returned to the starting five in Isaiah Thompson's place — before Williams checked in at 17:13, then extended its lead to 10-1.

Williams' first rotation into and out of the game came and went, but his second, the game changed.

The junior big man scored 12 of 14 points for Purdue and assisted on the other basket, fueling a burst in which the Boilermakers made nine consecutive shots and turned the game strongly in its favor before halftime.

He did so off the bench.

Painter might not have gotten the punch he hoped for from his new starting five, but his new reserves more than made up for It.

"It definitely helped me a lot," Williams said of the move to the bench. "Walking into practice, they told me to switch jerseys, and It was eye-opening. I need to play harder. It makes me better. I played better this game than I did last game, so obviously I did something right."

Williams was 13-of-18 from the floor, showing glimpses of the same form he showed last season in his 36-point game at Michigan.

"There was a little extra motivation from him, a little extra attention to detail," classmate Hunter said. "That's what we all expected from him."

Purdue led by as many as 13 in the second half, but the Sycamores drew within five on a few occasions in the final minutes, rekindling memories of Purdue's second-half swoon that cost it a big lead at Miami on Tuesday.

"They weren't playing to win (at Miami)," Painter said. "... We talked about it in the huddle: 'Hey, we're In the same spot we were with Miami, but let's get more stops, let's have more discipline, and let's execute on the offensive end. Let's get the shot that we want."

Purdue did enough of all of that this time to close the game out."

While Trevion Williams' response to the lineup change was the headline from the Indiana State game, he wasn't the only one.

Aaron Wheeler may have just played his best all-around game at Purdue.

It's not just about shooting.

"Aaron was just active," Painter said. "That's what Aaron needs to do."

Wheeler was Indeed all over the place on the glass and playing with an energy on defense that impacted this game considerably. He finished with 10 points, 13 rebounds and four blocked shots.

"I'm just trying to impact games any way possible," Wheeler said. "It felt good to contribute In a positive way. I feel like I haven't been playing to the best of my ability so it felt good to provide a spark and bring some energy to the guys."

The main reason Purdue had to fight as hard as it did for this win: Turnovers.

Nineteen of them.

They led to 27 Indiana State points.

It's been a continuing issue, and one of several issues Painter called "alarming" as Big Ten begins Wednesday vs. Ohio State.

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