10 things I thought

[TC4THREE]

1. Early foul trouble hurt but we better get used to it and adapt as best we can because with Taylor out for pretty much the season we are going to be in that same situation every time Haas or Swanigan get into foul trouble.

2. PJ Thompson had 0 assists and 0 turnovers in 24 minutes. About what we should expect from him I think. He will protect the ball but does not really facilitate offense like most expect from a point guard. I'm fine with it. He generally does other things well like defense and is pretty efficient with his scoring opportunities. Take away his halfcourt shot and his game really fades into the background but this is probably one of the tougher matchups he'll face all year and I thought he handled it adequately.

3. Mathias had a really rough game. 1-6 from the field and 3 turnovers. He had a couple of back-to-back turnovers at a point where Villanova expanded their lead. His 4 assists were good but with Cline out we really needed him to do a little bit more if we were going to win.

4. We'll probably all take 67% FT shooting from Haas but him missing 3 of 4 late really changed the last minutes of the game. Hit 3 of 4 instead and we're in a back-and-forth situation late instead of chasing.

5. Turnovers in general were maddening and, make no mistake about it, Villanova is a very sound team that probably forces a fair number of them. There were 4 that really stuck out in my mind though as particularly costly. Mathias had 2 that were either back-to-back or very close to it. The first is where he tried to dribble the ball up the court through traffic which is not really a demonstrated strength of his. The next one was seconds later when he forced a pass inside that was easily intercepted but a Villanova defender. Then Basil had two later in the game that were real momentum killers. I believe both were in the halfcourt and I think he overshot an open teammate on both attempts. I think those were separated by a Vince Edwards traveling so it was just a really frustrating time to commit 3 turnovers when we had a chance to tie or take a lead and put Villanova on the defensive a bit.

6. In spite of those turnovers, Basil's energy was great. He chipped in 6 boards, hit both his shots, and dished out 3 assists in about 20 minutes. We're really going to need him to step up every game because he's basically our frontcourt depth now. If any of Haas, Swanigan, or Vince come out, he's usually going to be in. He'll need to be that energy every game and not just against top 5 opponents at home.

7. I think Carsen had the game most of us expected him to have for his first big college game against elite college guards. If he's still forcing some of things he forced last night later in this season it will be disappointing but I think the best way for him to grow into the player we want him to be is to let him play through most of his mistakes and learn from them now. I had a small dream that he would emerge to the rest of college basketball as a real difference maker last night but I think that will have to wait for a bit longer. Hopefully it's later this season.

8. I thought the refs did a fairly good job which is not good if you're a Purdue fan and thought you might get some more friendly whistles at home in this one. The early foul calls on Haas and Swanigan really put us in a hole for most of the game and we never got to utilize our size advantage like we could until the last few minutes of the game. We need to learn from this because our lack of depth isn't going to change any time soon and I think it's obvious that Swanigan and Haas work really well together so we need to avoid losing one or both to early foul trouble.

9. Vince Edwards had 8 assists and played 38 minutes. That's big time even though he probably didn't shoot as well from deep as he'd have liked.

10. Villanova is still pretty good. By far the best collection of guards/wings we will face this season and I thought our guards held up ok. We are going to have to rely on our frontcourt to win big games this year but we'll still need our backcourt to hold up their end of the deal to do that. I walk away from this feeling like our guards are capable of doing enough to win a game like this later this season. It's a loss but more importantly it was an opportunity to get better. The rest of the season will show us if we are able to take the lessons from this game and apply them to make us tougher. If not, it was just a loss.

 

[BoilerBulldog]

Pretty spot on analysis. Thanks.

 

[Dan'l Boone]

1. Early foul trouble hurt but we better get used to it and adapt as best we can because with Taylor out for pretty much the season we are going to be in that same situation every time Haas or Swanigan get into foul trouble.

2. PJ Thompson had 0 assists and 0 turnovers in 24 minutes. About what we should expect from him I think. He will protect the ball but does not really facilitate offense like most expect from a point guard. I'm fine with it. He generally does other things well like defense and is pretty efficient with his scoring opportunities. Take away his halfcourt shot and his game really fades into the background but this is probably one of the tougher matchups he'll face all year and I thought he handled it adequately.

3. Mathias had a really rough game. 1-6 from the field and 3 turnovers. He had a couple of back-to-back turnovers at a point where Villanova expanded their lead. His 4 assists were good but with Cline out we really needed him to do a little bit more if we were going to win.

4. We'll probably all take 67% FT shooting from Haas but him missing 3 of 4 late really changed the last minutes of the game. Hit 3 of 4 instead and we're in a back-and-forth situation late instead of chasing.

5. Turnovers in general were maddening and, make no mistake about it, Villanova is a very sound team that probably forces a fair number of them. There were 4 that really stuck out in my mind though as particularly costly. Mathias had 2 that were either back-to-back or very close to it. The first is where he tried to dribble the ball up the court through traffic which is not really a demonstrated strength of his. The next one was seconds later when he forced a pass inside that was easily intercepted but a Villanova defender. Then Basil had two later in the game that were real momentum killers. I believe both were in the halfcourt and I think he overshot an open teammate on both attempts. I think those were separated by a Vince Edwards traveling so it was just a really frustrating time to commit 3 turnovers when we had a chance to tie or take a lead and put Villanova on the defensive a bit.

6. In spite of those turnovers, Basil's energy was great. He chipped in 6 boards, hit both his shots, and dished out 3 assists in about 20 minutes. We're really going to need him to step up every game because he's basically our frontcourt depth now. If any of Haas, Swanigan, or Vince come out, he's usually going to be in. He'll need to be that energy every game and not just against top 5 opponents at home.

7. I think Carsen had the game most of us expected him to have for his first big college game against elite college guards. If he's still forcing some of things he forced last night later in this season it will be disappointing but I think the best way for him to grow into the player we want him to be is to let him play through most of his mistakes and learn from them now. I had a small dream that he would emerge to the rest of college basketball as a real difference maker last night but I think that will have to wait for a bit longer. Hopefully it's later this season.

8. I thought the refs did a fairly good job which is not good if you're a Purdue fan and thought you might get some more friendly whistles at home in this one. The early foul calls on Haas and Swanigan really put us in a hole for most of the game and we never got to utilize our size advantage like we could until the last few minutes of the game. We need to learn from this because our lack of depth isn't going to change any time soon and I think it's obvious that Swanigan and Haas work really well together so we need to avoid losing one or both to early foul trouble.

9. Vince Edwards had 8 assists and played 38 minutes. That's big time even though he probably didn't shoot as well from deep as he'd have liked.

10. Villanova is still pretty good. By far the best collection of guards/wings we will face this season and I thought our guards held up ok. We are going to have to rely on our frontcourt to win big games this year but we'll still need our backcourt to hold up their end of the deal to do that. I walk away from this feeling like our guards are capable of doing enough to win a game like this later this season. It's a loss but more importantly it was an opportunity to get better. The rest of the season will show us if we are able to take the lessons from this game and apply them to make us tougher. If not, it was just a loss.

While I agree with all your points, I must admit I have been a bit disappointed with the play of Vince (I refuse to call him "Vincent" until he quits chewing on his mouth guard with it hanging out his mouth like a 2 year old sucking his thumb) Edwards so far this year. Maybe it is just me, but while he does a lot of good things, I expected him to elevate his game this year. Instead, he appears slow and making too many frosh-type mistakes such as the regular traveling calls. Am I being too critical?

 

[TC4THREE]

While I agree with all your points, I must admit I have been a bit disappointed with the play of Vince (I refuse to call him "Vincent" until he quits chewing on his mouth guard with it hanging out his mouth like a 2 year old sucking his thumb) Edwards so far this year. Maybe it is just me, but while he does a lot of good things, I expected him to elevate his game this year. Instead, he appears slow and making too many frosh-type mistakes such as the regular traveling calls. Am I being too critical?

I think it's a bit too early to be that down on him. My take on Vince is he will always be the Pippen to someone else's Jordan. He is at his best when the focus is on Hammons or Swanigan or someone else. We just need Swanigan to be that constant, dominant force and the for Vince to play off that. 8 assists shows, I think, that he was doing a good job of finding Swanigan and Haas in the post (I believe that's where a majority of his assists came from). I think the focus of our offense needs to stay in the post and Vince will play best feeding off that. He'll have some games along the way where he is our best offensive option though. I just don't know if we'll see the point where he is that player in most of our games.

 

[BoilerDaddy]

While I agree with all your points, I must admit I have been a bit disappointed with the play of Vince (I refuse to call him "Vincent" until he quits chewing on his mouth guard with it hanging out his mouth like a 2 year old sucking his thumb) Edwards so far this year. Maybe it is just me, but while he does a lot of good things, I expected him to elevate his game this year. Instead, he appears slow and making too many frosh-type mistakes such as the regular traveling calls. Am I being too critical?

It wasn't his best game, but part of that was being matched up with an All-American. I think that he'll learn from it and continue to grow as a player. He's a very important part of everything that Purdue tries to do.

Like TCThree was saying, Vince is at his best as a glue guy. I think it's a mistake to ask him to be the primary option, but he's at his best playing off of the primary option.

I also think Dakota is fine. Both these guys were challenged by the competition, yesterday, but they are much better players than they appeared like in that game. They each do a lot of little things to make the offense work.

 

[Boileratthebeach]

11. I don't really miss Cline. I like the shortened rotation to be quite honest. Sure Dakota had a terrible game but I like his overall game more than Cline's...

 

[ItalianBoiler]

I just finished watching the game and I agree with almost everything the OP said. Mathias had a though game, Purdue needs him to take care of the ball and knock down big shots. I'm sure I'll be better in the next games because he has the skills to be an important weapon for this team.
I think Basil was amazing, great defense and energy, he can be a huge factor this season and he better be becuase after Taylor's injury he is the only "big" off the bench and he'll face a lot of though match-up.
Vince Edwards wasn't that bad offensively (he was off with his shot, it can happen) but he had some bad turnovers that a player of his quality should avoid, especially in a close game like that. On the other end I think he had a really negative performance on defence. Of course guarding Hart is a nightmare but he was beaten way too easily many times and he also made a bad job guarding at least two backdoor cuts.

In general imho the key factor was not being able to take the lead in the second half beacuse of avoidable mistakes (there was a stretch with 4 turnovers and a 1-and-1 FT missed in like 6 or 7 possessions) but Purdue played a very good game and definitely shows that it can be a Top 10 team this season.

 

[Purdue Grad in Texas]

I just finished watching the game and I agree with almost everything the OP said. Mathias had a though game, Purdue needs him to take care of the ball and knock down big shots. I'm sure I'll be better in the next games because he has the skills to be an important weapon for this team.
I think Basil was amazing, great defense and energy, he can be a huge factor this season and he better be becuase after Taylor's injury he is the only "big" off the bench and he'll face a lot of though match-up.
Vince Edwards wasn't that bad offensively (he was off with his shot, it can happen) but he had some bad turnovers that a player of his quality should avoid, especially in a close game like that. On the other end I think he had a really negative performance on defence. Of course guarding Hart is a nightmare but he was beaten way too easily many times and he also made a bad job guarding at least two backdoor cuts.

In general imho the key factor was not being able to take the lead in the second half beacuse of avoidable mistakes (there was a stretch with 4 turnovers and a 1-and-1 FT missed in like 6 or 7 possessions) but Purdue played a very good game and definitely shows that it can be a Top 10 team this season.

Grazie

 

[ItalianBoiler]

Grazie

Prego

 

[Dan'l Boone]

I think it's a bit too early to be that down on him. My take on Vince is he will always be the Pippen to someone else's Jordan. He is at his best when the focus is on Hammons or Swanigan or someone else. We just need Swanigan to be that constant, dominant force and the for Vince to play off that. 8 assists shows, I think, that he was doing a good job of finding Swanigan and Haas in the post (I believe that's where a majority of his assists came from). I think the focus of our offense needs to stay in the post and Vince will play best feeding off that. He'll have some games along the way where he is our best offensive option though. I just don't know if we'll see the point where he is that player in most of our games.

I didn't mean to come off as being down on Vince. Just a bit disappointed. I might have had my expectations a bit high, especially this early in the season. He and Mathias could offer a few passing pointers to other teammates on passing down low. Several turnovers came from poor passes to Haas.

On the other hand, late in the game they were finding him in scoring position and Haas was doing a great job of just turning and putting the ball in the bucket. When Haas doesn't put the ball on the floor, just turns and goes directly to the bucket, I am not sure anyone will have an answer for that.

Side note: I sit near the visitors bench. It has been a common thread every game to hear comments from those trying to guard him coming back to the bench...they just hang their head, look at teammates and say something like "he is friggin' HUGE" or "that is a really BIG man"...frustrating for them, fun for us.

 

[PaBoiler78]

I didn't mean to come off as being down on Vince. Just a bit disappointed. I might have had my expectations a bit high, especially this early in the season. He and Mathias could offer a few passing pointers to other teammates on passing down low. Several turnovers came from poor passes to Haas.

On the other hand, late in the game they were finding him in scoring position and Haas was doing a great job of just turning and putting the ball in the bucket. When Haas doesn't put the ball on the floor, just turns and goes directly to the bucket, I am not sure anyone will have an answer for that.

Side note: I sit near the visitors bench. It has been a common thread every game to hear comments from those trying to guard him coming back to the bench...they just hang their head, look at teammates and say something like "he is friggin' HUGE" or "that is a really BIG man"...frustrating for them, fun for us.

as part of Lethal Weapon 3, Vince had an off game. Cline let the team down, but team FT shooting cost us the game.

 

[Purdue Grad in Texas]

as part of Lethal Weapon 3, Vince had an off game. Cline let the team down, but team FT shooting cost us the game.

and turnovers, IMO. Villanova was able to play with a lead almost the whole game....Boilers had several possessions to get a lead in the 2nd half, and on multiple occasions were derailed with a turnover. It happens.....at the end of the day, there were some positives.....but the opportunity was there as well. One day you gotta kick the dang door down.....instead of knocking.

 

[Bigohh]

I didn't mean to come off as being down on Vince. Just a bit disappointed. I might have had my expectations a bit high, especially this early in the season. He and Mathias could offer a few passing pointers to other teammates on passing down low. Several turnovers came from poor passes to Haas.

On the other hand, late in the game they were finding him in scoring position and Haas was doing a great job of just turning and putting the ball in the bucket. When Haas doesn't put the ball on the floor, just turns and goes directly to the bucket, I am not sure anyone will have an answer for that.

Side note: I sit near the visitors bench. It has been a common thread every game to hear comments from those trying to guard him coming back to the bench...they just hang their head, look at teammates and say something like "he is friggin' HUGE" or "that is a really BIG man"...frustrating for them, fun for us.

Since you sit near visitors bench I am wondering why a cop and a seeming VIP were looking over the Purdue crowd behind the Nova bench late in the game? Did someone do something or is this just the usual SS administration.
PS I sit opposite that spot.

 

[Dan'l Boone]

Since you sit near visitors bench I am wondering why a cop and a seeming VIP were looking over the Purdue crowd behind the Nova bench late in the game? Did someone do something or is this just the usual SS administration.
PS I sit opposite that spot.

I am not aware of any incidents that would cause special attention. Security is always scanning the crowd in our corner. I assumed they were positioned to do that in other locations, also.

 

[Bluegrass Boiler]

1. Early foul trouble hurt but we better get used to it and adapt as best we can because with Taylor out for pretty much the season we are going to be in that same situation every time Haas or Swanigan get into foul trouble.

2. PJ Thompson had 0 assists and 0 turnovers in 24 minutes. About what we should expect from him I think. He will protect the ball but does not really facilitate offense like most expect from a point guard. I'm fine with it. He generally does other things well like defense and is pretty efficient with his scoring opportunities. Take away his halfcourt shot and his game really fades into the background but this is probably one of the tougher matchups he'll face all year and I thought he handled it adequately.

3. Mathias had a really rough game. 1-6 from the field and 3 turnovers. He had a couple of back-to-back turnovers at a point where Villanova expanded their lead. His 4 assists were good but with Cline out we really needed him to do a little bit more if we were going to win.

4. We'll probably all take 67% FT shooting from Haas but him missing 3 of 4 late really changed the last minutes of the game. Hit 3 of 4 instead and we're in a back-and-forth situation late instead of chasing.

5. Turnovers in general were maddening and, make no mistake about it, Villanova is a very sound team that probably forces a fair number of them. There were 4 that really stuck out in my mind though as particularly costly. Mathias had 2 that were either back-to-back or very close to it. The first is where he tried to dribble the ball up the court through traffic which is not really a demonstrated strength of his. The next one was seconds later when he forced a pass inside that was easily intercepted but a Villanova defender. Then Basil had two later in the game that were real momentum killers. I believe both were in the halfcourt and I think he overshot an open teammate on both attempts. I think those were separated by a Vince Edwards traveling so it was just a really frustrating time to commit 3 turnovers when we had a chance to tie or take a lead and put Villanova on the defensive a bit.

6. In spite of those turnovers, Basil's energy was great. He chipped in 6 boards, hit both his shots, and dished out 3 assists in about 20 minutes. We're really going to need him to step up every game because he's basically our frontcourt depth now. If any of Haas, Swanigan, or Vince come out, he's usually going to be in. He'll need to be that energy every game and not just against top 5 opponents at home.

7. I think Carsen had the game most of us expected him to have for his first big college game against elite college guards. If he's still forcing some of things he forced last night later in this season it will be disappointing but I think the best way for him to grow into the player we want him to be is to let him play through most of his mistakes and learn from them now. I had a small dream that he would emerge to the rest of college basketball as a real difference maker last night but I think that will have to wait for a bit longer. Hopefully it's later this season.

8. I thought the refs did a fairly good job which is not good if you're a Purdue fan and thought you might get some more friendly whistles at home in this one. The early foul calls on Haas and Swanigan really put us in a hole for most of the game and we never got to utilize our size advantage like we could until the last few minutes of the game. We need to learn from this because our lack of depth isn't going to change any time soon and I think it's obvious that Swanigan and Haas work really well together so we need to avoid losing one or both to early foul trouble.

9. Vince Edwards had 8 assists and played 38 minutes. That's big time even though he probably didn't shoot as well from deep as he'd have liked.

10. Villanova is still pretty good. By far the best collection of guards/wings we will face this season and I thought our guards held up ok. We are going to have to rely on our frontcourt to win big games this year but we'll still need our backcourt to hold up their end of the deal to do that. I walk away from this feeling like our guards are capable of doing enough to win a game like this later this season. It's a loss but more importantly it was an opportunity to get better. The rest of the season will show us if we are able to take the lessons from this game and apply them to make us tougher. If not, it was just a loss.

Great analysis. I'd just add one positive to DM's #3. Late in the game after it had been abundantly clear that Hart was simply abusing VE's "D", Mathias was switched on him and essentially shut him down for the remainder of the game. That Dakota could even approach something like that was one of the biggest surprises of the game to me. Keady (and now CMP) always said that your shots may not always be falling, but you can always play defense. It was just surprising that DM was able to apply that to an All-American when the chips were on the line. He deserves some credit for that.

 

[Kesselschmiede]

Great analysis. I'd just add one positive to DM's #3. Late in the game after it had been abundantly clear that Hart was simply abusing VE's "D", Mathias was switched on him and essentially shut him down for the remainder of the game. That Dakota could even approach something like that was one of the biggest surprises of the game to me. Keady (and now CMP) always said that your shots may not always be falling, but you can always play defense. It was just surprising that DM was able to apply that to an All-American when the chips were on the line. He deserves some credit for that.

Great point and I missed that during the heat of the game. You are correct that VE was getting burned and DM stepped up and locked Hart down. Doing that can be almost as good as scoring since that person you are on isn't scoring anymore.

DM's shot will fall again, I have faith.

 

[TC4THREE]

Great analysis. I'd just add one positive to DM's #3. Late in the game after it had been abundantly clear that Hart was simply abusing VE's "D", Mathias was switched on him and essentially shut him down for the remainder of the game. That Dakota could even approach something like that was one of the biggest surprises of the game to me. Keady (and now CMP) always said that your shots may not always be falling, but you can always play defense. It was just surprising that DM was able to apply that to an All-American when the chips were on the line. He deserves some credit for that.

Great point as I didn't pick up on that during the game either.

 

[bonefish1]

IMHO, I thought the game came down to 3 things.
1) Our in ability to knock down wide open 3's.
2) Our lack of poise being down 1 pt, getting defensive stops and then turning the ball over on 4 of 6 possessions.
3) Nova making their free throws late and us missing them late.

I realize you're not going to shoot 80% from 3 every night, but at home, in a big game, against a good team, when they give you open looks, you have to take advantage. Or, you at least can't have 2-3 of your shooters all having off-nights on the same night.

 

[BoilerDaddy]

IMHO, I thought the game came down to 3 things.
1) Our in ability to knock down wide open 3's.
2) Our lack of poise being down 1 pt, getting defensive stops and then turning the ball over on 4 of 6 possessions.
3) Nova making their free throws late and us missing them late.

I realize you're not going to shoot 80% from 3 every night, but at home, in a big game, against a good team, when they give you open looks, you have to take advantage. Or, you at least can't have 2-3 of your shooters all having off-nights on the same night.

I agree with 2 & 3. I'm not sure I agree with #1 since 8/22 from 3 is about what you would expect, even if a lot of the makes came early and from unexpected sources.

I would add that early foul trouble didn't help. Haas needs to play more than 20 minutes. Better team D is needed to prevent that.

 

[Purdue Grad in Texas]

IMHO, I thought the game came down to 3 things.
1) Our in ability to knock down wide open 3's.
2) Our lack of poise being down 1 pt, getting defensive stops and then turning the ball over on 4 of 6 possessions.
3) Nova making their free throws late and us missing them late.

I realize you're not going to shoot 80% from 3 every night, but at home, in a big game, against a good team, when they give you open looks, you have to take advantage. Or, you at least can't have 2-3 of your shooters all having off-nights on the same night.

Fair analysis, Bone, of which I mostly agree. Even though I agree that there were some "good looks" that didn't go down, it was a good sign not to see as many "forced" threes....still agree you have to knock more of those down to get over the top against a team like Villanova. Essentially, in games like this with a top opponent, often it comes down to which team makes the most plays (or fails to deliver) when it counts.....Boilers didn't do enough of that and squandered some opportunities, including unforced turnovers.

Mostly the optimist.....three particular things did seem like bright spots to me.

First, the Boilers fell down twice by double digits, and to many of us on the Game Thread it appeared the game might be getting away for Purdue. Whether it was CMP calming them down (or getting on them), or the team digging deeper....each time, they got themselves back in the game.

Second, with the exception of one stretch where there might have been some panic or impatience, Purdue handled Villanova's pressure fairly well, although I was a little surprised we didn't see more of it.....CS and VE had more of a role in helping out it looked like. Still needs some work but nothing like the meltdown against TMHR last year when Rick Mount returned to Mackey Arena.

Third (and maybe a small thing to some), I don't recall seeing the usual two or three difficult in-bound situations, including any stress-inducing heaves into the back-court just to get the ball in play...maybe I missed them, however.

Although it's tough to lose a game like this, and I'm not one to push for "moral" victories.....I do think there are more positives than negatives when breaking the game down. The biggest negative to me is the scoreboard, and eventually, Purdue has to start winning more of these on a consistent basis if they're going to make any serious run in the NCAA tournament....JMHO. I'll also be interested to see how Villanova plays the rest of the season.

 

[Dakota Girl]

While I agree with all your points, I must admit I have been a bit disappointed with the play of Vince (I refuse to call him "Vincent" until he quits chewing on his mouth guard with it hanging out his mouth like a 2 year old sucking his thumb) Edwards so far this year. Maybe it is just me, but while he does a lot of good things, I expected him to elevate his game this year. Instead, he appears slow and making too many frosh-type mistakes such as the regular traveling calls. Am I being too critical?

Yes, too critical. The mouth guard issue is irrelevant and not necessary to bring up.
He was guarding and being guarded by what may be the best wing in the country in Hart. He held up pretty well in my opinion.

 

[bonefish1]

Fair analysis, Bone, of which I mostly agree. Even though I agree that there were some "good looks" that didn't go down, it was a good sign not to see as many "forced" threes....still agree you have to knock more of those down to get over the top against a team like Villanova. Essentially, in games like this with a top opponent, often it comes down to which team makes the most plays (or fails to deliver) when it counts.....Boilers didn't do enough of that and squandered some opportunities, including unforced turnovers.

Mostly the optimist.....three particular things did seem like bright spots to me.

First, the Boilers fell down twice by double digits, and to many of us on the Game Thread it appeared the game might be getting away for Purdue. Whether it was CMP calming them down (or getting on them), or the team digging deeper....each time, they got themselves back in the game.

Second, with the exception of one stretch where there might have been some panic or impatience, Purdue handled Villanova's pressure fairly well, although I was a little surprised we didn't see more of it.....CS and VE had more of a role in helping out it looked like. Still needs some work but nothing like the meltdown against TMHR last year when Rick Mount returned to Mackey Arena.

Third (and maybe a small thing to some), I don't recall seeing the usual two or three difficult in-bound situations, including any stress-inducing heaves into the back-court just to get the ball in play...maybe I missed them, however.

Although it's tough to lose a game like this, and I'm not one to push for "moral" victories.....I do think there are more positives than negatives when breaking the game down. The biggest negative to me is the scoreboard, and eventually, Purdue has to start winning more of these on a consistent basis if they're going to make any serious run in the NCAA tournament....JMHO. I'll also be interested to see how Villanova plays the rest of the season.

Agree, all good points.
To me, the most encouraging, was getting down 10 to a very good team and still coming back twice to put yourself in position to take the lead. Also did a good job of attacking their weakness with was post D.
So, optimistically, I saw a lot of positives, but this game was there for the taking and they didn't capitalize on the oppty when they had them. Hopefully they learn and get better which I think they will.