Purdue's a good basketball team, a really good one.
I don't think tonight's second-half implosion against Iowa and subsequent semi-marring of Rick Mount Night changes that.
But the Boilermakers have to be better than this, obviously.
For several games now, they've been walking a fine line, losing their cool on offense and seeing that reverberate through other aspects of the game.
Against, Butler, it cost them.
Against Vanderbilt, A.J. Hammons saved them.
Against Wisconsin, A.J. Hammons again saved them.
(That's oversimplifying things but largely true.)
Against Iowa, it again cost them.
Now, let's clarify that there are differences. The first three games were about sloppy turnovers and bad shots for extended periods. The latter game was about an inability to handle what Iowa was throwing at it defensively, inexplicably considering it handled it just fine before halftime and the Hawkeyes' pressure didn't seem like anything terribly novel.
But the tie that binds all four together is simply poise.
Tonight was like last year in Minneapolis, when Purdue crumbled against Minnesota's press after halftime after managing it before halftime. It cost them a game.
Same deal against Iowa, and because of it Purdue lost both an 18-point second half lead and a W that will matter six weeks from now if the Boilermakers remain a player in the Big Ten race with Michigan State, Maryland and, yes, Iowa, maybe among others.
Iowa is very good, better than it's getting credit for. That doesn't make Purdue's meltdown excusable. Just saying that this wasn't Rutgers that Purdue just handed a game to.
Like I said, Purdue is a good team, but it is going to have to find itself at some point, grow up and shake these lapses.
You'd expect better at this point. Purdue looks on paper like a young team, in reality not so much. The Boilermakers have at least one really influential upperclassman presence and sophomores who have run the gamut already in their Boilermaker careers. Purdue's point guards are going to come under fire now like they've been some glaring liability this whole time, which simply isn't reality, but they were not good tonight and that affected this game. P.J. Thompson and Johnny Hill have been solid all season and maybe have overachieved some. Anyone who expected them to be stars coming into this season had their head in the clouds. This is not a new topic.
But Purdue might be prone to this, to struggle against full-court pressure. And if I were a Purdue opponent and was built to do it, I'd pressure the hell out of them. Better to try that than deal with A.J. Hammons eight inches from the iron, right?
Purdue has some natural concerns against such things. It has to outsmart pressure and do so with composure, as a five-some. That's the part that stings from Iowa, that Purdue again lost that composure.
It brings into question: Who is the calming influence for this group? Who is the leader in such situations?
This isn't about Minnesota a year ago or Iowa a couple hours ago. This is about repeated lapses in this experienced team's ability to play composed, cohesive basketball.
Rapheal Davis admirably fell on that sword for his team afterward, pointing a finger at himself as any leader should when they're not very good in defeat. But he may have done the same at Minnesota last year as well under similar circumstances, so the question becomes, what about next time?
Here's guessing there will be a next time.
We'll see how Purdue handles it, because this is a loss it should hold on to in hopes of never allowing it to happen again.
I don't think tonight's second-half implosion against Iowa and subsequent semi-marring of Rick Mount Night changes that.
But the Boilermakers have to be better than this, obviously.
For several games now, they've been walking a fine line, losing their cool on offense and seeing that reverberate through other aspects of the game.
Against, Butler, it cost them.
Against Vanderbilt, A.J. Hammons saved them.
Against Wisconsin, A.J. Hammons again saved them.
(That's oversimplifying things but largely true.)
Against Iowa, it again cost them.
Now, let's clarify that there are differences. The first three games were about sloppy turnovers and bad shots for extended periods. The latter game was about an inability to handle what Iowa was throwing at it defensively, inexplicably considering it handled it just fine before halftime and the Hawkeyes' pressure didn't seem like anything terribly novel.
But the tie that binds all four together is simply poise.
Tonight was like last year in Minneapolis, when Purdue crumbled against Minnesota's press after halftime after managing it before halftime. It cost them a game.
Same deal against Iowa, and because of it Purdue lost both an 18-point second half lead and a W that will matter six weeks from now if the Boilermakers remain a player in the Big Ten race with Michigan State, Maryland and, yes, Iowa, maybe among others.
Iowa is very good, better than it's getting credit for. That doesn't make Purdue's meltdown excusable. Just saying that this wasn't Rutgers that Purdue just handed a game to.
Like I said, Purdue is a good team, but it is going to have to find itself at some point, grow up and shake these lapses.
You'd expect better at this point. Purdue looks on paper like a young team, in reality not so much. The Boilermakers have at least one really influential upperclassman presence and sophomores who have run the gamut already in their Boilermaker careers. Purdue's point guards are going to come under fire now like they've been some glaring liability this whole time, which simply isn't reality, but they were not good tonight and that affected this game. P.J. Thompson and Johnny Hill have been solid all season and maybe have overachieved some. Anyone who expected them to be stars coming into this season had their head in the clouds. This is not a new topic.
But Purdue might be prone to this, to struggle against full-court pressure. And if I were a Purdue opponent and was built to do it, I'd pressure the hell out of them. Better to try that than deal with A.J. Hammons eight inches from the iron, right?
Purdue has some natural concerns against such things. It has to outsmart pressure and do so with composure, as a five-some. That's the part that stings from Iowa, that Purdue again lost that composure.
It brings into question: Who is the calming influence for this group? Who is the leader in such situations?
This isn't about Minnesota a year ago or Iowa a couple hours ago. This is about repeated lapses in this experienced team's ability to play composed, cohesive basketball.
Rapheal Davis admirably fell on that sword for his team afterward, pointing a finger at himself as any leader should when they're not very good in defeat. But he may have done the same at Minnesota last year as well under similar circumstances, so the question becomes, what about next time?
Here's guessing there will be a next time.
We'll see how Purdue handles it, because this is a loss it should hold on to in hopes of never allowing it to happen again.
