Purdue basketball faces unsettling reality of current identity after Notre Dame loss

INDIANAPOLIS — Purdue men’s basketball emerged from its challenging post-Thanksgiving stretch confronting the fine line between trend and identity.

The Boilermakers 88-80 loss to Notre Dame in the Crossroads Classic on Saturday — the team’s fifth in seven games — punctuated that five-game span with a whimper. Purdue trailed by 15 with under eight minutes to play and made a largely cosmetic surge to the final margin.

All five of those losses came on the road, as Purdue fell to 6-5 while showing few signs of improvement in the areas most responsible for those losses. 

The Boilermakers expected growing pains, with 80 percent of last year’s 30-win starting lineup now playing professional basketball. Matt Painter insisted in the preseason he liked his pieces, even if he wasn’t sure how they would fit together.

That message had evolved by Saturday as he attempted to explain another game marked by a lack of cohesiveness on both ends.

“I like our guys,” Painter said. “I think we’ve got good guys. I don’t like our fight right now.”

Notre Dame 88, Purdue 80: Boilers fall to Notre Dame in Crossroads Classic to extend road woes

As expected, Purdue knows more about its present identity as a result of this five-game stretch. While growth remains possible for such a young team, the current answers to the most urgent questions must disturb the Boilermakers.

Can Purdue win games with its defense? It sure looked that way after the Boilermakers limited teams such as Ball State and Davidson early. Nojel Eastern emerged ahead of schedule as a reliable stopper on the perimeter. When Purdue slipped past Maryland 62-60 at home on Dec. 6, it appeared it had a template for success.

Then came the defensive letdown at Texas, which in so many ways resembled what happened at Bankers Life Fieldhouse on Saturday. The Longhorns and Fighting Irish were both average-to-poor 3-point shooting teams. Purdue’s inability to consistently stop either team’s dribble penetration opened up an outlier performance from both.

Notre Dame came in shooting 31 percent from behind the arc. It made its first four tries from deep, cooled off a bit, then made 7 of 12 in the second half. 

Once could be a fluke.

“Boy, when it happens back-to-back, you’ve got to look at yourself,” Painter said.

Will Purdue’s veteran guards lead this defense? Eastern, while still growing into a frontline role, has drawn consistent compliments from Painter for his ability to frustrate opponents.

Edwards and Cline and the reserves, however, have been broken down too often off the dribble and on ball screens. Caught in rotations, the Boilermakers have been slow to react and close on open shooters.

Notre Dame capitalized across the floor, whether from traditional guards such as D.J. Harvey and T.J. Gibbs or a stretch big such as John Mooney. Each of them hit three 3s in the 11-for-21 performance.

“They just ran a basic motion ball-screen offense,” Cline said. “It was just on our lapses. They got up good shots and knocked them down early.”

Purdue already knew it could rebound, winning that category 40-30. Despite Painter’s preseason uneasiness about turnovers, the Boilermakers have more or less proven themselves solid there. They turned it over only six times at Texas, only seven times against Notre Dame.

So could the Boilermakers, with so many other factors in their favor, summon enough offense alongside Carsen Edwards to take advantage.

More often than not away from Mackey Arena, the answer has been no. Again on Saturday, the slump lasted only for one half. But the Boilermakers’ inconsistency from 3-point range — 3-for-15 in the first half, including 0-for-4 from Cline — helped lay the shaky foundation of an eventual loss.

Cline expected to ascend to the No. 2 scorer’s spot beside Edwards. He remains there at 13.5 points per game after Saturday. Until hitting a couple of late 3s, however, he had made 1 of 19 over two-plus games. 

While one player’s shooting touch can’t condemn an offense, Cline’s woes are emblematic of a Purdue team struggling to capitalize on an abundance of opportunities. It attempted 20 more field goals than Notre Dame but made only four more.

While Irish coach Mike Brey and forward John Mooney spoke glowingly of their team’s ball movement after the game. Brey celebrated playing “smart offense for 40 minutes.” Notre Dame totaled 20 assists on 26 field goals.

Purdue keeps waiting for shots to fall.

“We had the ball in the paint at times when we didn’t convert — a layup, a transition play, a runner,” Painter said. “You’ve got to be able to convert.”

Edwards scored 27 points by shooting 36 percent from the field and getting to the free throw line. Purdue didn’t find a spark to accompany him until it started trading free throws for 3-pointers down the stretch. 

Matt Haarms seemed to have turned a corner, scoring 20 points on 8 of 11 shooting over the previous two games. On two occasions Saturday the starting center seemed stunned to have a pass come his way. He played 11 minutes.

True freshman Trevion Williams, who had played 27 total minutes before Saturday, turned heads with a gritty 10 minutes including 10 points, four rebounds, a couple of steals and a block. He was one of few who stood apart from Painter’s criticism of the team’s collective “fight.” 

The four-man senior class that graduated last season experienced similar stumbles in their youth. Remember those home losses to Gardner-Webb and North Florida before Purdue regrouped to reach the NCAA Tournament in 2014-15? 

Home games against Ohio and a potentially dangerous Belmont team remain on Purdue’s home non-conference schedule. But the Boilermakers emerge from the road portion of their slate with one victory of consequence away from Mackey Arena: a neutral court victory over 8-1 Davidson.

A loaded Big Ten Conference will provide plenty of opportunities for Purdue to accumulate the victories it needs to extends its NCAA Tournament qualifying streak to five years. The question remains: Are the Boilermakers good enough to win them?

“The one thing you’ve got to do as a coach is keep working,” Painter said.

“A lot of times when you don’t win the games you think you should win — you’re just in a lull, you whatever it might be — is that growing pains or is that who you are/ I don’t want to admit that’s who we are. I want to think that we can get better.”

Contact Journal & Courier Purdue men’s basketball insider Nathan Baird at [email protected] or 765-420-5234. Follow on Twitter: @nbairdjc

NOTRE DAME 88, PURDUE 80

PURDUE (6-5) — Haarms 1-1 0-0 2, Eifert 3-6 0-0 8, Edwards 8-22 7-8 27, Eastern 1-3 1-4 3, Cline 5-13 2-3 15, Wheeler 2-6 0-0 4, Boudreaux 4-7 1-3 9, Williams 5-6 0-0 10, Stefanovic 0-2 0-0 0, Hunter 1-4 0-0 2. Totals 30-70 11-18 80.

NOTRE DAME (7-3) — Mooney 6-8 6-7 21, Gibbs 3-11 3-4 12, Pflueger 2-4 2-2 7, Hubb 1-6 5-6 7, Harvey 6-10 4-4 19, Durham 3-5 2-2 8, Laszewski 1-1 1-1 3, Djogo 0-0 0-0 0, Goodwin 4-5 2-3 11. Totals 26-50 25-29 88.

Halftime—Notre Dame 36-29. 3-Point Goals—Purdue 9-29 (Edwards 4-10, Cline 3-9, Eifert 2-3, Hunter 0-1, Stefanovic 0-2, Wheeler 0-2, Boudreaux 0-2), Notre Dame 11-21 (Mooney 3-3, Gibbs 3-5, Harvey 3-5, Goodwin 1-2, Pflueger 1-3, Hubb 0-3). Fouled Out—Eastern, Eifert. Rebounds—Purdue 37 (Boudreaux 7), Notre Dame 29 (Mooney 7). Assists—Purdue 17 (Cline 5), Notre Dame 20 (Pflueger 10). Total Fouls—Purdue 21, Notre Dame 15.