Purdue’s descent continues as it drops its third straight game after a 17-1 start to the season.
Purdue went up against its in-state rival Indiana at Assembly Hall and walked away with a 72-67 defeat after a terrible first half helped to bury the Boilers in Bloomington.
Purdue matched IU on offense to start, but its defense gave up 8 first half three-pointers, including three to Tucker Devries.
Purdue didn’t match IU’s aggression on the glass, giving up the rebound battle by two in the first 20 minutes. If that wasn’t enough, it also lost the turnover edge 7-4.
The result was a 40-29 deficit going into the half where Purdue looked like a disjointed, outmatched team. IU looked like a team ready for its first marquee win of the season and to knock Purdue down another rung.
The second half started with much the same. IU kept making shots and Purdue’s offense looked bogged down.
That’s when Purdue went to last year’s strategy. It moved Trey Kaufman-Renn to the five, let Benter stretch the floor at the four, and started to spam the Braden Smith-Trey Kaufman-Renn pick and roll.
It worked to cut into the deficit. After a big Jack Benter three from the top of the key, Kaufman-Renn hit two free throws to cut the game to 65-60 with just less than three minutes to play.
IU missed two front ends of one and ones to keep Purdue in it. Kaufman-Renn, after starting the game 1 of 5 from the line, made one of two to cut the game to 65-61 with two minutes left to play.
A CJ Cox strip led to an open Smith lay up on a defensive breakdown and Purdue got within two, 65-63, but another IU shooter was left wide open resulting in three points when Conor Enright knocked down his second three of the game.
Smith would then turn it over on the next possession trying to get it to Kaufman-Renn and Purdue’s comeback needed another Tucker Devries front end miss at the line to get back within one possession, 68-65, after a Kaufman-Renn lay up.
But playing the foul game, Enright looked to close out the game making both attempts and pushing IU’s lead back to five with just over 20 seconds to play.
Lamar Wilkerson’s two free throws would keep it out of reach for good.
