How Purdue dealt with FDU loss

Let’s walk with Brandon Brantley roughly 60 hours after Purdue’s veteran assistant coach witnessed one of the most painful losses in the history of the NCAA tournament.

It’s Monday morning about one year ago and Brantley has arrived at Mackey Arena, believing three days earlier he would be helping the Boilermakers prepare for a Sweet 16 matchup in New York City on this day.

Before heading to his office, Brantley stopped by the weight room and spoke with Jason Kabo, the program’s strength and conditioning coach. Brantley is still hurting emotionally from the loss to FDU in the first round as Purdue became the second No. 1 seed to fall in the first round.

Kabo tells Brantley that every player scheduled to return for the 2023-24 season had already come through for a workout. This didn’t surprise Brantley but reaffirmed what he’s always believed.

“I was like, ‘Wow. We’ve got the right guys. We’re going to be OK,’ ” Brantley recalled. “When you see that … everybody could’ve gone their separate ways, buried their heads in the sand, but guys were in here working the whole week. It meant something to them.”

It meant something to Brantley to see the character of the players facing adversity and the embarrassment of defeat. He called the loss to FDU “catastrophic” only because of the type of season Purdue had—winning the program’s 25th Big Ten regular-season title and the league tournament championship, rolling through the PK85 tournament in Portland, reaching No. 1 in the polls and earning one of the coveted top seeds.  

Brantley took strength from the players’ actions in the aftermath of the stunning loss. They were at the center of social media and Internet message board hot takes and worked through emotions no one believed they would be forced to encounter.

“You put so much time into it that you want it for those kids,” Brantley said. “For that to happen, the way those kids responded, sometimes the son has to pick up the father, and for me, that’s what happened.

“They helped me for sure. If they’re not running and hiding, I can’t run and hide.”

To the credit of the Boilermakers—and this includes everyone associated with the program—no one has run away from the loss. They took accountability when it happened, continued to stand up through the last year, answered questions, and faced the topic head-on.

During a handful of postgame press conferences this season, players referred to the loss without being prompted, sending a message that while it’s not at the forefront, they haven’t completely buried the disappointment.

One year later, Purdue is almost in the same position.

A No. 1 seed, playing the winner of a 16 vs. 16 First Four game that comes from Dayton, a first-round matchup in a prime TV spot an hour away from campus compared to four hours last year (in Columbus, Ohio)  and with basically the same roster, which is a year older, wiser, features more experience and added a key piece in Lance Jones. 

But the questions won’t stop until Friday’s 7:25 p.m. tipoff inside Gainbridge Fieldhouse when the Boilermakers take on Grambling or Montana State.

“They’re going to come up a lot,” sophomore guard Fletcher Loyer said. “Everyone is going to say the same thing – it’s a new year, it’s a new team. It’s going to get talked about. We’re going to read it, we’re going to see it, we’re going to have to listen to it, but we’ve put in the work, and they haven’t.”

“IT WAS MISERABLE”

When the buzzer sounded inside Nationwide Arena and FDU pulled off the unthinkable, the Boilermakers walked toward the locker room while the sellout crowd and the nation watched it play out.

They were stoic. They showed little emotion. They were silent. They were angry. They were mad.

The NCAA mandates a cooling-off period for coaches and players before the media is allowed into the locker room for interviews. Plenty of TV cameras were assembled in the hallway, waiting for the word to enter.

Once inside, players sat in front of their lockers or stood. No one knew exactly what to do. The questions came, but the answers did not. Nobody had a satisfactory explanation, but each player fielded the inquiries with professionalism and respect, even though this was the last place they wanted to be.

“It was weird,” senior Ethan Morton said. “Nobody knew what to say. When you experience something like that, it’s hard to find the right words. The media session was weird, and I remember … it was all very different.”

This was just the beginning of a new experience for everyone.

The bus ride back to the hotel was quiet as players and coaches replayed the game in their minds, going possession by possession to see what could’ve been different. Nothing would change, but it didn’t stop the flow of reflection.

“For sure, eerily quiet,” forward Trey Kaufman-Renn remembered. “You’re deep in thought.”

It was a form of self-inflicted basketball torture.

“Everyone deals with that emotion in their way, but if you’re like me, you don’t talk,” center Zach Edey said.

The four-hour bus ride to West Lafayette, traveling on I-70 and connecting to I-65, the next morning was probably worse due to the length of the trip. No one was tempted to break the silence.

“Terrible,” Loyer said of the bus ride. “Those are 24 hours where your best friends are sitting across from you, and you’re not in the mood to talk to anybody. It’s tough. You don’t know how to approach it because it’s something none of us have experienced.”

Some players turned off their phones. Everyone avoided social media, knowing the rabbit hole of hell that they would step into. Only messages from family and friends were accepted.

“It was miserable,” Brantley said. “Closest thing to a funeral, but nobody died. We’re all healthy, we’re all blessed to be coaching basketball and playing basketball.”

“I COULDN’T WATCH”

Once back on campus, Matt Painter brought his team together.

No words would change the outcome or the hurt everyone was feeling. He believed it was necessary to address his team to start the process of moving forward.

Although Purdue’s loss was its third straight to a double-digit seed in the NCAA tournament, this was different. The magnitude would linger.

He reminded them of the regular season wins and accomplishments, the success in the Big Ten and the conference tournament, and reaching No. 1 in the polls for the first time in program history.

“ ‘Don’t let our approach, and everything we did was right; but it’s March. Don’t let that discourage you. We’re going to have to sit in it for a while,’ which we have. ‘When it’s time to answer the bell this season, we’ll be ready,’ ” Morton said of Painter’s speech. “We have been.”

Still, the sting of the defeat would take time to subside.

“We met as a team and you’re sitting in it – it’s a feeling you never want to have again,” Loyer said. “That’s what stinks. You’ve got 365 days until you can do it again. It’s tough. It’s something I wouldn’t wish on anybody.”

The players avoided watching the tournament for the most part. Edey and Loyer were part of a group that traveled to Florida, and they only caught the first half of the championship game on TV.

“That was the only game,” Edey said.

Morton made a point to watch some of the tournament.

“I thought it was good,” he said. “Sometimes, it’s good to force yourself to watch that stuff even when you don’t want to.”

Kaufman-Renn focused on academics and finishing out the semester with a strong presence in the classroom. Assistant coach Paul Lusk wasn’t interested in digesting any tournament games.

“I couldn’t watch it,” Lusk said. “Generally, that’s how it is (for me) most of the time. That’s how you feel. It’s a long season but you have to realize there are only two teams standing and only one is going to be happy.”

For Kaufman-Renn, the shift from what happened to what’s next began to materialize a week later. It was a chance to get away from basketball after a long season. He went home to be around his family and step away from what everyone was thinking about.

“You’ve thought about everything, and you can’t do anything about it. You just have to move on,” he said.

“IT’S NOT WHO YOU ARE”

Painter didn’t watch the FDU loss until the summer.

It was similar when Purdue lost to Virginia in the 2019 Elite Eight in Louisville, but the Boilermakers were scheduled to play the Cavaliers in the next season’s Big Ten/ACC Challenge. He needed to watch the loss, when Virginia forced overtime with a miracle play, to help his team prepare for the next matchup.

If there’s any coach in the country who knows what Painter went through, it’s Tony Bennett. The year before the Cavaliers won the national championship, Bennett’s team became the first No. 1 seed to lose to a No. 16 seed.

Bennett was dealing with another shocking loss last season when Furman upset Virginia in the first round the day before Purdue played. Still stinging from his own shocking defeat, he put those emotions aside and texted Painter shortly after FDU beat the Boilermakers.

Painter still has the text message on his phone.

Painter and Bennett are friends, but “we’re not close.” They usually engage in conversations while recruiting on the road and competed against each other as collegians at Purdue and Wisconsin-Green Bay, respectively.

“It’s not who you are,” Painter said of Bennett’s message. “When people say negative or derogatory things, and it’s true about losing in a game, and you have to take it and handle it. He was trying to remind me that you’re a good person, you’re a good coach, and this isn’t who you are as a person. It’s what you do.

“I just thought that was commendable. I thought for him to be feeling really low for what they went through, and they had a tough last possession (against Furman), to reach out was really classy.”

Bennett spoke about the exchange during Monday’s First Four press conference in Dayton where the Cavaliers prepared to face Colorado State. He wasn’t watching the Purdue-FDU game until one of his assistants texted him.

“They said, ‘I think we’re going to have company,’ ” Bennett said.

When Bennett started watching the game, those feelings from 2018 began to resurface.

“I was like, ‘No.’ I was hoping it wouldn’t happen, but it did,” Bennett said. “But he’s strong. And again, how you deal with that will determine what happens. They’ve had a great year. Doesn’t guarantee anything.”

“OUR GUYS HAVE HANDLED IT THE RIGHT WAY”

The narrative from outside the program was that Painter needed to make changes. Big changes. But while it’s easy to push the reset button and blow everything up, it takes more courage and conviction to remain on the current path and believe in the principles the program has established as its foundation for decades.

“As coaches, you reflect,” Lusk said. “You’re reflecting even when you’re winning. (We had) a lot of discussions, even the year prior, when you lose in the Sweet 16. You have a good year, but what do we need to do to keep evolving and keep getting better? We always have those discussions.

“But you’re probably more critical, and you’re going over it with a fine-tooth comb when you have a loss like that. Matt is a smart guy. We’re not blowing the whole thing up because we’ve had unbelievable success, but we do have to get better in these areas, and maybe there are some tweaks here and there. I think we’ve done that.”

Through the spring practice sessions, the addition of Jones, preparation for the European trip last August, the start of official practices in September, regular season games, and the conference tournament, there has been a year-long healing process.

The overseas trip appeared to re-energize this group.

“We got to go out and have fun with each other and explore different places,” Kaufman-Renn said. “It was a great time. I’m sure it loosened some of us up.”

The Boilermakers – their fan base – hope that attitude is on display Friday night. At the beginning of last year’s game against FDU, Purdue played tight, and it never changed.

But this is a different team that’s used the same starting lineup in every game and features the Big Ten’s Sixth Man of the Year in Gillis. Painter has depth and versatility off the bench, bringing in more shooters and using his pieces to play differently. Loyer and Smith are a year older, and even Edey has improved to the point where he’s more impressive than last season.

“Last year, it got exhausting a little bit,” Edey said. “Going from an unranked team to No. 1 in the country to No. 1 seed and all the expectations. We always expect that from ourselves, but it was a rollercoaster of a season, big time. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that.

“Winning the PK, the Big Ten, the Big Ten tournament, it wore on some people. This year, we have so much confidence in ourselves that we’re the best team in the country, and we’ve had that confidence since the summer.”

Purdue is physically and mentally stronger than a year ago and it shows. It’s easy to say they’re prepared to handle what’s coming, but does it add up to a different outcome and a possible deep postseason run?

“It was a tough, tough loss, and it sticks with you,” Lusk said. “Those are scars that you have as a player. You have all these experiences; a ton of them are good, and then you have some bad ones. That’s a scar that will stay with us, and hopefully, through that and what we’ve shown this year, that scar has made us a lot better.

“It makes you deal with adversity. The only thing you can do is get back in that situation and see how you respond. I think our guys have handled it the right way.”

Related: Purdue’s NCAA Report