Takeaways—Spartans escape from Mackey

Purdue suffered a jarring fourth home loss Thursday night in Mackey Arena, as the eighth-ranked Boilermakers were edged by No. 13 Michigan State 76-74.

Our GoldandBlack.com post-game analysis from the loss …

PDF: Purdue-Michigan State box score

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AN UNFULFILLING SEASON THUS FAR

“Disappointment” is a big word and rational people ought to be wary of painting with too broad a brush, but Purdue’s fourth home loss of the season was certainly another benchmark in what has been an unfulfilling season thus far. There are opportunities ahead, obviously, but it has been jarring to see these seniors lose to every ranked team that visited Mackey Arena and fall out of the Big Ten regular season championship hunt in mid-February.

Purdue did not ask to be ranked No. 1 in the preseason, but it did embrace the expectations that come along with it, talking openly about national championship contention. It has not backed up words with action. Purdue has been way too inconsistent, weaving wildly behind great, good enough and flat bad defensively. It gets careless with the ball in a way that’s really surprising for a group of veterans that have seen games decided throughout their careers by failings in that area. Purdue needed steadiness in the final minutes Thursday night and didn’t get much of it.

That’s college basketball and that’s the nature of a sport played by young, imperfect beings. Two seasons ago, members of this team were key cogs on as consistent, driven and focused a Purdue team that’s ever been. The hope was that this team could reach similar heights to that one. Maybe it still can. The NCAA Tournament is still to be played.

But, instead, Purdue’s in much the same position it was at this time a year ago, despite looking earlier this season like a transformed team. The competitive edge and energy you saw months back at Alabama and against Texas Tech has come and gone throughout the remainder of the season, and shown up more on the road than not. Go back and watch those early season games and look at the effort and precision.

It’s hard to explain, because even though Purdue didn’t really win anything last season, it was not an unpopular pick as the preseason No. 1 by people who know what they’re talking about.

PURDUE’S POISON PILL

Purdue was not good enough on defense, obviously, but it put itself in a precarious position by eliminating its margin for error with its looseness with the ball.

Every team that has played Michigan State the past two decades has known that the Spartans want to run, and with a guard like Jeremy Fears, that urgency is ramped up, same as it was in the Mateen Cleaves, Keith Appling and Cassius Winston days.

Purdue played right into it with unpoised guard play that didn’t result in bulk turnovers — just nine for the game — but did set the Spartans up to score 19 points off turnovers. Points Off Turnovers was Michigan State’s leading scorer in a game decided by a single basket.

That’s the story, plain and simple, and the reason Purdue could outrebound Michigan State, shoot nearly 50 percent from three and still fall.

CREDIT TO JACK BENTER

Yes, his last three might have been hasty, but he earned the right to be aggressive, because without him, this never comes down to the final seconds. Benter’s 11 points resulted from the smaller lineups Purdue had to close the game with. Why did it have to close the game small? Because it wasn’t containing the dribble big and size wasn’t helping as Michigan State’s Carson Cooper scored over Purdue’s bigs repeatedly.