Takeaways Wrap Video: Wisconsin BTT loss
MINNEAPOLIS — Our post-game analysis following third-ranked Purdue’s 76-75 loss to Wisconsin at the Big Ten Tournament.
IT REALLY IS THIS SIMPLE
This was nothing new. When Purdue doesn’t turn the ball over, it has been unbeatable this season; not unbeatable, but unbeaten, at least. When it does turn the ball over, it’s vulnerable.
During the Boilermakers’ prior three losses, opponents averaged 20 points off turnovers.
Today, Wisconsin got 15 off 16 Purdue giveaways.
Don’t be myopic about the turnovers and assume it was just all Purdue messing up. Wisconsin upped its pressure and mixed up some of its post-entry defense methods and crossed up Purdue’s throw-in guys a few times. So give the Badgers some credit.
But there was some slop and impatience in there as well.
The clustering has been a real problem for Purdue in defeat. For as much as the Boilermakers had to grind for a halftime tie after Zach Edey played only seven first-half minutes, they floundered at the wrong time while Wisconsin was missing 10 straight shots in the second half. Purdue could have not just built cushion there but maybe even blown the game open.
That’s the other end of turnovers — not just what the opponent gets, but what you don’t. Purdue clung to Wisconsin in the first half with the bonus and double bonus. The lost possessions factored into Purdue not enjoying the same luxury in the second half — with Edey on the floor — earlier in the half.
Purdue didn’t have Edey much in the first half; it couldn’t leverage him enough in the second.
But if there’s any positive to come from this, maybe it’s that reminder that this can be Purdue’s downfall when it matters most. Purdue is 3-for-3 on bouncing back big from losses this season. Now would be a great time to make it 4-for-4.
BRADEN SMITH LOOKS FINE
Braden Smith would never say if he wasn’t fine, but he did look it on Saturday, a day after hurting his leg against Michigan State. He didn’t have a great shooting game and he battled foul trouble, but he did carry 36 minutes and dole out his usual 10 assists, which he’s just normalized at this point.
It was a matchup of two point guards listed as “questionable” prior to the game.
Neither looked limited.
Chucky Hepburn, idled by a sore knee yesterday, was the deciding player in the game, scoring 22 points, bearting the halftime buzzer, and really affecting the game on defense.
DON’T MAKE IT MORE THAN IT IS
There was nothing predictive about this.
It was one game in a vacuum in which Purdue’s one real vulnerability surfaced, a loss that required not one, but two, clutch shots, lots of improbable threes, bizarre foul trouble for Zach Edey and a once-in-a-blue-moon offensive foul at an improbable juncture for this to happen.
If you are inclined to believe this is a sign of things to come next weekend, don’t.
