By Pedro Velazco
INDIANAPOLIS — Purdue’s men’s basketball team is 27-5. Boilermaker coach Matt Painter said it. Senior guard Chris Kramer said it. Painter said it again. And again.
After a while, you had to wonder for whose benefit the Boilers were recounting their record. Were they telling the 50 or so reporters, cameramen and officials in the media room? Or were they telling the NCAA tournament selection committee?
Eventually, it sounded like they were telling themselves. Following a 69-42 beating at the hands of Minnesota, the No. 6 seed in the Big Ten tournament, the Boilers needed some positive reinforcement.
They are Big Ten co-champions from the regular season. They are assured of a high seed in the upcoming NCAA tournament. They are 27-5.
But that fifth loss really was an eye-opener. The Boilers were taken out early, heading into the halftime break down 37-11. It’s not easy to shake off such a bad game. Even though the game wasn’t critical, the timing was. Purdue is still finding its way after the loss of second-leading scorer Robbie Hummel to a season-ending knee injury.
“The game of basketball will humble you, and [Saturday], we were obviously humbled,” Painter said.
Kramer, in typical Kramer style, was more graphic.
“We came out and they hit us in the mouth, and we didn’t come back with any punches, to be honest,” he said. “We really struggled on the offensive end, being stagnant, playing a lot of one-on-one. Once they got up, we just couldn’t get that bucket to settle everyone down.”
Kramer and the Boilers get certain things drummed into their heads on a regular basis. Effort is a key, especially for a Purdue team currently lining up with four guards.
“The things coach Painter talks about, we didn’t have that [Saturday],” Kramer said. “Minnesota , they played harder than us, outrebounded us. Every aspect of the game that we usually do to other people, they flipped it and put it on us. We’ve got to learn from that.”
Kramer hopes those lessons sink in, and quickly.
“We’ve got to move forward from this, but keep this in the back of our minds, remember how this felt, that sour taste in our mind, and use this as motivation next week in practice,” he said.
And they have to remember more than just one bad game. They have to remember that they’re a lot better than one bad game.
“I mean, we’re 27-5,” Kramer said. “We’ve had a great season so far. We had some adversity [Saturday]. We’ve got to come out and just stay together. Everyone’s doubting us. The only people that believe in our team are in our locker room. So we’ve just got to stay together and have a big-time effort every time we step on the court from here on out, because at this point of the season, it’s win or go home.”
The Boilers need a moment to regroup. After taking a knockout punch from Minnesota, Purdue is glad that the blot on their record won’t cost them a shot at a bigger fight on down the line.
Purdue’s place in the NCAA tournament isn’t in doubt. What’s uncertain is how the Boilers will respond to playing without Hummel once the intensity of the tournament begins, and if other injuries will hamper the process. Leading scorer E’Twaun Moore was in and out Saturday after rolling an ankle. And point guard Lewis Jackson was helped off the court and into the locker room in the second half after someone came down on one of his feet.
The initial word is Painter expects both to be ready for action next week. But if not, they’ll still have to get ready.
“You can’t feel sorry for yourself,” he said. “You’ve got to play. ‘We’ve got to rebound better, but I’m proud of our guys. We’re 27-5, we’ve had a great season, we’ve just got to regroup, come out and play better and play smarter. When other teams have injures and we beat them, we don’t have any sympathy for them. So we know people aren’t going to have sympathy for us.”
He doesn’t expect sympathy from the NCAA selection committee either, nor a break with a seed more reminiscent of when Purdue was humming with Hummel.
“They have to evaluate us for where we are in terms of the guys on our roster, the guys that are currently playing in my opinion,” Painter said. “We’re 4-2 without Rob. We’re a good basketball team. Obviously we’re not better at this point than when Rob Hummel was playing. We can’t control a part of that. We have to go out and play and not make excuses. Our guys figured out a way to win the Big Ten without him.”
As for Saturday’s game, Kramer may want to remember the taste, but Painter has had enough. He’d rather rinse and move on to the next meal.
“There’s particular games that happen where the wheels fall off and you have a bad day,” he said. “[Minnesota] had a great day, and we had a bad day. I look at it as we need to burn that tape and forget about it because we had 27 great wins this year, and we need to play to our strengths, and go out and prepare for our first-round opponent.”
• Pedro Velazco is a Kokomo Tribune sportswriter. He may be reached at pedro.velazco@ kokomotribune.com or 765-454-8572.
