Matt Painter Points to Purdue's Biggest Defensive Issue Following Ohio State Loss
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After suffering another disappointing loss on Sunday, Matt Painter didn't hold back when talking about his team's performance in an 82-74 loss to Ohio State. Once again, the Boilermakers struggled on that end of the court, resulting in a third loss in the last four games.
Ohio State shot 51% from the floor, 38% from three-point range and got to the free-throw line 32 times to upset the eighth-ranked Boilermakers. It was the third-straight win for the Buckeyes in the head-to-head.
There were very few points in the game when Purdue looked locked in defensively. After the game, Painter provided an honest assessment of his team's play.
"We come in and out of our focus and concentration," Painter said. "We make good plays, we do good things, and then we don't. ... We are the king of — we will guard you in the same action, and then we'll turn around and guard the same action after that, and we don't do what we're supposed to."
The two guys on the scouting report that Purdue really wanted to account for were John Mobley Jr. and Bruce Thornton. Instead, those two guys accounted for 41 points on 24 shots. Instead, they gave the Boilermakers fits on the defensive end all afternoon long.
But that wasn't the most frustrating part to Painter, who was critical of how hard his team played from start to finish. To him, there was no question that Ohio State was the tougher team.
"Ohio State played harder than us," he said. "There's nobody out there who said, 'Ohio State was better, but man, Purdue played harder.' There's not one person, even some wrestler who doesn't know basketball, who is saying it. That's not been our deal through the last 50 years. That's not been our deal."
Painter tried a variety of things to improve defensively throughout Sunday's game. Centers Oscar Cluff and Daniel Jacobsen were essentially non-factors due to foul trouble and a lack of physicality. When Purdue went with a small lineup and pushed Trey Kaufman-Renn to the five, rebounding and defending the paint were issues.
In other words, Purdue had no answer for Ohio State on Sunday night. And the frustrating part for Painter? It's not just one player who isn't doing his job.
"It's gotta be accountability. If they're going to run the same stuff and do the same things, we gotta stay on the same page," Painter said. "And what's crazy is, we'll come in and out of it. We'll have two or three good possessions like that, and then we won't. We just need more consistency across the board.
"I wish it was one guy, I could fix it. It's not, it's collectively, as a team. It's guys who have played in 125 games and it's guys that have played in 28 games."
Purdue's centers struggled vs. Ohio State
Coming into the season, Purdue's center position was supposed to be an area of strength. That certainly wasn't the case on Sunday, as both Cluff and Jacobsen struggled mightily against Ohio State.
The tandem combined for two points and six rebounds in 23 minutes of work. Cluff had foul trouble issues and Jacobsen couldn't handle the physicality. After the game, Painter said those two guys must figure out ways to be impactful without getting into foul trouble.
"They need to stop fouling," Painter said. "Stick to your rules, do what you're supposed to in ball-screen defense and post defense. You can be physical without fouling. ... You gotta be able to guard your position, but you also have to be able to anchor the back line."
Cluff and Jacobsen must be able to defend and rebound at a high level in order to give Purdue a chance to make a deep run when March Madness rolls around. They have a lot of work to do in the next two weeks to get to that level.
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Dustin Schutte is the publisher of Purdue Boilermakers on SI and has spent more than a decade working in sports journalism. His career began in 2013, when he covered Big Ten football. He remained in that role for eight years before working at On SI to cover the Boilermakers. Dustin graduated from Manchester University in Indiana in 2010, where he played for the men's tennis team.
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