My Two Cents: We've Seen This, But Can We See it Back-to-Back?
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — There we were once again, watching the Purdue Boilermakers rock the house, holding serve on their beloved homecourt at Mackey Arena. It seems like every time they open the doors to this place, the Boilermakers come out throwing haymakers and knocking out big-time ranked opponents.
It happened again Wednesday night, and in a huge way. Purdue made 19 3-point shots and practically scored at will all night long against a very good and 17th-ranked Iowa Hawkeyes team to win 104-68.
We've seen a lot of this from Matt Painter's crew this season. They beat Virginia by 29 points in December when the Cavaliers, the defending national champions, were still unbeaten (7-0) and ranked No. 5 in the country. They beat then No. 5 Michigan State by 29 too in early January and also clobbered a good Wisconsin team at Mackey a few weeks ago.
And the Hawkeyes? Just another brick in the wall.
But then — yeah, I know, there's always a but — here's the dilemma. After every brilliant performance at home, the Boilermakers have had to venture out on the road, where they can't hit the broad side of the proverbial barn. They've shot horribly on the road all year, and it's only exacerbated by the fact that they such great shooters at home.
Which brings us to our current pressing problem. For as great as Purdue was on Wednesday, they've got to hit the damn road again for their next game, and they have to head to Bloomington, of all places, to take on their bitter in-state rival Indiana on Saturday at 2 p.m. ET
If we've learned anything from this season, Purdue will be awful shooting the ball Saturday. Or maybe not?
Is it time for that to change? Was Wednesday the confidence-boost that really kicks in? That FINALLY kicks in? Or was that fool's good, a pleasant but fleeting outlier?
Before we answer that, here's a quick history lesson on all of this year's missteps away from home.
Failing to hold serve on the road
The first chapter in this Jekkyl & Hyde fairy tale script was written with a beatdown of then No. 5 Virginia in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge in early December. Purdue was nearly perfect in winning 69-40. Then they went on the road a few days later and lost to Nebraska, 70-56. The Cornhuskers, mind you, are 7-15 this season. Purdue shot 6-for-35 from 3-point range, a measly 17.1 percent.
The second chapter was a home win over Minnesota on Jan. 2 where the Boilermakers scored 83 points in a win. And then they traveled to Illinois and scored 37 points — yes, 37 points — in one of the worst shooting performances in school history. Purdue was just 3-for-17 from 3-point territory, and shot only 25 percent from the field for the game.
As a barometer, Purdue had 37 points Wednesday night in the first 11-plus minutes of the game with Iowa.
Act III was the 29-point beatdown of No. 5 Michigan State at home on Jan. 12, and the 71-42 loss was the worst in Tom Izzo's long and illustrious history at East Lansing. Six days later at Maryland, Purdue was 3-for-17 from 3-point range against, a shameless number that was woefully repeatable.
Then Act IV was a blowout win at home over Wisconsin. Purdue won 70-51 and made 9-of-19 3-pointers, a solid 47.4 percent. Just four nights later at Rutgers, they lost again. They made 6-of-22 3-pointers, but five of them came in the first half, When it mattered the most, the Boilers were just 1-for-8 shooting from beyond the arc in the second half.
Now here's the Iowa boatrace. The Boilers looked so good, everyone, all night long. Painter has been searching for a night where everyone was at their best and they got it Wednesday. At one point, besides the 3-pointers, they also had 13 assists and ZERO turnovers.
That's perfect, precise basketball.
But. (Yeah, I know) But now comes another road trip, and to a very hostile environment, no less.
No answer for the most repeatable question
Painter has joked often, in a painful sort of way, that if he had an answer for why this keeps happening all year that he would simply fix it. There is nothing obvious, other than arena ZIP codes. They work on shooting all the time. He has guys who aren't afraid to shoot. They take, for the most part, good shots on the road while running their offense, which has plenty of options that everyone understands well.
On the road? It's just different. Damn different.
"The environment matters, and from game to game you're talking about different styles that you're playing against,'' Painter said after the Iowa win. "You need to generate good shots from good execution, but you've also got to generate points somewhere else.
"You've got to get in transition to score the basketball, you've got to get on the glass and score the basketball. You've got to be able to steal points in some capacity on the road. If you can't, it gets too hard, especially against a good defensive team like Indiana.''
On the road, it's all about really getting dialed in, something Purdue has struggled with this season, as evidenced by all those numbers above and the 1-5 conference road record. Indiana, a team very much like Purdue that's been very good at home and has struggled on the road, will be another difficult assignment on Saturday.
"You have to execute to get good shots, because Indiana is a very good defensive team,'' Painter said. "They can play a quicker lineup with guards, they start a bigger lineup and they can cause a lot of problems with getting on the glass and being physical.
"It's understanding all of that as we practice these next couple of days. It's been hard for us, but it's also been hard for a lot of Big Ten teams. Very few teams in our league have been consistent in that area.''
That's true, without a doubt. But Saturday would be a good time to change that.
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- TOMMY LUCE'S BIG NIGHT: Fan favorite hits two big shots. CLICK HERE
- BREAKING DOWN HAWKERS Meet the Opponent feature focuses on Luka Garza
- STEFANOVIC ENJOYS GAME-WINNER: His shot beat Northwestern in final seconds
