Late turnovers bury No. 23 Purdue in home loss to Texas
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue had Texas beat Saturday night — right up until it didn't. Three late turnovers crushed the No. 23-ranked Boilermakers, who kicked a game away in losing 70-66 to the Longhorns.
The loss snapped an 18-game home winning streak for the Boilermakers, and it was their first nonconference loss at home since losing to Villanova in 2016. Purdue is now 1-1 on the season.
Purdue had a 62-57 lead with 3 minutes and change to go, but then Aaron Wheeler fumbled the ball out of bounds and Texas answered with a basket from forward Gerald Liddell. Purdue center Matt Haarms was called for an offensive foul with 2:07 to go and Texas scored again. And then, after Eric Hunter Jr. lost the ball off of his knee, Longhorn Jase Febres hit a 3-pointer to give Texas the lead for good.
"We were in a really good position and just didn't execute," Purdue coach Matt Painter said after the loss Saturday night. "It was simple things. It didn't even get down to the piece of running an actual play. We just didn't pass and catch on a couple plays and just dropped the basketball. That cost us two possessions and we had an illegal screen where we had Aaron (Wheeler) coming on an open 3."
One of the highlights of the night was the reception given to Texas guard Andrew Jones when he entered the game. He was given a rousing ovation by the Purdue fan because he has battled leukemia last year and it was thought his career might be over. The Purdue students, still smarting from losing Tyler Trent, one of their own, last year, made this a classy gesture.
"Some hard lessons learned last night, but we did a lot of good things,'' Painter said in a tweet Sunday morning. "Can’t fault our effort. Thanks to all our fans that make Mackey Arena special. It was another great environment last night.''
Texas coach Shaka Smart agreed. "That was a heck of at atmosphere.''
Sophomore guard Sasha Stefanovic led the Boilers with 14 points. It was a bit of surprise to even see him in the linep because he sat out Wednesday night's opener against Green Bay with a foot injury. He was on the bench that night in a walking boot, and afterward Painter had said he thought he might be out "a week or two.''
Jahaad Proctor had 12 points, down substantially from his 26-point effort in the opener. His first loss in a Purdue uniform was hard to take.
"It shows we need improvement," Proctor said. "I think that just comes with us in practice. Sometimes we get complacent. We got too complacent in the game. Once we got over the hump a few times, we didn't seal the deal."
Purdue hits the road for its next game in this difficult month of November. The Boilers play at Marquette on Wednesday night.
RELATED ITEMS
Texas 70, Purdue 66: BOX SCORE
Matt Painter: Postgame interview
Purdue players: Postgame interviews
