Purdue Lets One Slip Away, Falls at Minnesota 71-68 on Late Collapse

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – Purdue was victimized by a banked-in three-pointer and a questionable traveling call in the final 18 seconds of its game with Minnesota on Thursday night, and the pain from the loss might be felt for a while.

Minnesota's Marcus Carr was the fortunate one who saw his errant shot hit the backboard and go in with 18 seconds left to give Minnesota the lead. And then Purdue's chances to get it back were erased when Trevion Williams, who had a monster 24-point, 10-rebound night, was whistled for traveling on the other end with 7 seconds to go.

Two late free throws left the Gophers with a 71-68 win – and the Boiler left shaking their heads all the way home.

For the second time in nine days, No. 24-ranked Purdue had an inferior opponent – at least in the standings – beaten in the final minutes only to let it slip away. Last Tuesday, it was Maryland that erased a five-point lead in the final minute to win 61-60, and this time it was the Gophers – a team that Purdue had just beaten by 19 points two weeks ago – stealing this one. Purdue had a five-point lead with 2:10 to go, but once again couldn't close it out.

“You allowed the game to be close and crazy things can happen,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said “We allowed it to be close and some things went against us.”

That was Painter putting in mildly. He was far more harsh in talking about the traveling call on Williams, but let's get back to Marcus Carr first. He was in the center of a wild and "weird'' final minute.

Carr, who's third in the Big Ten in scoring, was being kept in check once again by Purdue's Eric Hunter Jr. He had only 11 points in the first 39 minutes, but then went nuts in the final minute, scoring eight points in the final 1:09 – with all of them coming on bizarre plays.

He made his first three when the ball found his hands after a missed shot and a block by Williams. One quick pass back to Carr and he nailed a three to tie it at 64. On the next possesssion, he drove the lane and looked like he charged into Mason Gillis, who was set, but the call was a block instead. Gillis fouled out and Carr made to free throws to the game at 66.

Then the real craziness game. After Williams scored on a short jumper with 26 seconds to go, Carr went flying downcourt with ball and pulled up from 27 feet – and BANKED in a three-pointer to give Minnesota a 69-68 lead with 18 seconds to go.

“Marcus’ baskets down the stretch were just weird,” said Hunter, who otherwise had a great game, scoring 14 points and having just one turnover in 34 minutes of playing time. “One came off a blocked shot that we had, and it came to him. Then, the banked three at the end. That one hurts

“It was a living-right type of shot. You can always feel good with a banked three I guess.”

Marcus Carr = Clutch

Minnesota si conferma osso duro in casa e supera Purdue per 71-68pic.twitter.com/Pa0W5zJAgp
— Basketball NCAA (@BallNcaa) February 12, 2021

Sometimes you have to live with weird baskets, but Painter was still livid afterward about the traveling call on Williams in the final seconds. He said he watched the play again in the locker room before addressing the media, and is firmly convinced it was a terrible call.

“I looked at it. He didn't (travel). You can’t call a travel when somebody doesn’t travel. He dribbles, he hops, he keeps his left foot set,” Painter said. “That’s a hard one for us in our locker room. We get a 50-50 call that goes against us and we get a call that’s obviously wrong. It just looks like he was searching for something.”

Williams, too, was sure he didn't travel.

“I personally don’t think I traveled,” Williams said “I was trying to get an iso post-up on the opposite side. We wanted to overload the right side of the court so I could have the right side of the court to work with. The goal was to get a catch and get a quick bucket.”

“It’s life on the road, man. Everything doesn’t always go your way. It’s hard to play the game, fighting your opponent, fighting the refs.”

The loss negated a great night from Williams, the 6-foot-10 junior center who had his ninth double-double of the season. He had 24 and 10 in just 24 minutes of playing time because of foul trouble, and freshman Zach Edey was sensational off the bench in his absence, scoring 13 points in 16 minutes.

Hunter had his first double-figure scoring game in nearly a month, racking up 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting. But outside of those three, the rest of the Boilers struggled, and struggled mightily.

The collection of starters Jaden Ivey, Mason Gillis and Brandon Newman, and bench guys Sasha Stefanovic, Aaron Wheeler, Ethan Morton and Isaiah Thompson scored a combined 17 points in a 126 minutes of playing time.

That group was 6-for-29 shooting (20.7 percent) from the field, and just 2-for-15 shooting (13.3 percent) from three-point range. Stefanovic, in just his second game back after missing 17 days because of COVID-19, was held scoreless in 21 minutes of playing time, missing all three shots. Ivey, the freshman who's been starting in his place, was just 1-for-8 shooting, missed all four three-point attempts and had four turnovers.

With the loss, Purdue is now 13-8 overall and 8-6 in the Big Ten, good for only sixth place now. With the Big Ten Tournament now less than a month a way, getting a top-four seed and a double-bye matters, and Purdue saw that spot slip away on Thursday night.

The Boilers are back in action Tuesday against Michigan State in Mackey Arena.

Wheeler throws down big transition alley-oop for Purdue 😍 pic.twitter.com/dhEif6fPaL
— ESPN Player (@espnplayer) February 12, 2021

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