Rapid Reaction: Purdue Has Another Rough Day Offensively in Loss to Butler

INDIANAPOLIS — Purdue's struggles in the annual Crossroads Classic continued on Saturday, as the Boilermakers lost to No. 17 Butler, falling 70-61 in a game that wasn't that close until the final few minutes.

And struggle isn't a strong enough word to describe what's going on with the Boilermakers' offense these days. Outside of its furious rally in the final five minutes, they had a hard time putting the ball in the basket all day.

Sure, Butler is an excellent defensive team, ranked fourth in the country while allowing only 54.5 points per game. (Purdue is fifth). But the Bulldogs really put the clamps on the Boilermakers' shooters in running out to big lead that reached 17 points at one time.

Purdue is now 2-7 in this annual in-state event.

With the loss, the Boilermakers dropped to 7-5 on the season. Sure, they've played a very difficult pre-Christmas schedule, but outside of the wins over then No. 5 Virginia and then No. 20 TCU, they've really struggled against quality opponents, losing to Texas, Marquette, Florida State, Nebraska and now Butler.

Butler, the only ranked team in this event this year at No. 17, moved to 11-1.

Purdue shot just 35 percent from the field, and most of those makes came late. Trevion Williams led Purdue with 12 points and Aaron Wheeler had 11.

The first half was dreadful for Purdue. Playing without 7-foot-3 center Matt Haarms for the second straight game because of a concussion, the Boilermakers could never get rolling. They shot only 21.4 percent in the first half, had seven turnovers and got only 14 first-half points from their starters.

All that kept them within five points at halftime (26-21) was the Butler made only 1-of-6 free throws. Even more surprising was that Purdue had jumped out to an 8-2 lead in the first four minutes, but scored only 13 points in the final 16 minutes.

Butler put Purdue in a bind quickly in the second half, reeling off the first eight points of the half to jump ahead 34-21. The lead got as large as 17 points at the midway point of the second half.

Purdue made it interesting in the final four minutes, hitting three 3-pointers in a row, two by Aaron Wheeler and one by Isaiah Thompson, to cut the lead to seven at 58-51.

When Williams scored on a post-up move with 2:02 to go, Purdue was within five points at 60-55.

Eric Hunter was credited with a basket on a goaltending call that made it 62-57, and then was fouled on the next trip down on a drive to the basket with 55.6 seconds left. But he made only one of the two free throws to make it 62-58.

But Butler made its last eight free throws, ending Purdue's chances.

NEXT UP: Purdue will play its final nonconference game of the regular season next Saturday when it takes on Central Michigan at Mackey Arena in West Lafayette. The game starts at Noon ET and will be televised on the Big Ten Network. The Big Ten season resumes for Purdue on Jan. 2 when the Boilermakers take on Minnesota.