Champaign problems, but hope still bubbles for Boilers

Camden Heide defended the rim like he knew that he had four fouls, holding his arm up and trying to fall away from the ball, but instead, Heide was called for a foul, his fifth, and he’d go to the bench with more than two minutes left in a two-possession game.

In came Purdue’s starting four, Caleb Furst, and Purdue’s late five point lead turned into an 8 point Illinois win.

Furst, Purdue’s lone senior, is coming off one of his better performances of the season, grabbing 9 rebounds at home against UCLA, but against Illinois, Purdue needed Heide’s shooting on offense and his switchability on defense.

Purdue made its runs when Heide was in the game, that’s just how it happens sometime, and when Purdue needed its last one, Heide was on the bench instead.

As Heide sat, Kasparas Jakucionis’ was hitting his game deciding three over Furst. Furst for his credit, defended the difficult shot well, but for the entire game, when Heide was on the floor it out scored Illinois. When Furst was out there, Purdue didn’t.

The final +/- tell the story of the game and how the final two and a half minutes swung Illinois’ way: Heide, in 17 minutes had a team-high +14. Furst, in 23 minutes, had a team-worst -19.

Against a team like Illinois, small and skilled everywhere, Furst was put into a tough spot on the defensive end, but more importantly, with Furst out there as a non-offensive threat, it allowed Illinois to throw every body and piece of help it had at Trey Kaufman-Renn and Braden Smith.

This was a game on the road, against a hostile crowd, and the Purdue team this year isn’t the Purdue team of last year that came into this game and got the final jumper it needed to close out the Fighting Illini.

Instead, Illinois flashed its ceiling, and made the big shots late. It wraps up a disappointing, unusual regular season for a Purdue team comprised of players that have almost exclusively only ever won the Big Ten regular season title.

That disappointment has lived on Fletcher Loyer’s face since Purdue’s four-game losing in February that cost Purdue a chance for a three-peat.

That disappointment can’t be ignored even though Loyer and his teammates have started to look forward towards the Big Ten Tournament.

“We try to sleep but you can’t,” Loyer said about dealing with not winning the Big Ten. “And then you go back and do the same work you’ve been doing and you just look in the mirror and say what can I be doing better for this? And how can I help this team make a run in March?”

Purdue lost in the second game of the Big Ten Tournament last year, but this team will look to make a statement this year in the tournament. One it didn’t have to make last year.

“Last year was a little different because we knew we were one of the top two teams in the country,” Loyer said. “We were just so looking forward to March, the NCAA Tournament. We were kinda like screw that. This year, we’re not as good as we were last year.”

Purdue’s offense is good enough to win it all. It has been all season. That’s what happens when you have two of the most dynamic offensive players in the country in Trey Kaufman-Renn and Braden Smith who were both excellent again tonight.

TKR went for 29 points and 7 rebounds. Braden Smith was just a rebound shy of a triple-double, going for 18 points, 9 rebounds, and 12 assists. Smith finishes the season with the highest assist per game mark of all time, surpassing Magic Johnson’s previous record.

Painter started his post game conference by telling an uncomortable truth about his team – Purdue is a top-10 offense in the country. It didn’t make all the shots it expects to, but throughout the 40 minutes, it executed.

“We got what we wanted the whole night in terms of the shot selection,” Painter said.

To go further, the ball was where it was supposed to be.

“We had the balls in the hands of the people we wanted to,” Painter said. “And people that we’ll continue to go back to.”

Purdue’s future hope resides in getting out of the Big Ten and unleashing Braden Smith and Trey Kaufman-Renn on teams that have never dealt with two of the best players in the country.

But the uncomfortable part of Purdue’s truth is that after a strong January defenisvely, Purdue’s defense has slipped again. Now, Purdue sits around 50th in defensive efficiency.

“We had to be a litlte sharper defensively there,” Painter said.

The good thing for Purdue going forward after its seventh road loss of the season, Purdue won’t have far to travel for the Big Ten Tournament.

Purdue will most likely play Thursday in Indianapolis for the Big Ten Tournament, just an hour south of West Lafayette.