Oh No Not Again … Rutgers Stuns No. 1 Purdue; Sky Isn’t Falling Boilermaker Nation

I knew last night’s Purdue-Rutgers game in Mackey Arena was going to be a dog fight and anything but a cakewalk for the undefeated Boilermakers.

Scarlet Knights head coach Steve Pikiell has a veteran ball club, one that really gets after it defensively.

If you don’t match Rutgers’ intensity and physical brand of basketball, you are in trouble.

For the first 20 minutes, Purdue didn’t and found itself down 10 at half.

Granted, National Player-of-the-Year frontrunner Zach Edey battled through foul trouble and uncharacteristically the Boilermakers turned the ball over too often, left too many points at the charity stripe and were unable to knock down several open looks from the perimeter.

All that adds up to trouble if you are trying to match the best start in school history, retain your No. 1 ranking and protect your home floor, especially when the students are still on holiday break.

It looked as though Purdue would survive Rutgers’ upset bid when Fletcher Loyer buried a three-pointer with 29.8 seconds left giving the Boilermakers a 64-62 lead.

Rutgers’ Cam Spencer had other ideas though.

The Loyola-Maryland transfer buried a triple of his own from the top of key with 13.3 ticks remaining.

On the ensuing possession, the Boilermakers got a good look to win it, but Brandon Newman missed a three, and for the second straight year the Scarlet Knights had knocked off No. 1 Purdue, 65-64.

“We know what’s coming,” said Purdue coach Matt Painter following the loss. “What Rutgers did tonight didn’t shock us. If we were going to war, we’d stop by New Jersey and pick them up.”

After the game, some Boilermaker fans acted as though the sky is falling and all was lost.

Hardly.

It’s one loss.

Purdue was not going to run the table. After all, there hasn’t been an undefeated team in college basketball since Bob Knight’s Indiana Hoosiers pull off that incredible feat in 1975-76.

Sure, the loss stings for many reasons.

This was a game that was supposed to be payback time for Purdue after Ron Harper’s near half-court heave beat the Boilermakers last year in the RAC.

In the latest classic between the two schools, Purdue didn’t play – or shoot – well, especially in the first half, and rallied from that double-digit deficit and took the lead with under 30 seconds to play. However, the Boilermakers couldn’t come up with the defensive stop it needed. Credit Spencer. He and his teammates delivered and didn’t fold despite the deafening noise exuded from the sellout crowd of 14,804. The student-less crowd was tremendous throughout. In fact, they were so loud Pikiell had to leave the coaching box on the sideline often and walk way out on the court just to communicate a play or call a timeout.

It is the Boilermakers’ first loss this season in Mackey. You will recall Wisconsin beat them on Keady Court last season as Purdue went on to finish 14-6 in the Big Ten and 29-8 overall which ended with a Sweet 16 loss to St. Peter’s.

So the loss drops Purdue to 13-1 overall, 2-1 in the Big Ten this season. Big deal. The sky isn’t falling. Painter’s team, which features zero senior starters and just one in the 10-man rotation, is way ahead of schedule. No one thought they would be a top-10 team let alone in the top-5 this season.

The Big Ten is a grind. Always has been and always will be. There are very few gimmies in this league. If you don’t bring your A game each time out, you are asking to get beat. It’s that simple.

The conference is even tougher on freshmen and Purdue relies on three of them heavily.

Tip your cap to Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights played extremely well in a very hostile environment and the Boilermakers weren’t at the top of their game.

When Edey is saddled with foul trouble and Purdue is turning the ball over more than usual plus struggling from the perimeter, it is very vulnerable … every team is.

Remember there is only one undefeated team in college basketball now – New Mexico – and we still have two more months of regular-season action until March Madness begins in earnest. By the way, I watched the Lobos over the weekend, and Purdue would beat them by 20-plus easily for what it’s worth.

For the Purdue faithful, it will be a long couple of days now before Purdue hits the hardwood again – at nationally ranked Ohio State.

Boilermaker fans will stew as every fan base does, thinking ‘They now might lose two or three in a row.’ That’s the nature of the Big Ten.

Consider this … we’re not even two full weeks into the Big Ten schedule and there are only three undefeated teams at 2-0 in league play. One of those three squads is the Buckeyes (Wisconsin and Michigan are the others).

No one is going 20-0 in the Big Ten. Last year Wisconsin and Illinois tied for the regular-season crown at 15-5 only to see Iowa, which finished 12-8 in the Big Ten, win the conference tournament.

After playing in Columbus in a couple of days, Purdue will head to Philadelphia to face Penn State at The Palestra, which seats 8,722.

Neither contest will be easy for the Boilermakers, no road game will be. Plus, when you are one of the top-ranked teams in the country, you will get everyone’s best shot, period.

Could Purdue be 2-3 in the Big Ten a week from now?

Sure, but don’t bank on it.

I want to see a team beat Purdue when Edey isn’t in foul trouble because the Boilermakers will have to miss a ton of outside shots and turn the ball over left and right for that to happen. Could it happen? It very well could and probably will throughout the duration of the Big Ten’s grueling schedule. It won’t happen often though.

Edey is a disruptor. In fact, he’s the greatest disruptor in the college game. On Monday Rutgers had seven players with three or four personal fouls as Purdue’s 7-foot-4 monster finished with yet another double-double (19 points and 11 rebounds). He had four points in the first half because of foul trouble.

So just relax Purdue Nation.

It’s a very long season.

You do not want this team’s highlight to be beating Gonzaga and Duke in November. Remember what month Purdue peaked in last season?

There will be bumps in the road, especially with a pair of freshmen starting in the backcourt.

When all is said and done, however, this team will be just fine and come Selection Sunday could very well find itself on the No. 1 or No. 2 seed line.

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