Purdue opens Big Ten title defense with a dud at Penn State, another court-storming

[ad_1]

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Purdue basketball’s pursuit of a third consecutive Big Ten championship began with a yet another bad performance in a conference road opener.

Penn State clobbered the No. 7 Boilermakers 81-70 at Bryce Jordan Center. The final score flattered the Boilers, who trailed by 27 with under 10 minutes to play. Purdue has now lost six of its past seven conference road games in December.

The Boilermakers fell to 0-2 in true road games, having also lost 76-58 at Marquette. In both instances, turnovers played a role in Purdue’s offensive inefficiency and its opponents’ access to easy points.

‘It’s a joke… it’s embarrassing.’ Purdue’s Big 3 says team wasn’t ready for Penn State

Purdue vs. Penn State player ratings: Too many turnovers derail Boilers

Purdue basketball turning point

Purdue’s offense got out of sync early and spent the rest of the first half trying to find a rhythm. It never did. The 14 first-half turnovers were only two fewer than the season high from the season opener against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and one fewer than it coughed up in a loss at Marquette.

Penn State’s halfcourt ball pressure certainly played a role. Fletcher Loyer committed five on his own.

But the Boilermakers also played sloppy, forcing some drives and passes which resulted in takeaways. The empty possessions hurt — Purdue went scoreless for over five minutes in one stretch — but so did the inability to get back and set up a defense. Both teams turned the ball over a lot, but the Nittany Lions capitalized more on their takeaways and executed better in the halfcourt when retaining possession.

On top of that, Braden Smith did not attempt a field goal until the 2:37 mark of the half. He did not make one until the final two minutes of the half.

Penn State scored 15 points off of those turnovers and led 40-24 at halftime.

In-depth: Brandon Brantley hated playing in the post. Now, he’s Purdue’s big man whisperer.

3 stars

Trey Kaufman-Renn, Purdue: I guess. Turned the ball over…

[ad_2]
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/purdue-opens-big-ten-title-013730166.html

Author : Indianapolis Star

Publish date : 2024-12-06 01:37:00

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.