Purdue, Preseason No. 1 Team, Finds Form in Postseason, Trounces Miami

Smith struggled, C.J. Cox left late with a hyperextended knee, the Boilermakers were trailing at halftime … and they never missed a beat. The team that lost four of six to close out the regular season has now won six straight and looks like the team that was ranked No. 1 in the AP preseason poll.

“We knew at the beginning of the year that’s how our team was built,” Trey Kafuman-Renn said. “We have a lot of guys who can come in. When C.J. goes down, Gicarri (Harris) came in and gave us a big lift. There’s not that much drop-off, especially in tournaments like these, when maybe one or two guys aren’t playing well to begin with. To have other people that can come in and pick them up is just really important.”

Down four early in the second half after trailing by as many as seven late in the first half and struggling to rebound against Miami’s size and athleticism, Purdue (29-8) took control with an early 9-0 run and locked down the Hurricanes, forcing seven turnovers and holding Miami to a single made three-pointer in the second half. “I loved our resiliency to hang in there and keep trying to make the next play,” Painter said. “And obviously when you get a little bit of a lead and you can make your free throws, it really helps.”

In the end, the Boilermakers won this battle of new vs. old school, their four-year seniors and post-focused offense showing the experience and poise to outlast Miami, a team essentially built from scratch over the offseason under 37-year-old coach Jai Lucas. Coming off a dismal 7-24 campaign a year ago after Jim Larranaga retired in December, Lucas brought in transfers from Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, New Mexico and TCU, along with star freshman Shelton Henderson to retool on the fly. Lucas was able to guide the team to a 26-9 record, good for a No. 7 seed and third place in the ACC.

But Purdue is a throwback not only to college basketball past, but to the aspirations and high expectations the Boilermakers shouldered at the beginning of the season. With so many players coming back from a team that went to the Sweet Sixteen a year ago and the Final Four two years ago, anything less than this would have been a disappointment. 

Even with Smith off his game — over the course of his career, Purdue had been 6-6 when Smith had six or more turnovers — and Cox departing early, the Boilermakers were too stout and too resilient for Miami. Cox went on a personal 9-0 run at one point before exiting and was healthy enough to slap Purdue’s name on the bracket in the locker room afterward, while Kaufman-Renn had 19 points and 9 rebounds.

BOILING OVER

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There were contributions from up and down the lineup, and in that sense, Painter’s milestone win was a lot like so many of the 499 that preceded it. “I think the one thing that gets lost at Purdue because we don’t sign McDonald’s All-Americans is that our players are really good,” Painter said. “And that’s what you want, right? You want to be able to piece teams together, and our staff’s made improvements through the years in terms of finding guys that fit, finding skill. Obviously we’ve had a great experience of having good big guys. Right now we have a really good point guard.  We have a guy that can really shoot the basketball. (Kaufman-Renn) is a very, very unique player and the different things that he can do. And it’s a really good balance.”

That balance is tangible both in how the program is built and the way this team has found its rhythm. The Boilermakers continue to realize in March the promise they had shown in November.