No. 18 Purdue hopes that the latest problems have ended and that it can look forward to games after the season.
With a four-game image in the rear mirror, Boilermakers looks to win a second straight game when they meet Rutgers on Tuesday evening in Big Ten Play in West Lafayette, Ind.
Purdue (20-9, 12-6 Big Ten) dropped four straight matches three to ranked team-in-the-nan the picture with Friday’s 76-66 home victory over UCLA.
It leaves Boilermakers in a three-way tie for third place with Wisconsin and Maryland as they chase after positioning for the upcoming Big Ten tournament.
“I don’t care who you are as a coach, I don’t care who you are as a player, you have self-doubt,” said Purdue coach Matt Painter.
“When you lose games, you start looking at it now, but you have to stick to what you do.
“If you stick to what you do and you keep in touch and fight, you will grow and you will get out of certain things. Hopefully we can build and just get better.”
Boilermakers star Junior Point Guard Braden Smith became the school’s leader for constantly in career assistants when he had eight against Bruins. It raised his total to 696 in 103 matches and passed Bruce Parkinson (690 from 1972-77).
“Bruce Parkinson was a fantastic player here and a very successful player,” Painter said. “Keeping awards or discs or something so long is quite cool, as discs are made to be broken. But for someone to do it during their junior year (like Smith) is quite cool.
“He has a condition, he works hard, he is a good player. Many times, people want to give you credit, but as he went in here and passed. He has a feeling and he has read, comes from a basketball family. Just happy for him.”
Smith leads Purdue in assists (8.7 average), 3-points (66) and steals (69) and is second in points on 16 points per match. Trey Kaufman-Senn is on average a team best 19.6 points.
Rutgers (14-15, 7-11) is in a four-way for 11th place and will try to bounce back from a painful 84-82 road loss at the then. 15 Michigan.
Scarlet Knights seemed to be intended to be the owner of a winning line with three games when they led 74-62 with 11-plus minutes left.
Rutgers later fell behind, but was back in front of a point when the clock was discontinued before Michigan fled when Nimari Burnett drilled a long 3-pointer when the time expired.
Although Scarlet Knights blew the huge leadership, coach Steve Pikiell pointed to the official, and not just because Wolverines tried another 14 free throw (32 to 18) than Rutgers.
“Just (expletive) destroyed for our (expletive) guys,” said Pikiell on Rutger’s radio interview after the game. “Played so hard (expletively) all the time. Excuse my language.
“A pair of (down) stretch calls, I thought there were travel (at Michigan). We couldn’t get a stop, but I couldn’t be more proud of these guys. Come into this place and played toe-to-toe with them all the time, and you lose that game?”
Lathan Sommerville got a career pile of 17 points and Dylan Harper also made 17 for Scarlet Knights. Tyson Acuff added 16 points.
Harper is on average a team best 19.3 points while Ace Bailey Chips with 18.2 per match for Rutgers, which has lost the last four meetings with Boilermakers.
Purdue published a 68-50 victory over host Rutgers on January 9. Smith stood out with 16 points, 14 assists and three steals. Bailey had 17 points and seven returns for Rutgers, who established a season was for points.
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