Turnovers Remain a Focus for Purdue Basketball Heading into NCAA Tournament
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue basketball's first loss to Indiana in six years has been a reference point for coach Matt Painter and the team all season.
When the team struggles to take care of the basketball in its matchups, Painter thinks back to the first half of its road matchup against the Hoosiers. In that game back on Jan. 20, the Boilermakers gave the ball up 10 times before halftime, which led to their in-state rival garnering a nine-point lead.
The deficit was eventually too much to overcome in the second half, resulting in the 68-65 loss.
Oftentimes this season, wounds have been self-inflicted for Purdue, and turnovers have been the recurring theme that will either make or break this team. And that sentiment holds true heading into the NCAA Tournament.
"It's one of those things that doesn't go away," said Painter, who's gearing the Boilermakers up for their first-round NCAA Tournament matchup against Yale. "We'll really do well in a three to four-game stretch, and then all of a sudden it pops up again. So we just have to make better decisions and keep the game simple."
When the team lost to Indiana, it responded with a six-game winning streak. But even after taking care of the ball during the first two rounds of the Big Ten Tournament, turnovers are what ruined Purdue's chances in a 75-66 loss to Iowa on Sunday in Indianapolis.
The team knows it's something that takes constant attention to detail, and it's something that's been a focus before continuing postseason play.
"It's an important issue for us, of course, because you don't want to give them the ball," Purdue senior guard Eric Hunter Jr. said. "But I think having everything, every issue that we have and putting it on the same plane right now is important. Because you don't want to overthink certain stuff.
"That's kind of what we did before the Iowa game. We talked about not turning it over, and that's what we did."
Purdue sophomore guard Jaden Ivey shouldered blame following the defeat, having turned the ball over five times in the contest despite scoring a team-high 20 points.
He's a player whose strengths are put on full display when he has space in the open court. Ivey's athleticism and quickness allow him to attack the rim as well as any player in the nation.
But when he has the predetermined thought to score the ball before multiple defenders converge on him in the paint, he has tendencies to make mistakes. Painter has preached to his sophomore star the same things all season, and this team ascends to a higher level offensively when Ivey makes the right decisions.
"Just let things come to him, but be aggressive," Painter said. "The one thing, when you try to curtail some of his aggressiveness, you don't want to take away from the aggressiveness. You still want him to be in attack mode. But just take what they give you when they put two, three, four people on the ball, be under control, get the ball out of your hands, use your dribble throughs, things of that nature.
"Just keep it simple when they get aggressive. But when he has space, we want him to attack, especially in transition."
The quest for a strong NCAA Tournament push begins Friday, starting at 2 p.m. ET in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, when No. 3-seeded Purdue tips off against No. 14 Yale. It's just the third meeting between the two programs.
A six-game winning streak from here on out would result in the team hoisting the National Championship Trophy for the first time in program history.
But the Bulldogs pride themselves on defense, allowing just 68.8 points per game this season while holding opponents to an Ivy League-best 42.3% from the field, which includes 30.4% from the 3-point line.
The conference has found success across the board in forcing turnovers throughout the 2021-22 season. Five of the league's eight teams forced at least 13.2 turnovers per game.
"For the amount that I've seen so far, I think they do a good job of taking away your first, second, sometimes third actions," Hunter said. "They make you just have long positions. And in those positions, people get impatient and turn the ball over. So I think they got a good mixture of that going, just taking away people's early offense and making it hard."
Purdue knows how important it is to respect every team that it plays in the NCAA Tournament, because Yale didn't make it to this point by some mistake. It earned its right to be there after winning the Ivy League Tournament.
And it's a team that will come ready to give its best effort.
"The style of play in that league, obviously, they run good offense, and they have great coaches in their league," Painter said. "And so they're prepared, they're prepared for this moment."
Stories Related to Purdue Basketball
- 5 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT YALE: No. 14 seed Yale finished the season with a 19-11 record and punched its ticket to the NCAA Tournament with a 66-64 win over Princeton in the Ivy League Tournament title game. CLICK HERE
- TV, TIPOFF TIME FOR PURDUE VS. YALE: No. 3 Purdue will play No. 14 Yale beginning at 2 p.m. ET on Friday, March 18, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The matchup will be aired live on TBS. CLICK HERE
- JADEN IVEY NAMED FIRST-TEAM ALL-AMERICAN BY NABC: Purdue sophomore guard Jaden Ivey is the third first-team All-American selection under coach Matt Painter and just the second underclassman to earn the recognition for the program in the last 92 years. CLICK HERE
- THREE PURDUE PLAYERS NAMED TO ALL-DISTRICT TEAMS: Purdue basketball's Jaden Ivey, Zach Edey and Trevion Williams were named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches All-District teams. CLICK HERE
- IVEY NAMED AP SECOND-TEAM ALL-AMERICAN: Purdue sophomore guard Jaden Ivey is averaging 17.4 points, 4.9 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game this season for Purdue. CLICK HERE
- PURDUE RANKED NO. 10 IN FINAL AP POLL: Purdue basketball earned two victories in the Big Ten Tournament before falling to Iowa in the championship game. The team sits at 27-7 on the season and comes in at No. 10 in the final AP College Basketball Top 25 poll. CLICK HERE
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D.J. Fezler is a staff writer for BoilermakersCountry.com. Hailing from The Region, he is from Cedar Lake in Northwest Indiana and has spent the last two years covering Purdue football and basketball.