Purdue’s loss to No. 15 Gonzaga in the season opener wasn’t unexpected. But falling in double-overtime in the home opener against Valparaiso on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer?
That loss put Purdue in an 0-2 hole and has many folks wondering what’s going on ahead of Monday night’s home game against Illinois State in West Lafayette, Ind.
Expecting some slippage from last year was understandable. After all, the Boilermakers lost all-time NCAA assist leader Braden Smith, as well as power forward Trey Kaufman-Renn and 3-point bomber Fletcher Loyer.
But starting 0-2 for the first time since 1976-77, when future No. 1 overall NBA draft pick Joe Barry Carroll was a freshman? That ranks as borderline gobsmacking.
Purdue coach Matt Painter, while no doubt hoping for positive results sooner instead of later, is preaching patience. He’s compared this team to the 2018-19 squad, which had point guard Carsen Edwards and four new starters, got off to a 6-5 start and then got within a second of a Final Four berth.
“It just took us a while to get there,” Painter said. “I hope it doesn’t take us that long but I liked the end results of that.”
While the Boilermakers try to find traction, the Redbirds (1-1) hope to join their fellow Missouri Valley Conference member in taking a win out of Mackey Arena. They routed Division II Central State (OH) 100-55 on Thursday night after suffering an overtime loss in their season opener at Saint Mary’s.
Johnny Kinziger is averaging 23.0 points per game and hitting 68.2% of his shots for Illinois State, which is expected to challenge preseason favorite Murray State for the MVC title.
Fifth-year coach Ryan Pedon feels nothing but good can come from this game and other tests he has lined up in the non-conference schedule.
“I want to get better. That’s why we schedule games like this,” he said. “You’re only going to improve when you challenge yourself.”
The matchup to watch might be Redbirds senior post Chase Walker against 7-foot-4 Purdue center Daniel Jacobsen, who scored a career-high 28 points Friday night.