Purdue coach Matt Painter seemingly conceded the Big Ten regular-season crown to top-ranked Michigan after the No. 7 Boilermakers’ home loss to the Wolverines on Tuesday night.
At 21-5 overall and 11-4 in conference play entering a Friday visit from Indiana, however, Purdue still maintains solid footing for the postseason despite an uneven showing over the past month.
The Boilermakers are just 4-4 since Jan. 20, including a five-point road loss to the Hoosiers. Purdue fell 3 1/2 games behind Michigan in the conference standings despite getting a season-high 27 points from Trey Kaufman-Renn.
“Your final test is in the NCAA Tournament. That’s the way I look at it,” Painter said. “Sure, you want to win those games, but if we would’ve won it, we wouldn’t of had a parade. If we win this game, it doesn’t mean we got to the Final Four.”
Purdue must regain its shooting touch to avoid a series sweep by the Hoosiers and restart the push for the best possible seed in the conference tournament.
Braden Smith had 20 points against Michigan but shot just 4-for-13 from the floor, while Fletcher Loyer (11) was the only other Boilermaker to finish in double figures.
The Boilermakers finished with eight fewer turnovers than Michigan but struggled against the Wolverines’ interior defense.
“They’ve earned what they’ve gotten,” Painter said of the Wolverines. “We just got to keep earning ours, too.”
Indiana (17-9, 8-7) has been idle since a 71-51 loss at then-No. 8 Illinois on Sunday.
The Hoosiers slumped to 6-for-24 shooting from long range and finished at just 40.8% from the floor as they fell short in their pursuit of a third three-game conference winning streak this season.
Leading scorer Lamar Wilkerson (21.2 points per game) has remained a steady hand. Wilkerson has contributed at least 21 points in the Hoosiers’ four February games, including 41 against Oregon on Feb. 9.
Indiana coach Darian DeVries lauded Wilkerson’s “ability to get downhill, get to the rim, get to the free-throw line. Even getting into the post game a little bit.”
“He can find a lot of different ways to throw (it) in the basket, that’s for sure,” DeVries added.
The Hoosiers are hoping to get one of Wilkerson’s backcourt mates going against the Boilermakers.
After scoring a game-high 26 points to key a 98-97 double-overtime victory at UCLA on Jan. 21, Nick Dorn cooled considerably over the next four games. Dorn has slumped to just 18 points on 4-for-28 shooting in February and was limited to one point at Illinois.
Despite Dorn enduring one of “those stretches,” DeVries is adamant that Dorn’s impact on the offense transcends scoring.
“I think what Nick’s really given us is that floor spacing,” DeVries said. “When you watch the tape, it’s not always just about him scoring, it’s about how he’s being guarded. So, it just opens up the floor a lot more for us. We get a lot more driving lanes with Nick standing in the corner and providing that spacing.”
Wilkerson (19 points) and Dorn (18) paced the Hoosiers’ attack in a 72-67 home win against then-12th-ranked Purdue on Jan. 27. Kaufmann-Renn led all scorers with 23 points.
