No. 5 Purdue withstands Washington's late charge to remain perfect in Big Ten

For the third time in the last four seasons, the Boilermakers managed to match their best 15-game start in program history.

It seems routine, but don’t take it for granted.

Fifth-ranked Purdue continued to put away opponents during the last month, and Wednesday’s 81-73 victory over Washington added to the list, extending the winning streak to six since the loss to Iowa State.

The Boilermakers reached the 14-1 mark for the fifth time under Matt Painter.

And this victory came with a new wrinkle.

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PURDUE COACH MATT PAINTER

PURDUE’S BRADEN SMITH, TREY KAUFMAN-RENN AND OMER MAYER

Purdue played eight minutes in the first half without All-American Braden Smith, who picked up three fouls. It didn’t matter in the end.

The Boilermakers’ defense was stingy, keeping the short-handed Huskies in a hole throughout most of the game. Meanwhile, the offense flowed through the paint as Purdue totaled 26 of its 45 points inside on a collection of layups from Smith and Oscar Cluff and Daniel Jacobsen’s dunks.

The Boilermakers, who improved to 4-0 in the Big Ten, finished with 42 points in the paint.

Omer Mayer earned the minutes with Smith on the bench and even started the second half. Cluff and Trey Kaufman-Renn combined for eight of Purdue’s first 13 points after halftime, building the lead into the 20-point range.

However, the Huskies didn’t completely go away, despite dressing just nine players. They trimmed a 23-point lead to 66-53 before Mayer drained his second 3-pointer with 7:15 to play. Washington, which made its first appearance in Mackey Arena, pulled within 73-64 at the 3:10 mark following an 8-0 run.

Quimari Peterson, a native of Gary, kept the Huskies close by hitting five 3-pointers, including four in the second half. Peterson finished with 15 points.

The points in the paint led to 64.4% shooting from 2-point range as Cluff, Kaufman-Renn, and Jacobsen combined to make 15 of 24 field goals.

Despite the foul trouble, Smith reached double figures, scoring 23 points and adding seven assists, giving the senior point guard 900 in his career. Kaufman-Renn, who surpassed 1,300 career points, had 14 on 6 of 9 shooting and pulled down 14 rebounds. Kaufman-Renn also contributed six assists.

“IT’S A GREAT LUXURY”

For the first time in his career, Smith didn’t start the second half.

Those three fouls kept Smith on the bench, paving the way for Meyer to run the team in the opening minutes after halftime. During Meyer’s time on the floor, the Boilermakers built their biggest lead at 23 points.

“It’s a great luxury to have somebody that good,” Painter said.

Mayer, a freshman from Israel who has plenty of international experience, has logged several minutes with Smith on the floor. But on Wednesday, it was Mayer handling the point guard duties and keeping the Boilermakers connected.

“He gets a lot of reps in practice, and our guys have a lot of confidence in him,” Painter said. “He’s going to be a fabulous player. But the last four minutes of the first half, and the first four minutes of the second half, that’s a great spark. He kept us together.”

Mayer played 15 minutes, scoring eight points, hitting a pair of 3-pointers. The eight points are the most since he scored 10 on Nov. 28 against Eastern Illinois.

During Smith’s time on the bench, Purdue outscored the Huskies 27-18.  

“I know what I’m capable of, and with that being said, I know my role on the team,” Mayer said. “I think being on a winning team and being part of the winning team is to know exactly what’s your role.

“I knew that I needed to step in and organize the team while he’s on the bench, basically making sure that we’re still playing at the same level. That’s my job.”

For Smith, it’s difficult to willingly take a seat on the bench, even though it’s in the best interest of the team for the Westfield native to avoid more fouls.

“The competitor side in me is I always want to play, and I always want to stay in the game,” Smith said. “If you don’t want to stay in the game as a basketball player, that’s probably an issue.

“At the end of the day, I also have an understanding. I’m smart enough to realize that we have another guy that is similar to me in many ways and can do what I can do at a very high level.”

BUZZER-BEATER

Painter called a timeout with 18 seconds left in the first half to insert Fletcher Loyer in the game.

However, Washington switched on defense and forced the Boilermakers to react. The ball ended up in Mayer’s hands. He dribbled to the baseline and connected on a step back jumper as time expired, giving Purdue a 45-28 lead.

“We didn’t balance the floor quite like we wanted to balance the floor, but he read it,” Painter said. “The worst thing you can do in that situation is not get a shot up. He was able to get one up, even though it was a tough shot, and he made it. It was a good read by him.”

“WE LET IT SNOWBALL”

Kaufman-Renn called Wednesday’s win a “weird game all around.”

What made it weird was Smith beginning the second half on the bench, a new situation for everyone involved, and Washington piecing together a run to make the Boilermakers uncomfortable down the stretch when they seemingly were in control.

“We let it snowball a little bit, but at the end of the day, a win is a win,” Kaufman-Renn said.

The 23-point lead slowly dwindled to single digits, but Purdue wasn’t in real danger of losing, despite freshman Hannes Steinbach and Peterson combining for 26 of their team’s 45 points after halftime.

The Boilermakers were able to hold off the Huskies by stepping up on the defensive end.

“I think we just had to get stops, and we weren’t doing that, and we let guys get their head up,” Smith said. “We knew going into the game that this team has been down a lot at the half, but they’ve also come back and won those games.

“We had an understanding going into the second half that they are capable of coming back and winning this game. We’ve got to keep our foot on the gas there.”