Purdue Basketball: Takeaways from win over Butler

The Boilermakers must still improve down the stretch in close games.

It’s not like anybody will remember, but Purdue actually held an eight-point lead late in this second-round game and barely held on to advance at the buzzer. This came after overcoming a nine-point deficit in the first half to claim control of the game.

Within the final five minutes of play, Purdue failed to score any points for more than a three-minute stretch. In this time, they were still able to defend with intensity and hold on to their lead. But as head coach Matt Painter said in his postgame interview, they lost focus and began taking some ill-advised shots from the perimeter.

Purdue has more 20+ point wins than anybody in the country, which is a testament to their talent and relentlessness. But the problem with winning so many games by so many points is a lack of experience with games hanging in the balance. Purdue didn’t need to worry about this in the opening round when they blew out Cal State Fullerton. But moving forward, the competition is only going to get tougher, meaning that the games will likely only get tighter.

Once again, there is good news for the Boilermakers, and that is that this inexperience should somewhat be offset by the fact that they have four senior starters, and are one of the most well-coached and mature teams in college basketball. Still, Purdue should work on some situational basketball this week as they prepare for the sweet sixteen. It is one of the very few vulnerable spots the team has.

Next: Impact of UMBC's historic upset

Friday’s east region semifinal at Madison Square Garden featuring Purdue and Texas Tech should be an entertaining one, with both teams having had a long drought since last tasting the elite eight. Even though Purdue’s second-round win wasn’t the most dominant, the Boilermakers should come in as heavy favorites, especially if Isaac Haas is able to return to action.