Purdue Basketball Struggles After Loss to Ohio State

0:00On March 1st, Purdue's eighth-ring basketball team suffered a tough loss to Ohio State, dropping three of their last four games at a bad time before. The Big Ten tournament, Coach Matt Panner was clearly frustrated after the Boilermakers blew a seven-point lead and fell into a 16-point hole. The Buckeyes clamped down on defense, holding Purdue to just 44.4% shooting from the field and 37.9%. From free point range, Purdue also racked up 23 fouls compared to Ohio State's 2017, while failing to block a single shot inside. Painter pointed to inconsistent focus as the main issue, saying the team makes good plays then loses concentration on the next ones. He stressed it's a collective problem, not just one or two players, and Ohio State didn't do anything special to disrupt them. Trey Kaufman-Ren led Purdue with 19 points, followed by Fletcher Lawyer with 15 and C.J. Cox with 13. While in the week, Braydon Smith hit a milestone, but couldn't carry over into this match up.

1:01With the tournament looming, Purdue needs to find consistency fast to avoid fading further in the stretch run.