Remember those old school Purdue basketball teams coached by Gene Keady?
The ones who always had a chance because they played defense, had grit and could win games ugly?
Look a lot like the current Boilermakers, don’t they?
Coach Matt Painter doesn’t have that elite eraser defender he’s had at times in his career, with guys like Chris Kramer and Rapheal Davis.
Instead, Purdue has relied on help defense and savvy instincts.
It’s given the Boilermakers opportunities to stay in it when shots aren’t falling in recent road games at Minnesota, Rutgers and Washington.
On Wednesday night, the Boilermakers found themselves down 10 late in the first half vs. the Huskies, but forced nine turnovers.
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“Defensively, I didn’t think it was that bad in the first half, you know, holding someone to 30 points on their home court,” Painter told reporters after.
Four minutes and 24 seconds into the second half, Purdue led Washington, ultimately running to a sixth straight victory, all of them by double figures.
Washington finished with 17 turnovers, becoming the fourth straight opponent Purdue has turned over at least 13 times.
Purdue’s next challenge: at Oregon Saturday afternoon.
5 defensive stats during Purdue basketball win streak
Opponents points per game: 60.3
Purdue has outscored opponents by an average of 20.3 points over its six-game winning streak. Nebraska scored 68 ― most of them inconsequential ― the highest against the Boilermakers during that stretch. Washington is the fourth opponent in the last five games to score 61 or fewer.
Turnovers forced per game: 14.2
Minnesota, with eight, is the only team that didn’t have double-digit turnovers against the Boilermakers during the string of victories. The other five all turned it over at least 13 times. Braden Smith has 16 steals over this stretch.
Opponent field goal percentage: 41.6
This number is even more impressive considering Washington was 20-for-47 on Wednesday. For transparency, four teams Purdue beat during the win streak are the bottom four in the Big Ten in field goal percentage. Purdue’s defense has played a slight role in that.
Opponent 3-point percentage: 27.3
Outside shooting can be the great equalizer. Washington actually shot 40.9% from deep, aided by an uncharacteristic 5-for-5 night from Great Osobor, who was 4-for-17 on the season prior. The last six teams against Purdue averaged 5.8 made 3s, which obviously got a bump thanks to the Huskies.
Double digit scorers: 15
You can look at this multiple ways. An average of 2.5 players per night finding their way into double figures may not be great, but that depends on how many points and how many shots it took those players to score. For further context, those 15 players needed 175 attempts and missed 99 times. Again, Osobor is the outlier, going 8-for-9. Those 15 double-digit scorers against Purdue (Northwestern 4, Toledo 3, Minnesota, Rutgers, Nebraska and Washington 2 each) collectively averaged 31.5 points as units vs. Purdue.
Sam King covers sports for the Journal & Courier. Email him at sking@jconline.com and follow him on X and Instagram @samueltking.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Defensive stats to know from Purdue basketball’s six-game win streak
