West Lafayette, Ind. - Purdue’s love for the three-point basket was clear Saturday night, but Valentine’s Day had long passed.
“It killed us tonight,” Boilermaker forward Rodney Smith said. “We love shooting threes, I love to just fire them up.”
In its 62-59 loss to MSU (15-10 overall, 6-6 Big Ten), Purdue put up 31 threes in a show of affection. But the rim denied the Boilermakers’ love, as only 10 were true for a 32.2 three-point percentage.
Even though its three-point fetish was the ultimate cause of its demise, Purdue’s clutch shooting down the stretch almost won the game.
Purdue guard Willie Deane hit two triples in the game’s final minute and 37 seconds. The second gave the Boilermakers (12-15, 4-9) a 59-58 lead with 1:01 left. He also hit a three-pointer 36 seconds earlier, cutting MSU’s lead to 58-56.
With 15 seconds remaining and trailing 60-59, Purdue called a timeout. After the break Deane had a chance to win the game, but missed a triple as the clock ran down.
“As poor as they were shooting they were able to hit some big shots,” said MSU freshman guard Chris Hill. “That’s tough to do, especially in crunchtime.”
But as Hill pointed out, Purdue struggled most of the night. The Boilermakers shot 41.1 percent from the field on 23-of-56 shooting.
Possibly even more frustrating for the Spartans was Purdue’s carefree attitude toward the long-range shot. MSU defended the perimeter well, but the Boilermakers simply stepped back to continue launching threes.
“It felt like we were right up on them,” Hill said. “They were three or four steps back shooting, and without a thought were hitting them. It was pretty frustrating.”
Regarding the Boilermakers’ range, Deane has a simple answer.
“When you’re really in a rhythm shooting it doesn’t matter how far out you are,” he said.
Deane lead Purdue with 18 points, but wasn’t in the rhythm he mentioned. Deane shot 7-of-19 from the field, including 4-of-11 from downtown.
“In the first half we were daring them to shoot threes,” MSU head coach Tom Izzo said. “With Willie and Smith the three-point line means nothing, you have to be out farther than that. We didn’t do as good of a job on that early, then we started clamping down.
“I don’t know if their game plan was to shoot that many threes or that we took some things away.”
The three-point line wasn’t the only spot where Purdue struggled to find love. The Boilermakers also shot 3-of-9 from the free-throw line.
“I think we missed our first five free throws,” Purdue head coach Gene Keady said.
Although Purdue’s off-shooting night assisted in MSU’s victory, Izzo said the Spartans were lucky to come out on top.
“I give Purdue credit, they made some big shots” he said. “I was just pleased to get away with a win.”
