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GOLDANDBLACK EXPRESS • VOLUME 25, EXPRESS 14 • 16 BY BRIAN NEUBERT BNeubert@GoldandBlack.com P urdue took on a three-game slate of games, positioned to cruise to a trio of wins, but the perils of youth struck and the Boilermakers were stunned at home by North Florida Saturday. Purdue responded with wins over IPFW and Arkansas State leading into its road opener at Vanderbilt this weekend, but the North Florida loss stung. "It's a by-product of youth to not be dialed in all the time," Coach Matt Painter said, "and we weren't dialed in, especially in that second half." Against IPFW, Purdue saw a 21-point lead cut to just seven with 10-and-a-half minutes left, but after folding against the Ospreys, it ral- lied vs. the Mastodons. "We learned from our mistakes Sat- urday," freshman Dakota Mathias said. "We learned you can't take any team for granted. There are people who can play everywhere. We learned that lesson the hard way, but a good team adjusts to that stuff and that's what we did today." Against Arkansas State, the hot-shoot- ing Boilermakers rolled over an overmatched opponent 87-46, buoyed by red-hot first- half shooting from Kendall Stephens. Following are takeaways from the week: S What's becoming evident is that Purdue's shooters need to be doing the overwhelming majority of the shoot- ing. We'd consider those guys to be Ste- phens, Mathias, P.J. Thompson and Vince Edwards. Everyone else better pick their spots wisely, if at all. S Hammons should be more efficient offensively. He's shooting just 48 percent, low for a 7-footer who should do the bulk of his scoring at the rim. It would be nice for Purdue to see Hammons go to the basket more with his post moves as opposed to drifting away or shooting stand-still one-handers. He's been short-arming shots lately and generally not finishing around the basket as effectively as he's equipped to. S Bryson Scott has played well since coming back from an ankle injury while Jon Octeus has shown some signs of becoming more assertive as a penetrator, both of which can bring some valuable balance to the offense. j M E N ' S B A S K E T B A L L G O L D B O X E S L I N K T O G A M E S T O R I E S A LOOK BACK AT THE LAST WEEK OF BASKETBALL FLASH FORWARD Opponent: Vanderbilt Location: Memorial Gym When: 9 p.m. Saturday Notables: In Purdue's first true road game of the season, the Boilermakers face off with former Boilermaker player and assis- tant coach Kevin Stallings' Commodores … Vandy is 5-2, includ- ing a loss to Rutgers on a neutral floor and a loss to Baylor at home in its last outing. … Vandy big man Damian Jones is very good, a big-bodied and athletic center who averages nearly 18 points on 61-percent shooting, and just under eight rebounds. … 7-footer Luke Kornet can shoot the three, an in- teresting matchup for Purdue's size … Vandy shoots 49 percent overall and better than 37 percent from three- point range. Tom Campbell After the loss to North Florida, Isaac Haas was inserted into the starting lineup.