ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 25, ISSUE 3 17
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BY BRIAN NEUBERT
BNeubert@GoldandBlack.com
T
he season started off so well for
Purdue's new-look basketball
team.
But what's been seen lately has
seemed a little too familiar.
After ripping off a 6-1 start high-
lighted by impressive wins over
Missouri and BYU at the Maui Invi-
tational and North Carolina State in
the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, the Boil-
ermakers have fallen on hard times
as Big Ten play nears.
Whether it's the inconsistency of a
freshmen-heavy team
or what is unclear, but
8-4 Purdue (as of Dec.
21) has looked nothing
like 6-1 Purdue did,
coming off back-to-
back one-sided losses
at Vanderbilt, then
against Notre Dame in
the Crossroads Clas-
sic in Indianapolis, an
event Matt Painter's
team is now winless in
in four tries.
In Nashville, Purdue
lost 81-71 in its only
true road game to this
point, but trailed by
as many as 22 in the
second half; against
the No. 21 Fighting
Irish in Bankers Life
Fieldhouse, Purdue
fell apart in the second
half against the only ranked team it's
played so far and lost by 31, 94-63.
Ugly as those losses were, neither
could match the eyesore that was the
Boilermakers' stunning home loss
to North Florida one game after they
beat N.C. State; it was one of a long
list of embarrassing losses incurred
by Big Ten teams this season against
anonymous low-major competition.
The Boilermakers were set to con-
clude non-conference play against
Gardner-Webb Dec. 22 before hosting
Minnesota on New Year's Eve after-
noon to open the conference season.
Some of the good and bad for Pur-
due so far.
M E N ' S B A S K E T B A L L U P D A T E
Tom Campbell
Rapheal Davis (above) celebrates the win
over N.C. State while Isaac Haas scores
inside against Notre Dame.
UP, THEN DOWN
Boilermakers were uneven in non-conference play
