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GOLDANDBLACK EXPRESS • VOLUME 25, EXPRESS 16 • 8 BY BRIAN NEUBERT BNeubert@GoldandBlack.com A fter a 2-0 Big Ten start, Purdue faced a pair of opportunities for premier wins and came away with neither, falling to each of the league's two highest-ranked teams in fourth- ranked Wisconsin in Madison and No. 11 Maryland in West Lafayette. The free throw line did Purdue in in both contests, as the Boiler- makers were outscored 25-3 at the stripe in Madison, then 27-13 against the Terrapins. Purdue has been called for nearly 50 fouls the past 80 minutes of basketball, compounding the problem against Maryland with 16 turnovers. Here are takeaways from the two losses: S Purdue has made some improvements defensively in Big Ten play but is marginalizing that progress by not being able to de- fend without fouling the past two games. (Maybe the two things aren't mutually exclusive, though.) Wisconsin and Maryland com- bined to score more than 50 points from the line and Purdue was hit hard by foul trouble in both games. Kendall Stephens played just 12 minutes in Madison because of it; centers Isaac Haas and A.J. Ham- mons sat together on the bench for an extended stretch against Maryland after each was saddled with four fouls with still 10 minutes remaining to play. There are going to be fouls. But it's the cheap stuff that's going to continue to hold Purdue back if it can't clean it up. S Collectively, Purdue is a bet- ter free-throw shooting team than it's been in past years. But as long as its greatest drawer of fouls, Haas, is a 50-percent shooter, there are go- ing to be limitations to how much damage it can do at the stripe. S Jon Octeus' scoring at point guard hasn't necessarily led to wins for Purdue, but it's brought some- thing more for opponents to con- cern themselves with and brought some real balance to Purdue's of- fensive arsenal, a penetrating threat who can get to the basket and fin- ish along with the Boilermak- ers' inte- rior threats and long-range shooters. S Purdue has not in recent memory seen a play- er improve defensively more from one year to the next than Rapheal Davis has. He does look the part now of not only Purdue's best wing defender, but one of the Big Ten's best. j FLASH FORWARD Opponent: Penn State Location: Bryce Jordan Center When: 1 p.m. Saturday Notables: After a 12-1 non-conference season, the Nittany Lions have come down to earth hard in Big Ten play, losing their first three games with a trip to Indiana upcoming. … D.J. Newbill is the league's top scorer, averaging 21.3 points per game. … No other Nittany Lion averages double figures. Tom Campbell It has been Rapheal Davis' defensive skills that have earned attention of late. A LOOK BACK AT THE LAST WEEK OF BASKETBALL 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