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BY BRIAN NEUBERT BNeubert@GoldandBlack.com W ith two regular-season games left, Purdue's NCAA Tournament and Big Ten Tourna- ment-seeding fates may hang in the balance. The Boilermakers saw a gold- en opportunity slip away at Ohio State, where the Buckeyes rallied from a 12-point halftime deficit to deny Purdue a win that probably would have sealed its place in the Big Dance. At Ohio State, Purdue simply couldn't get a handle on D'Angelo Russell, the future lottery pick who scored 17 or his 28 points after halftime. While the fresh- man star got loose, Purdue struggled to score, not because it couldn't generate opportunities, but because it couldn't make the most of the ones it got. The Boiler- makers missed b a c k - t o - b a c k mid-half one- and-one op- portunities before Dakota Mathias missed two of three free throws after getting fouled behind the arc. "If we could convert some of those and take care of business, those last two or three minutes, we're in a different position," Coach Matt Painter said. "We'd have a lead and they're going to have to continue to play from behind. They were able to cut into it and make a good run against us when we were doing pretty positive things. We miss two one- and-ones and get fouled on a three-point shot and we make one of the three. We should have seven p o i n t s there and we have o n e . T h a t ' s unfortu - nate." Following are takeaways. S Purdue has really shown itself lately to be vulnerable to pressure, whether it's in the fullcourt at the end of the Rutgers game or in the halfcourt at the end of the Ohio State game. Here comes more of it from here on out, we'd suspect. S Purdue's been close to a 50-percent three-point shooting team the past two games. If it can just get to around 38 and stick there for the long haul, a lot will change. S Purdue really needs fresh- man forward Vince Edwards back to form. After he missed the Rut- gers game due to concussion symptoms, he fouled out in just 15 minutes in Columbus. The Boilermakers really could have used him at the end, when Ohio State sagged off Basil Smoth- erman to crowd A.J. Hammons. Ohio State might not have cheated off Edwards, the better shooter of the two. S The Boilermakers had bet- ter be ready to rebound at Michi- gan State or else that could be a long evening. j FLASH FORWARD Opponent: Michigan State Location: Breslin Center When: 8 p.m. Wednesday Notables: Michigan State is riding a two-game losing streak, in- cluding a surprising overtime home loss to Minnesota in which the Gophers scored 96 points. … The Spartans have been surprisingly beatable in the Breslin Center, where Texas Southern, Maryland, Il- linois and Minnesota are among those who've come in and won this year. … Purdue will be looking to ruin a good team's senior night for the third time in four seasons. It won at Michigan in 2011-12 and Wisconsin the following season. … This will be a game between the Big Ten's two leaders in field-goal percentage defense in Big Ten play, Purdue being No. 1 and MSU No. 2, and two of the best rebounding teams in the league. … Forward Branden Dawson leads the Big Ten in rebounding in conference games, averaging 10.3 per game. 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 Tom Campbell Basil Smotherman has started two straight, with a big outing vs. Rutgers. GOLDANDBLACK EXPRESS • VOLUME 25, EXPRESS 23 • 7