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men's basketball: news and notes vertime BY BRIAN NEUBERT BNeubert@GoldandBlack.com has Purdue's ainconsistencyBoilercontinued, as the makers won big road game at Clemson but then lost at home to Xavier before rebounding with an emphatic win against overmatched Lamar. The topsy-turvy three-game swing has left Purdue sitting even at 4-4 through eight games. "We have to do a better job of not beating ourselves," Coach Matt Painter said prior to the La- mar game. "I think that's what we've done. I don't want to take anything away from any of the teams that have beat us, because they've earned it, but the position I'm in as the coach at Purdue, I just feel like Purdue's beating Purdue. "We have to do a better job giving ourselves a chance and just playing to our strengths. We have an identity crisis as a team. There's too many individuals who don't play to their strengths and that's my job as a coach. I have to get that straightened out, because I really believe we have FLASH FORWARD Game: Eastern Michigan Location: EMU Convocation Center When: 2 p.m. Saturday Notables: Purdue goes on the road for the second time for a game that was included as part of a football contract between the two schools. … The Boilermakers beat Eastern Michigan 6136 in Mackey Arena last season. … EMU is 5-2, coming off an 8448 loss at Syracuse, where Coach Rob Murphy was an assistant coach under Jim Boeheim. … Guard Derek Thompson leads the Eagles at 13.6 points per game. … Eastern Michigan is 9-71 alltime against Big Ten schools. PURDUE sitting at .500 enough talent to win game, especially close games." PURDUE 72, LAMAR 39 Dec. 4 • Mackey Arena In a game scheduled as a favor to Lamar coach and long-time Painter friend Pat Knight, Purdue rolled over the young and struggling Cardinals in Mackey Arena. "I'd prefer not to play friends," Painter said of Knight, the son of former Indiana coach Bob Knight and Painter's former summer teammate. "It was not fun for me to play against Bruce Weber and Illinois. That wasn't fun at all. A lot of people don't realize that until you can go through it." The result was predictable, a game Purdue led start to finish, by as many as 34, with the outcome of the game never once in doubt. But as Painter and players have said, given their struggles, Purdue's issues right now are with Purdue as much as, if not more than, with opponents. With that in mind, the Boilermakers did some positive things, even though the game's onesidedness didn't exactly make for grueling game conditions. A few days after go- Tom Campbell Coach Matt Painter said he's made a "huge mistake" so far by not playing senior point guard Dru Anthrop more. As Purdue struggles to take care of the basketball, his minutes could increase. ing 0-for-17 from three-point range in a loss to Xavier, Purdue was far more judicious with its approach offensively. Terone Johnson was active in going to the basket in scoring a game-high 16 points. And the Boilermakers got the ball inside to center A.J. Hammons, who chipped in 13 points. "We talked about it in prac- tice, that we need to get the ball inside, whether it be throwing it inside or us driving inside," Terone Johnson said. "Every time we get two feet in the paint, we score a lot more than we don't. That was a big emphasis." Key player Painter said he's made a "huge mistake" not playing guard Dru Anthrop more to this point because of the effort he's given and his thorough understanding of his responsibilities. The competition must be kept in mind, but Anthrop made his case against Lamar, making numerous hustle plays and finishing the game with four steals and three assists in 23 minutes. Obviously, game conditions didn't make things too demanding on the Boilermakers' usual goto players, but Terone Johnson had a big game with 16 points and seven rebounds. He'll be listed here plenty of times the rest of the season. Key Stretch The outcome was never in doubt, but a 10-0 Purdue run in the final minutes of the first half stretched the Boilermaker lead into the 20s. With Lamar unable to score, that pretty much did it. GoldanDBlack express • volume 23, express 14 • 23