Five Guys and Whys: Why Purdue Lost to Villanova

Welcome to the not yet, but hopefully soon, sponsored post Five Guys and Whys. Often times, games are a collection of subtle plays, strange tips, and unlucky breaks. It’s hard to take any game of 40 minutes and say just one thing cost or won you a game, but when a game comes down to the wire and 3 points separates the winner from the loser, it’s often times just one thing that could make a difference. This is our attempt to find that one thing.

T-Mill: To me, it was turnovers. It is not so much how many Purdue had, but when they occurred. Three times Purdue had the ball down 64-63. They turned the ball over twice and missed the front end of a 1-and-1, so that is like a turnover. That second half just felt like if Purdue could have gotten the lead back after being down 11 at one point the Mackey Magic would have taken over, but those turnovers on three straight possessions were killer.

Andrew Ledman(Jumboheroes): I'm not blaming the refs, I want to make that clear up front. BUT that first half shot by Villanova was definitely after the shot clock expired. Take away 2 points and who knows how the rest of the game plays out. That being said I think Vincent Edwards didn't play particularly well and that hampered Purdue down the stretch. He wound up with quite a few turnovers and his three point shot was so far off the mark it fell like the end of the Little Rock game(Editor’s Note: He was on the court against Villanova for 38 minutes). I think if either, or both, of those things were changed Purdue would have won. That being said I feel very optimistic about this team today. More than I had previously.

Kyle Holderfield: Why did we lose? First half foul trouble to Biggie and Haas was a major factor. But it really wasn't their fault, the guards couldn't keep Nova's more talented guards in front of them, leading to us fouling with the bigs. Not having a true 3rd big guy will probably plague us all season, CMP will need to figure it out.

Drew Schneider(legendofshawnmccarthy): Purdue lost because Biggie and Haas are bigger than everyone and it isn't fair. Haas played 5 minutes in the first quarter because he refused to move out of the way so Nova could score. That is now illegal. Biggie missed time because he didn't work on his invisible cylinder in the off-season. On 2 occasions, Nova players were knocked over by Caleb's essence. No Biggie and Haas for long stretches makes Purdue sad.

Casey Bartley(cryan26): Free throws. It’s not so much just the points left off the scoreboard, but if Haas makes one of those three free throws or Villanova misses one, then that last possession is only a 2 point game. This is important because trip after trip, the Boilers got Haas the ball in the paint and he scored. This is a good sign. Villanova knew what Purdue wanted to do at the end, and they couldn’t stop it. CMP did a great job designing plays that got Haas mismatches in the paint and easy shots in the toughest time of the game to get good shots. There’s plenty to be encouraged about, Pudue was able to use their advantage and was a stop away or a missed free throw from possible tying up the game against the defending champs.