Just now: Purdue collapses again in tournament loss

DENVER — As Little Rock men’s basketball players’ shrieks of joy echoed down the Pepsi Center hallway, Purdue players consoled each other a somber circle in their locker room.

For the second straight season, an NCAA tournament victory slipped like sand through the Boilermakers’ fingers. For the second straight season, an opponent surged as Purdue collapsed.

With three-and-a-half minutes left in regulation, the 5 seed Boilermakers led by 13 points. Then 12 seed Little Rock turned up the pressure, Trojans guard Josh Hagins summoned a career-defining performance, and the Boilermakers’ aspirations of a deep NCAA Tournament run imploded in an 85-83 double-overtime loss.

One year earlier, Purdue blew a seven-point lead in the final minute of regulation in an eventual overtime loss to Cincinnati in the opening round in Louisville. Several players said that loss never left them, and even served as offseason motivation.

Instead, the Boilermakers, who came into the tournament playing their best sustained stretch of basketball of the season, relived the same crushing regret on Thursday.

“Disbelief is the only emotion I feel right now,” sophomore center Isaac Haas said.

This wasn’t the first time Purdue failed to finish a victory, only the most dramatic. It wasn’t the first example of the Boilermakers giving away a game with turnovers, only the most disheartening. Point guard P.J. Thompson called it “sickening.”

The loss closed a 26-9 season of great promise that never reached its potential and ended the careers of Purdue seniors A.J. Hammons, Rapheal Davis and Johnny Hill.

“My time is done,” said Davis, the emotional leader of Purdue climb from a last-place Big Ten Conference finish two years ago. “I feel like it’s an incomplete career. Going out like this is probably one of the worst feelings I’ve ever had in my life.”

Purdue blew big halftime leads at home against Iowa and Michigan State, and late leads on the road against Maryland and Michigan. Almost every Boilermaker loss shared one common denominator — turnovers. Purdue gave it away 18 times on Thursday, leading directly to 25 Little Rock points.

Three of those turnovers came during Little Rock’s astonishing 12-0 run into the final minute of regulation. Purdue coach Matt Painter was asked after the game if a previous lack of composure haunted his team late in the game.

“I don’t know if the word “haunted” is correct,” Painter said. “It’s not a strength of our team and a strength of a couple individuals that are good players. We’ve just got to continue to work and get better and make improvements in those areas.”

Hagins, a senior guard, scored only two points in the first half. But he finished with 31, and at times there was little Purdue could do as he hit improbable shot after improbable shot. Hagins’ fade-away jumper with a minute left in double-overtime gave Little Rock an 83-79 lead.

Yet Purdue had a chance to win on its final possession. Little Rock led 84-83 when Maurius Hill missed two free throws with 9.8 seconds left in the second overtime. At the other end, Purdue’s Johnny Hill drove to the basket, lost his balance, and threw up a shot that missed the basket. Hill said he thought someone grabbed his arm, but no foul was called.

Little Rock rebounded and Hagins made the first free throw, but missed the second with 1.3 seconds left. Vince Edwards’ near full-court heave fell short.

“We knew what they were going to do, they did it, and we just didn’t make the shots,” Davis said.

The Trojans advance to face No. 4 Iowa State in Saturday’s second round. The Cyclones defeated Iona 94-81 in the early game of an afternoon session attended by 19,944.

Dakota Mathias hit a 3 with 33 seconds left to give Purdue a four-point lead. Little Rock’s Lis Shoshi responded with one at the other end to make it 68-67 with 20.9 seconds left. That shot bounced up and off the rim before going in, and officials had to check replay to confirm it was a 3-pointer. It was eerily reminiscent of the buzzer-beating layup by Cincinnati’s Troy Caupin that rolled around the rim before falling in to send that game in Louisville to overtime.

Edwards made two free throws with 17.8 left to make it a three-point game. But Hagins, who at that point was already en route to a brilliant, breakthrough performance, hit another 3 well behind the line at the top of the key to tie it.

In overtime, Ryan Cline made one free throw with 25 seconds left to put Purdue up 75-73, but missed the second. Hagins answered with a baseline floater at the other end to tie it 75-75.

Purdue never led in the second overtime.

The collapse was more stunning considering it came after Purdue played so well in building a 14-point lead with five minutes to play. After struggling to make shots in the first half, the Boilermakers orchestrated a crisp, balanced offense, feeding Hammons inside and finally warming up from the perimeter.

All of that success was buried in the avalanche in the final three minutes of regulation.

“We were executing the ball well, we were pushing it, we were running motion, we were doing things the way we were supposed to be and we were playing to win,” Haas said. “Unfortunately, at the end, it felt like we got passive. It’s always been a characteristic of ours this season.

Just now: Purdue collapses again in tournament loss

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