The frustration began showing after each offensive possession with eight minutes left in the first half.
Ball State University forward Rob Giles threw his hands in the air with disgust. Malik Perry pointed to the court and vented to coach Billy Taylor after being taken out of the game for a breather. Anthony Newell stood with his back to the basket and shook his head as Boilermakers guard Chris Kramer swatted at the ball in his hands.
Purdue's defense suffocated, frustrated and wore out the Cardinals offense Tuesday on its way to a 68-39 win. It was the fewest points Ball State has scored in the shot clock era, which dates back to 1985.
"You could kind of see it in their reaction to some of the plays that they were getting a little frustrated," Boilermakers' sophomore Robbie Hummel said. "That's something you try to do as a defense. You try to frustrate the opposing team."
Ball State's defense held the Boilermakers to 68 points, their second-lowest point total of the season, but the Cardinals' offense contributed to the 29-point loss.
Ball State finished the game shooting 26.4 percent from the field. It had multiple scoring droughts lasting minutes at a time and struggled executing its half-court sets.
"When you get that pressure, you've got to respond the right way," coach Billy Taylor said, "which is trying to execute, trying to screen, trying to cut, trying to move the ball side to side. We struggled with that tonight."
Purdue junior Chris Kramer held Ball State's leading scorer, Anthony Newell, four points below his average of 15 per game. Newell shot 25 percent from the field and made 4-of-10 from the free throw line.
"When you're able to put pressure on and you disrupt, then a guy like Chris Kramer can do his job and shut down the opposing team's best player," Purdue coach Matt Painter said. "I thought he did a very good job tonight of frustrating him."
Painter relied on freshman guard Lewis Jackson - who he called the quarterback of the defense - to lead the Boilermakers' defensive pressure. Jackson played a full-court, pressure defense throughout the game against Ball State's two point guards - Laron Frazier and Brandon Lampley. The freshman finished with two points, but his defensive intensity made it difficult for the Cardinals' set of point guards to dribble the ball up the court.
"He ignites what we do defensively by going out there and putting pressure on the ball," Painter said. "If they can't start their offense, they can't run their offense."
Frazier and Lampley practiced against Jackson's speed in practice, Frazier said, but Jackson's intensity was almost impossible to prepare for.
"It's kind of different because he (pressures) the whole game," Frazier said. "That was his job on their team - to press the guard."
Frazier said the most frustrating aspect of the evening was his team's inability to find an answer to Purdue's defensive attack.
"We worked on it," he said, "... But we've got to do a lot better."
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