Ball State University men's basketball coach Billy Taylor said No. 14 Purdue University was as advertised Tuesday.
The Boilermakers, who came into the game against the Cardinals allowing 58.3 points per game, had their way with the Ball State offense, and the Cardinals fell 68-39 in front of 8,381 fans at Worthen Arena.
Purdue forced Ball State into a season-high 21 turnovers in the game and a season-low 26.4 shooting percentage from the field.
"[Purdue] got up in us right from the opening tip and we played on our back heel, which is something that we talked about that we didn't want to do," Taylor said. "Unfortunately, we turned the ball over too much which led to easy points for them."
For the second straight game, the Cardinals committed at least 19 turnovers and shot less than 60 percent from the free throw line.
Ball State, who moved to 2-7 all-time against Purdue, had a season high 19 turnovers and shot 60 percent from the line against the University of Evansville on Saturday and followed that with another season high in turnovers and a 47.1 percent free throw shooting performance against the Boilermakers.
"It's got to get better - we've got to be able to take care of the basketball," Taylor said. "Then the free throw shooting is something that's got to improve; we have to take our time, settle down, get ourselves relaxed and step up and make those free throws."
A steal and score by senior guard Laron Frazier put the Cardinals down one 12-11 with 11:16 remaining in the first half. From there, the Boilermakers (7-2) took control of the game.
Sophomore forward Robbie Hummel hit a 3-pointer following Frazier's shot to make the score 15-11, and a Purdue offensive putback increased the lead to 17-11. The Boilermakers took a 30-17 lead going into halftime.
The Boilermakers then forced 11 turnovers and limited the Cardinals to a 26.7 percent shooting mark in the second period.
Purdue coach Matt Painter said he was pleased with his team's defensive pressure throughout the game.
"I thought we did a good job of just putting pressure on the ball," Painter said. "When there were things open for Ball State tonight, I thought our pressure was able to knock some of those things out."
The Cardinals were also outrebounded 42-38 for the game. Taylor said Purdue's defensive intensity matched with its speed in transition made for a tough night.
"When they get defensive rebounds, they're very fast and they have a lot of guys that can dribble outlet the ball," said Taylor, who is now 0-2 in his career against the Boilermakers. "I didn't think we were very urgent in our transition; I thought there were too many times where we were content to just jog back and they're too fast of a team to jog back."
Ball State was led by senior forward Anthony Newell with a team-high 11 points and eight rebounds. Frazier added seven points and two assists, while freshman center Jarrod Jones had four points and six rebounds, and freshman forward Mo Hubbard had six points and five boards for the Cardinals.
Newell was able to get to the basket and was fouled on several shot attempts, but converted 4-of-10 free throw opportunities.
Newell had to deal with Purdue's Chris Kramer all night. Taylor said the reigning Big Ten Conference Defensive Player of the Year was instrumental in keeping Newell under his averages of 15.3 points and 10.4 rebounds per game.
"Kramer's a terrific defender," Taylor said. "Anthony got some good looks, he double-pumped on a few too many, obviously he got to the foul line quite a bit and didn't convert on all his free throws. We had chances, we had opportunities, we just didn't convert."
Hummel came back from missing a game with a back injury to lead Purdue with a game-high 15 points and nine rebounds. The Preseason Big Ten Player of the Year selection also added three assists and shot 8-of-15 (53 percent) from the floor.
Kramer had an all-around night with five points, five rebounds, a game-high six assists and three steals, while freshman center JaJuan Johnson had 12 points and senior center Nemanja Calasan and sophomore guard E'Twaun Moore added 10 points for the Boilermakers.
Taylor said he hopes Tuesday's game will pay dividends for the Cardinals down the road.
"We won't face another defense like that this year - obviously they're a top-20 team for a reason," Taylor said. "Hopefully, it will help our guys understand that it doesn't matter who we're playing, you still have to show up with a certain level of intensity, you have to be able to run our stuff, execute our stuff regardless of who we're playing. I thought we were tentative tonight from the onset and that just made it very difficult."
Ball State plays its second game of a three-game homestand Saturday as its plays host to Eastern Kentucky University (6-3) for a 7 p.m. tipoff.
Five things to take away1. The Ball State men's basketball team lost 68-39 to visiting Purdue Tuesday.
2. Purdue came into the game ranked No. 14 nationally.
3. The Cardinals turned the ball over a season-high 21 times in the game and shot a season-low 26.4 percent as a team.
4. Forward Anthony Newell led the way with 11 points and eight rebounds for Ball State.
5. The Cardinals next play Eastern Kentucky at Worthen Arena on Saturday.
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