No. 21 Purdue aims to apply the brakes on a two-game skid when it hosts Toledo on Sunday in a nonconference game in West Lafayette, Ind.
The Boilermakers (8-4) are returning home after coming up short in a pair of neutral-court contests against Southeastern Conference opponents. They dropped a 70-66 decision to then-No. 17 Texas A&M in the Indy Classic on Dec. 14 and an 87-69 setback to then-No. 2 Auburn in the Battle in Birmingham on Dec. 21.
“You want to play a great schedule to figure your team out, figure out what you need to work on, but you also want to win,” Purdue head coach Matt Painter said. “So we’ve done it the three previous years and were undefeated in all three nonconferences and played a lot of difficult people. I don’t want to go away from that standard. This is where we are. Deal with it. Get better as a coach, get better as a player, get better collectively as a team.
“… We’re not a great team. We’re a good team and we need to work so hopefully come March, we can be a great team.”
C.J. Cox recorded a career-high 16 points off the bench versus the Tigers, his third double-digit scoring performance in his last four games.
“It’s hard to be consistent with inconsistent minutes,” Painter said. “It’s hard to feel good about yourself and have confidence and know you belong, but you don’t feel that way because you might not play in a game, or you might play 5-to-10 minutes, or you don’t get any shot attempts. It’s really, really difficult. So, for those guys to be in there and get some confidence … that’s what we need.”
Trey Kaufman-Renn, who had 15 points versus the Tigers, has scored in double digits in all 12 games this season.
Purdue, which lost consecutive games for the first time since February 2023, is banking that a return home will get the team back on track. This season, the Boilermakers are 6-0 on their court.
Toledo (6-5), in turn, has lost four of its last five games, with the lone victory coming at the expense of NAIA opponent Defiance on Dec. 7.
Sam Lewis followed up an 18-point performance in that game with team-high totals of 21 and 14 points, respectively, in the team’s next two contests. Unfortunately for the Rockets, they shot just 29.6 percent from the floor and were outrebounded 50-29 (including 16-6 on the offensive glass) in their 78-49 setback at then-No. 15 Houston on Dec. 18.
“I’m disappointed where we’re at right now,” Toledo head coach Tod Kowalczyk said recently, per The Blade. “We’re a better team than we’ve been playing.”
Sonny Wilson averages a team-best 15.2 points and 3.3 assists per game, while Lewis contributes 13.9 points to go along with a club-best 4.9 rebounds.
–Field Level Media
