Nathan Baird

nbaird@jconline.com

Purdue is 25-7 and ranked No. 14 by Ken Pomeroy and No. 20 in the NCAA's RPI.

After winning 14 straight first-round NCAA tournament games, Purdue has lost its last two.

Purdue will begin NCAA tournament play either Thursday or Friday.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — You hear it all in Dakota Mathias' voice — pride and determination and lingering disappointment tattooed on his words.

One of Purdue's three junior captains is a basketball fan, too. He understands how repeated first-round NCAA tournament losses build a narrative. All of the wins that carried a team into the field of 68 don't match up against one loss in the spotlight, let alone two.

"A lot of people, that's what they remember," Mathias said. "So we've got to go out and make a statement.

"... Everybody looks at Purdue — they had good regular seasons, but they can't get it done in the tournament. We hear all that stuff."

Mathias made that statement last Tuesday, about 48 hours before the Boilermakers boarded their flight to Washington for the Big Ten tournament. Fair or not, Purdue didn't flip perceptions about its ability to close out games with a 74-70 overtime loss to Michigan in Friday's quarterfinals.

Purdue's players and coaches already took questions about those late-game failures last week. They'll face more after learning their next NCAA tournament destination on Sunday night. They'll be weary of the same queries when they come from an array of media at the Boilermakers' first-round site in a few days.

Consider it the residual cost of very public, very unexpected meltdowns. But the Boilermakers don't need reporters to remind them of funereal locker room scenes in Louisville and Denver. Those images and the sounds of whispered tears and deafening silence helped motivate the eventual Big Ten Conference champion.

"We've had to sit in it," Purdue coach Matt Painter said. "I think that's an important thing when you have to sit in it in the offseason and make you better and work on your game.

"We're a better team than we were last year. We're more experienced. No one slips and just gets in the NCAA tournament. We're still fighting people who are really good teams."

In 2015, Purdue led Cincinnati by seven points with 48.5 seconds left in regulation and lost in overtime. A repeat seemed unthinkable, even as last season's surreal collapse unfolded. The Boilermakers led Little Rock by 13 with 3½ minutes left in regulation and lost in double overtime.

Painter points out that both games came down to one possession. One free throw, one layup, one turnover avoided in each game and Purdue doesn't hear those questions this week. In his mind, blowout losses would trigger more "soul searching."

Those are vaild points. One can also argue those experiences gave the Boilermakers an edge — placing a chip on their shoulder that kept them grounded when accolades and expectations continued to rise.

"We can't learn a third lesson for the third year straight," another junior captain, Vincent Edwards, said last week.

So what makes this Purdue team less susceptible to such a fate? Tangible reasons abound. All-American power forward Caleb Swanigan combined reliability and relentlessness. The Boilermakers are more skilled on the perimeter, not to mention a year wiser, grittier and more poised.

However, Edwards sees the most important difference elsewhere.

"I would say just the cohesiveness in the locker room and the bond," he said. "I'm not saying last year's team wasn't close, but this year's team is that much closer. Guys are all familiar with playing with each other and doing a really good job of knowing where each other is on the court and sharing the ball and doing great things to help us win."

Friday's loss to Michigan doesn't compare to those NCAA tournament losses. Never mind that the stakes were lower, the lead smaller and the opponent arguably much better. Purdue also lost to the Wolverines in large part because of an unexpected and perplexing failure in one of its most consistent strengths: free-throw shooting.

However, the Boilermakers also saw a continuation of certain unfavorable trends. They'll run into big men with range somewhere on their NCAA journey. They'll face other quick guards with a knack for dribble penetration. Those weren't the final offensive rebounds they'll allow this season.

The early exit gave Purdue two more days to reflect and prepare for their chance to write a new narrative.

"We’ve got to work on things defensively," junior center Isaac Haas said Friday. "We can’t have breakdowns like that moving on to the NCAA tournament, because it’s win or go home — like we are now."

Follow Journal & Courier Purdue sports reporter Nathan Baird on Twitter: @nbairdjc.

SELECTION SUNDAY

CBS, 5:30 p.m.