Gregg Doyel

gregg.doyel@indystar.com

Purdue can’t keep doing this. Purdue fans know it. Guess who else knows it? The Purdue coach.

Matt Painter knows he made mistakes at the end of the Little Rock game Thursday in Denver, a fiasco that saw Purdue turn a 13-point lead in the final 3½ minutes into a season-ending 85-83 loss in double overtime. It’s too similar to the loss that ended last season, when ninth-seeded Purdue turned a seven-point lead in the final 50 seconds of regulation into a season-ending loss in overtime to eighth-seeded Cincinnati.

“I’ve got to be a better coach,” Painter said after the loss Thursday, and he didn’t stop there. He listed the ways.

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Painter referenced Vince Edwards’ mental lapse late in regulation, after Little Rock’s 3-pointer tied the score at 70, saying he should have called timeout when he saw what Edwards conceded later: “I wasn't aware (of the time and score),” Edwards said. “That's a mistake on my part mentally. Just not knowing time, knowing score.”

Painter referenced the decision not to foul with 17 seconds left in regulation, the Boilermakers leading by three, needing to make sure of one thing: Little Rock doesn’t hit a 3-pointer to tie it. Purdue didn’t foul. Little Rock's Josh Hagins hit a 3-pointer to tie it.

“In hindsight,” Painter said, “I should have got a foul there at the very end.”

Those are things he said publicly. Here is something he has said to me, privately: His team needs more playmakers. He knows, OK? His hope was to overcome that roster deficiency with an abundance of 3-pointers and a low number of turnovers. And when this team was shooting well and was careful with the ball, it was almost unbeatable.

The Boilermakers have had an incredible frontcourt for the past two years, 7-footers A.J. Hammons and Isaac Haas and 6-8 Edwards being joined this season by 6-9 Caleb Swanigan. They will have an incredible frontcourt again next season, even with Hammons gone to the NBA. Haas, Swanigan and Edwards? Those are three future pros, all starting for Purdue, assuming Swanigan doesn’t make the biggest mistake of his life and turn pro now.

But the backcourt, it needs help. Painter knows. He has a plethora of shooters but not since Lewis Jackson in 2012 has he had a player who can break down the other team, create a shot for himself or a teammate, just make something happen when all hell is breaking loose and Purdue is losing a late lead to Cincinnati in the 2015 NCAA tournament or to Little Rock here in 2016.

What cannot keep happening here is the fifth-year point guard, because there is no continuity there. Painter has built his program – and he has rebuilt it, after the slump of 2013 and ’14 (combined record: 31-35) – on program players who work hard and stay hungry and coalesce over the years into something greater than the sum of its parts.

Except for the point guard.

Former North Central standout Ronnie Johnson’s transfer to Houston after the 2013-14 season had Painter plugging in Colorado State transfer Jon Octeus last season, and Texas-Arlington transfer Johnny Hill this season. Octeus was pretty good a year ago. Hill was serviceable this season. Neither was good enough, neither had the continuity and the comfort level to be good enough, for what Painter is trying to build, and for what Purdue fans are hoping to see.

And Purdue fans, they’re mad today. They were furious after this loss, some of them clamoring on social media for Purdue to fire Painter and replace him with someone who can win 26 games and then go to the NCAA tournament and win some more.

And Purdue fans are right to be angry. A loss like Thursday night? The Purdue roster against the Little Rock roster?

Purdue fans are mortified, especially with the predictability of what happened Thursday. When Purdue has lost this season, when Purdue has looked terrible, it has lost and it has looked terrible because its backcourt wasn’t able to handle pressure.

Purdue’s players have to be better, but so does its coach. Its coach knows that. The roster for next season won’t provide much comfort, though. Beyond the frontcourt, which will be loaded again and yet not nearly as good – not with A.J. Hammons in the NBA – the backcourt looks similar. Lots of shooters. Another guard on the way in four-star recruit Carsen Edwards of Humble, Texas, a 6-1 guard who is more of a shooter than a playmaker.

Purdue has scholarships available and will scour the country for unsigned high school seniors, junior college transfers and – yes – graduate transfers with immediate eligibility. At this point, that is all Purdue can do. C.J. Walker isn’t walking through that door; the playmaking Tech superstar backed off his commitment to Purdue and chose Florida State.

Purdue will be next season what it was this season. Huge. Deep. Talented. Imperfectly constructed.

Matt Painter knows. Expect him to rectify some of what ailed Purdue this season, and Thursday night. Just don’t expect him to rectify it completely before next season.

But please, please, please, Purdue fans – the angriest among you – stop the counter-productive calling for Matt Painter’s head. For one, it’s not going to happen. You’re wasting your time, and worse: It's sending a message to current recruits, the playmakers Painter will court for the future, that the Boilermakers have a coach in trouble.

And the Boilermakers do not. Painter has to get better, the Purdue fan base is right to expect more from a roster as good as this one, but he’s not going anywhere.

But understand this: The kind of recruits Painter needs to hit the next level? Playmakers with lots of high-major options? They’re not picking a school where the loudest noise is hysterical shrieking from the angriest fans.

That makes a program look unstable, and Purdue is not unstable. Underperforming at times, yes. Unstable? No. Eight NCAA tournament appearances in the past decade. Almost 23 victories per year.

Purdue needs to be a little bit better. But it could be a whole lot worse.

Find IndyStar columnist Gregg Doyel on Twitter at@GreggDoyelStar or atwww.facebook.com/gregg.doyel.