Purdue’s swarming defense seemed to work against Northwestern, as the Boilermakers forced the Wildcats into 16 turnovers.
But the takeaways came with a price: Purdue recorded 25 fouls compared to only 23 rebounds and spent 17 minutes in the penalty, playing the majority of the game without junior center JaJuan Johnson.
“I’m not one of those guys who points the fingers at the referees when you lose,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said. “If they call it, adjust. And if (Johnson) doesn’t adjust to them, he’s going to get in foul trouble. He’s got to quit fouling.”
Johnson picked up two fouls before the first media timeout and his fourth with 13 minutes left in the game, leaving the Boilermakers without their top inside presence on their way to a 72-64 loss Saturday at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
Other than Johnson, the Boilermakers didn’t have a true option at the center position. The junior averages 13.6 points and 7.1 rebounds per game, good for third and first on the team, respectively. Patrick Bade, who replaced him, is a 6-foot-8 forward who averages 2.4 points and 2.3 rebounds. He couldn’t match those totals against the Cats.
“We play differently when JaJuan Johnson’s not in,” Painter said. “We don’t really have a post-up guy.”
NU’s centers took advantage by playing two of their best games. Luka Mirkovic recorded his third career double-double with 16 points and a game-high 10 rebounds. Kyle Rowley played only 13 minutes, but hit all four of his free throws and brought down three rebounds.
“Luka did a really nice job scoring around the basket,” coach Bill Carmody said. “They play very physical defense. And we wanted to get deeper into their bench. We recognized that, and the guys were pretty good throwing it down to them.”
Foul issues weren’t limited to Johnson. E’Twaun Moore, who led all scorers with 24 points, also fouled out, while Robbie Hummel, Keaton Grant and Ryne Smith ended the night with four fouls.
Moore’s and Hummel’s foul trouble came later than Johnson’s, but the Boilermakers were also hurt when their two top scorers had to sit down the stretch.
“You have to be smart and not put yourself in that position,” Painter said.
Though less experienced than the Purdue players, Crawford handled his foul trouble better than the Boilermakers did. The freshman forward played the last nine minutes of the game with four fouls, but notched 11 points during that span. Crawford put together a stretch where he scored seven unanswered points to extend the Cats’ lead to eight.
“At that point, you know you’ve got to stay smart,” Crawford said. “I had to move my feet, keep my hands straight up and be careful out there.”
Before Crawford picked up his fourth foul with 10:53 left to play, he had been a non-factor. He hadn’t connected on a field goal and had scored all four of his points in the first half.The guard quickly sat while junior guard Mike Capocci made a two-minute appearance. When Crawford returned, he was the Cats’ best player for the remainder of the game.
Crawford hit both of his 3-point attempts, one on an inbounds play with two seconds on the shot clock to give the Cats the lead, and earned an and-one opportunity on a layup with two minutes left to give Smith his fourth foul. The freshman tallied 11 points on four shots, helping the Cats to an eight-point win.
The Cats also capitalized on the Boilermakers’ foul woes in the most tangible way possible.
“We made our foul shots,” Carmody said, days after lamenting his team’s 9-for-16 free-throw shooting performance against Wisconsin. “Foul shots matter.”
