March 14--After losses to Gardner-Webb and North Florida in December, Purdue coach Matt Painter reminded his team about other games.
"That's what I kept telling our guys when (they were) down and out," he said. "If you're not any good, how did you beat BYU? If you're not any good, how did you beat N.C. State? Just trying to drive some confidence into them."
The Boilermakers have the right to feel good about themselves now, likely assuring themselves of an NCAA tournament bid with a 64-59 comeback victory against Penn State on Friday in the Big Ten quarterfinals.
They earned the right to play top-seeded Wisconsin in Saturday's semifinals at the United Center. The fourth-seeded Boilermakers (21-11) lost the regular-season meeting 62-55 in Madison, Wis.
"They're really, really talented," Painter said of the Badgers. "Anytime you have size that can dribble, pass and shoot and can share the basketball and you have a lot of skill around it, you're going to be a dangerous team to play against. They have an explosion to them now that they didn't have before."
Purdue needed a late rally to beat the surprising 13th-seeded Nittany Lions (18-16).
Playing its third game in three days, Penn State led by as many as 11 in the first half. But the Boilermakers used a 13-0 run in the final 10 minutes to take a 57-50 lead with 53 seconds to play.
Center A.J. Hammons led Purdue with 23 points, nine rebounds and four blocked shots. Guard Jon Octeus added 11 rebounds, helping provide the Boilermakers with a 41-32 rebounding edge.
Purdue held Penn State to 33.9 percent shooting, making D.J. Newbill work for his shots. Newbill scored a team-high 19 points with three assists and no turnovers, but he made only 6 of 18 field goals.
Penn State coach Pat Chambers called the season a "steppingstone" for the program.
"This was a critical step in the process of becoming an elite basketball team," he said.
sryan@tribpub.com
