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WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Valparaiso walked into Mackey Arena on Friday night and stunned the college basketball world. The Beacons upended Purdue 83-80 in double overtime, handing the Boilermakers their second loss of the season.
Rakim Chaney went off for Valpo, scoring 35 points and guiding his team to the upset win. The Beacons also got 17 points from Justus McNair, which included the game-winning three-pointer.
Purdue struggled to shoot from behind the arc again, connecting on just 5-of-28 attempts from deep. The Boilers did get a stellar performance from Daniel Jacobsen, who scored 28 points and grabbed 10 rebounds.
What did head coach Matt Painter have to say after the game? Here are a few key quotes.
Chaney got into a rhythm early and never slowed down. Well, he did when he fouled out in double overtime, but he had already put Valparaiso in position to win the game. At halftime, he accounted for 15 of the team's 20 points. He added 20 more in the final 20 minutes.
Purdue's defense struggled to stay in front of him. At times, he made some difficult shots, but Painter said the on-ball defense needed to be better than it was Friday night.
"I think it starts with your matchup with Rakim Chaney. He was the best player on the floor," Painter said. "He kept his composure; he didn't get sped up, made a lot of floaters, made a lot of runners. We had to take up his space, and he hit a couple of tough threes.
"We wanted to stay into him and make it difficult. We wanted to high-hedge some things. He was really good."
The missed shots from behind the three-point line are starting to become worrisome. After making just five of their 21 attempts against Gonzaga on Monday, the Boilers were 5-of-28 from long range against Valpo. They were 1-of-10 in the second half and didn't make a single triple in the two overtime periods.
Purdue has been advertised as a team that can knock down shots from the perimeter this season. So far, though, we haven't seen it.
"I think it's alarming because it's not just a game. I think sometimes when you have a game like this shooting the basketball, you can look at it as an outlier, but [it's happened] three games in a row," Painter said. "The extreme misses, I think that's alarming ... You don't have a gauge until you watch the film, but it's kinda the same as it was before."
"I think what you're seeing is a couple of guys struggling who are confident," Painter said. "That's dangerous. Now you have some extreme numbers."
In Purdue's first two games, it is 10-of-49 from three-point range. That's a paltry 20.4%, an area where this team must either improve or find new ways to score points.
When shooters don't see the ball go through the hoop, it can certainly affect their confidence. That seems to be happening with this Purdue team. Gicarri Harris, C.J. Cox, Antione West Jr. and Omer Mayer all impacted the game in positive ways, but they've all had some struggles shooting early in the year.
That lack of confidence makes Painter's job difficult near the end of games. He has trust in all of his players, but right now, they may not trust themselves.
"It gets a little dicey because who's confident in themselves when everyone's struggling shooting the basketball? You want to feel good about the people who are on the court," Painter said. "You want to have confidence in them, but you've also done it a long time, and you see the looks on some of their faces, and it's hard. You want confident guys."
Drawing positives from a loss isn't always easy, but Painter did acknowledge some good things he saw from his team on Friday night. There's no silver lining in a double-overtime loss in your home opener, but he was encouraged by a few things.
"Daniel Jacobsen is really coming along," Painter said. "He's worked really hard and put in some time. Now it's some decision-making: when he can put the ball on the floor and when he can't. The more you score, the more attention you're going to get.
"I thought C.J.'s effort was really good on the glass. We made our free throws; we were 14-for-14 in the overtimes. But it all circles back. We have to find some consistency."
Purdue needs to find that consistency quickly, as it returns to the floor on Monday to host Illinois State.