Fletcher Loyer knows it. Braden Smith knows it.
Purdue wasn’t good enough tonight, despite the win, and the second half shooting, tonight’s performance wasn’t the bar they’ve set for themselves.
After all,
they’ve been doing this exact thing for 112 straight games. That is, starting games for Matt Painter and the Purdue Boilermakers. That number, 112, is a record for most consecutive starts at Purdue. Loyer and Smith are just two games into their fourth and final season. Both, side by side, have started in every single game from the moment they were 18 year old true freshman to now, where both are seniors, going against a landscape of college basketball that sees teams not just retool, but entirely refill their rosters season after season.
For Purdue, the last four seasons have revolved around two constants, suns large enough to hold the gravity on and off the court as Purdue has rocketed to horizons its never reached before.
“That’s what you want to be remembered for,” Matt Painter said after the game when asked about their consecutive start streak that tied Bruce Parkinson at 112 games. “And that’s what they’ll be remembered for.”
Loyer and Smith’s memory and history at Purdue are about winning. The two helped Purdue win the Big Ten, rise to #1 in the country, and a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament besides both being true freshman and starting from game one of their careers.
In their second season, Purdue once again won the Big Ten, then it did something real special. Purdue made its way through the Elite Eight, past the Final Four, and all the way to the national title game. The next season, no Big Ten title for the first time, but Purdue still made its way to the Sweet Sixteen and finished just a play short of the Elite Eight.
Now Braden Smith and Fletcher Loyer are sitting in something of a new position. Purdue is once again #1 in the country. This time, it didn’t do it by surprise or by running through a non-conference schedule undefeated.
Instead, Loyer, Smith, and fellow All-American Trey Kaufman-Renn came into the season with the #1 ranking before ever playing a game.
Purdue’s second game of the season didn’t go as planned, struggling at times, going into half tied with an Oakland team that was fresh off getting shot out of the gym by Michigan just a couple nights before.
Now Loyer and his fellow Boilers aren’t just playing other teams, they’re going up against the history of their success, the standard they’ve built for Purdue and themselves.
And a little bit the critics, too.
“We just beat Oakland by ten points,” an unsatisfied Loyer said after the game. “Credit to them, they played a great game, but if we’re supposed to be the #1 team in the country, we’ve gotta be better than that.”
For the longest time, Purdue was trapped by its March shortcomings. Loyer and Smith helped dissolve that misery from Purdue fandom.
In its place is that Purdue is finally a team with the full weight of the nation’s respect and expectation. It is not enough to just win a game, not in November at least.
This isn’t a superifical struggle to win with style points. Instead, it’s about Purdue’s flaws showing early, a potential Achille’s heel.
Rebounding. Defensive. Physicality.
Purdue lacked them against Kentucky when it lost at Rupp Arena. It lacked it against Oakland when it trailed the rebounding battle by ten at half time of a tied game in Mackey Arena.
Loyer’s tone was heavy after the game, disgust entering his tone when he said Oakland. Not out of disrespect to the small school from Michigan, but because Loyer knows where his team needs to be and how far it has been from it to start the season.
But the same thing that burdens Loyer is the same thing that spurns him forward.
When asked about the 112 game streak, he mostly focused about the one constant.
“It’s pretty cool,” Loyer said before continuing. “Ultimately, me and him [Smith], we care about winning… We’re gonna base it off how we do… It doesn’t matter unless we keep winning.”
The truth is somewhere in between right now for Purdue.
In March, all that matters is winning, but in November, when you’re a team still figuring it out, how you win matters, too.
