Purdue faces must-win at
Michigan
 By
Paul Trembacki
Sports Editor
The attitude of the Purdue men's basketball team
heading into its final regular-season road game is much like that of
Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis, whose philosophy is "Just win, baby."
"We've just got to win," Purdue coach Gene Keady
said. "We've got to find ways to win."
Although they overcame 17- and 18-point deficits
to force overtime before losing to Iowa 78-72 Wednesday, the Boilers
are far from happy.
"It's nice to fight back but we need to finish
the game," said senior guard Carson Cunningham. "It's pretty cut and
dry, pretty simple. We need to win a freakin' basketball game. Period."
Purdue (13-12, 5-9 Big Ten) takes on Michigan (10-14,
4-9) at 3 p.m. Saturday in Ann Arbor, Mich., and the possibility that
Purdue might fail to reach the postseason for the first time since 1989.
"Every game's a must-win," Cunningham said. "Every
game's been a must-win and we can't win a freakin' game. So every game
from here on out we need to win."
With two regular-season games and at least one
Big Ten tournament contest remaining, the Boilers are on a six-game
losing streak — the longest during Keady's 21-year tenure —
and in desperate need of a win.
The Boilers would have to have a tremendous showing
in the Big Ten tournament just to have a chance at making the NCAA tournament.
To qualify for the NIT, teams must have at least as many wins as losses.
Therefore Purdue has still not guaranteed itself a spot in the NIT.
Keady said a fast start will be the key if the
Boilers want to beat the Wolverines for a third straight time.
"Our goal will be to get off to a good start the
first five minutes and see if we can't maintain a lead and start from
there instead of waiting until we get down 17 and make a comeback when
you get in a hole so deep and your energy's all gone by the time you
get down to where you can win it," Keady said.
"Basketball's a simple game to play but hard to
master. And we can't master it yet so we're working on it."
In practice the Boilers have been working on their
transition defense, which has been poor of late. Purdue players are
slow getting down the court after a missed shot, so when an opponent
gets free, the Boiler defenders often try to catch up to the player
and foul him. There isn't much the Boilers can do in practice to remedy
this problem.
Keady doesn't know what he can do to get more out
of his Boilers early in the game.
"Speeches don't get it," Keady said. "They've just
got to play. Why they're not ready to play is beyond me."
Sophomore Kenneth Lowe said the Boilers need to
forget about the Iowa loss.
"Big Ten season, when it hits, it hits hard, and
you've got to be ready to play every game no matter what," Lowe said.
The Boilers' young front line will have to be ready
to contend with 6-11 Josh Asselin and 6-9 Chris Young inside.
The Boilers' biggest conference win was against
Michigan Jan. 3 in the conference opener for both teams. Behind 19 points
from Lowe, the Boilers won 80-60.
"I just think we kind of wore them down," said
Lowe, who held Michigan's leading scorer, LaVell Blanchard, who averages
18 points per game, to 11 points.
Lowe's willing to do whatever he can to help the
Boilers get that all-important win Saturday.
"If I have to score 20, I can if it's going to
give us a chance at winning," Lowe said. "But if I score only one point
and we win I'm a happy little kid."
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