Purdue basketball shows it is elite, even when not its best

MADISON, Wis. − If you've been waiting for that moment that put you at ease regarding all your insecurities about Purdue basketball, now you have it.

The Boilermakers went on the road and played nowhere near their best.

And still: Purdue 75, Wisconsin 69.

First place in the Big Ten was at stake. CBS brought its A-team for the nationally televised event.

It was high stakes and the Boilermakers, utilizing depth and with Zach Edey not Purdue's first — or even second — leading scorer, left victorious with a less-than-stellar offensive performance.

"You've got to find ways to win when shots aren't going in or foul trouble, whatever it is," Purdue point guard Braden Smith said. "I think that's what's so good about this group is that we always try to find a way to win.

"Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn't. Today it worked."

This team is just really, really good and all the FDU jokes don't diminish that.

Purdue now is where everyone thought it would be, alone at the top of the Big Ten.

Not a surprise.

More: Purdue can still blunt-force trauma its way to wins, but Boilers beat Wisconsin surgically

The Boilers dug that early hole with losses at Northwestern and at Nebraska. Then promptly won seven straight.

Remember those games?

Purdue couldn't keep crafty, athletic guards out of the paint. The Boilermakers got buried by 3-pointers.

Northwestern beat Purdue the first way, then nearly beat the Boilermakers the other way. Nebraska put on a 3-point frenzy.

And Wisconsin, capable of beating teams via both methods, could do neither.

That's progress, right?

"I don't know if we're in position to take 100% of the things away from our opponents at times," Purdue coach Matt Painter said. "We really wanted to limit their 3s, but that being said, you can't just let them live in the paint. ... When we did a good job of containing the dribble and didn't let them in, that helped us."

The Badgers missed all 11 3-pointers in the second half, though granted a few of those were good looks that didn't go down, and was 3-of-19 overall. AJ Storr, Wisconsin's best player, went 4-for-15.

More: Purdue vs. Wisconsin player ratings: 'So many guys can bite you with this Purdue team.'

Any attempt to get to the basket was thwarted by Purdue's on-ball defense.

And when it wasn't, big bad Edey presented the final forcefield that had the Badgers retreating back to the perimeter.

At one point, without Edey or Smith on the floor, something Painter would like to avoid, the Boilermakers extended the lead with a lineup consisting of Jones, Camden Heide, Ethan Morton, Trey Kaufman-Renn and Caleb Furst.

Purdue's offensive bread and butter all season has been 3-point shooting and Edey dominating inside.

The Boilermakers had neither, at least for most of the game.

Edey finished with 18 points and 13 rebounds, but it was the trio of Smith (19 points), Jones (20) and Fletcher Loyer (12) that did the most damage.

"They were kind of double teaming (Edey) pretty well and he was missing shots he normally makes," Smith said. "It felt kind of good to make some of those shots that I took."

And even those guys did it without lighting up Wisconsin from 3.

Jones was the only player to hit a trey for the Boilermakers. He was 3-of-7. The rest of the Boilermakers were 0-for-4.

"We're not always going to have a great shooting game," Jones said. "As long as we stay poised and stay aggressive attacking the rim and doing what works, we can win differently."

Loyer, known as a 3-point marksman, was chased off the 3-point line and proved his craftiness by getting to the basket for his patented floaters or by drawing fouls.

"He knows how to use his shot-making gravity and kind of create those layups, create those fouls," Edey said of Loyer. "Then he makes everything at the line. He's a really tough cover."

There's more than one way to win a basketball game.

Great teams can rely on that when one method fails.

Purdue, showing signs of growth from last season to this one, and from November until Sunday in the Kohl Center, is 21-2 against the best schedule in the country.

By any metric: national rankings, KenPom, eye test, whatever is needed to evaluate a great team, Purdue fits the description.

Beating Wisconsin just further validated it.

Sam King covers sports for the Journal & Courier. Email him at sking@jconline.com and follow him on Twitter and Instagram @samueltking.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Purdue basketball finds way to win at Wisconsin even when not at its best