Nov. 6, 2026, 4:40 a.m. ET
- Purdue lost its season opener to Gonzaga by six points, with hustle and intensity being key factors.
- The Boilermakers are focused on improving their defense by maintaining intensity while reducing fouls.
- Despite a height disadvantage, Purdue aims to solidify its rebounding to create more scoring opportunities.
LAS VEGAS — Purdue men’s basketball lived up to Gonzaga coach Mark Few’s expectations in one aspect the numbers cannot always measure.
Sure, the Boilermakers brought a sophisticated offensive system full of shooters and a talented big man to T-Mobile Arena on Monday. Few, though, said he spent a lot of time leading up to the teams’ season opener stressing the importance of living up to their opponents’ hustle and intensity.
“It’s not always about size of the dog in the fight, man, it’s the size of the fight in the dog − and they’ve got that,” Few said. “Even in that UConn game, they were so competitive on 50-50 balls, 30-70 balls, fighting, trying to come up with them.”
Purdue’s toughness quotient this season was not necessarily in question, nor was it guaranteed. Trey Kaufman-Renn’s departure left one of the bigger physical voids in the country. Oscar Cluff’s rugged presence in the lane also is not easily replicated. For that matter, Braden Smith took his share of beatings en route to the basket and usually bounced right back up.
Assuming that identity, like so much with most teams in early November, remains an ongoing process. Purdue does not seem to be a team which must find its toughness, though. It instead must refine the edge it already has. Maintaining defensive intensity without fouling. Working the boards harder for an extra few possessions per night.
Either of those two elements might have flipped a six-point season-opening loss. One of these nights – maybe as soon as Friday’s home opener against Valparaiso – Purdue will shoot the lights out and overwhelm someone. The daily mission is to solidify the physical foundation which must become a constant.
“We were executing well. We got good shots,” guard C.J. Cox said. “Sometimes it didn’t drop, but um our offense will come.
“It’s just all about our defense, and just being able to box out. And also just defend without fouling. It’s another thing that coach always emphasizes.”
Purdue basketball seeking same defensive intensity, fewer fouls
The significant pro-Boilermaker portion of the crowd protested loudly when Daniel Jacobsen’s attempted shot block of Isiah Harwell resulted in a foul call. His arms never contacted Harwell, but his lower body did knock him off course. Sometimes those judgment calls don’t go in one’s favor.
After the game, though, Jacobsen diverted no blame for spending so much of the second half in foul trouble.
“I think three of my fouls were completely unnecessary,” Jacobsen said. “And I can learn from that and be a lot more disciplined – staying down, keeping my arms straight up so we can stay on the floor.”
All things considered, Jacobsen handled the foul trouble well. He played about eight minutes after picking up his fourth and avoided a fifth.
The bigger issue was the gradual accumulation of fouls and the points Gonzaga piled up as a result. The Bulldogs shot 30 free throws in the second half. Purdue fouled three times in the final 30 seconds to try and trade possessions, but the ability of Xaivian Lee and Davis Fogle to get to the line throughout the second half added up.
Jacobsen fouled Lee on a 3-pointer about 3:30 into the second half. Lee made all three free throws, Jacobsen went to the bench with three fouls and Gonzaga caught the spark which led to a double-digit lead four minutes later.
“Our guys have to do a better job of embracing the physicality of the game, but learning how to do that and not foul,” Painter said. “Especially jump shots. You can’t foul jump shots. We just have to have to do a better job.”
Gonzaga braced to beat Purdue on the boards
Few’s concern about Purdue’s relentlessness focused specifically on rebounding. With a 7-foot-1 center of their own and a couple of 6-10 power forwards, the Bulldogs held the height advantage in many lineups. Few had seen enough in his opponent’s other preseason games to believe in the Boilers’ commitment to a team rebounding approach.
That focus should be taken as a sign a team with real rebounding questions coming into the season is doing something right. Purdue will feel better about that when it talks about key rebounds being the reason it beat an opponent this good anyway.
Gonzaga finished with a 34-31 edge on the boards, but more crucially, an 11-4 edge in second-chance points. In addition to the absence of both actual and style points on a few airballs, Painter pointed out those whiffs typically deprived Purdue of a chance to contest for a rebound.
At the same time, Jacobsen’s seven rebounds in 27 minutes against this frontcourt constituted at least a solid start. Painter expressed remorse over Jack Benter playing only 11 minutes. Yet he and Caden Pierce combined for 10 rebounds over their shared 40 minutes. Two Pierce put-backs accounted for all of the team’s second-chance points.
One more stolen possession somewhere in the first 38 minutes potentially changes everything about the final two. This next stretch of five games in three weeks before the Thanksgiving week trip to the Fort Myers Tip-Off provide an opportunity to further cultivate the grit already present.
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