NOTES

Arizona and Purdue played last season, and the result was a different story: Purdue won that game, 72-69.

Arizona went on to the Final Four. Purdue went to the National Invitation Tournament.

“I think they’re playing hungrier at this point of the season,” Purdue Coach Gene Keady said. “We played them at the right time last season. They were coming back from a trip to the Maui Classic, and Loren Woods wasn’t playing.”

*

Purdue basketball has slipped recently, and the turnaround might not come this season.

The Boilermakers didn’t make the NCAA tournament last season for the first time since 1992, and the NIT might be a possibility again.

Purdue is 5-3 with losses to Stanford, Butler and Arizona. Its best victory came against Xavier.

Keady was clearly frustrated after the Arizona loss.

“I was disappointed at the start of the game. The heart and pride and enthusiasm and love of the game, we played with very little of that,” he said.

Keady particularly didn’t enjoy the performance coming in the Wooden Classic--especially because John Wooden played for Purdue, leading the Boilermakers to a consensus national championship after a 17-1 season in 1932.

Purdue lost to Villanova in the 1995 Wooden Classic.

“We did the same thing, representing Mr. Wooden’s alma mater with the same kind of effort,” Keady said. “I guess we don’t get it so you probably ought to quit inviting us.”