Purdue has no chance against VCU

As Purdue and VCU shook hands once the Boilermakers’ annihilation became official Sunday night, nobody in a Purdue uniform shed tears.

But Robbie Hummel, sentenced to street clothes since reinjuring his right knee in October, broke down in the handshake line.

For the rest of their days, the Boilermakers will wonder what might have been with a healthy Hummel to go with classmates JaJuan Johnson and E’Twaun Moore.

Then again, VCU was so fabulous in the Southwest regional third-round game that Purdue could have fielded Hummel and Rick Mount and not had enough.

The 11th-seeded Rams torched Purdue’s man-to-man defense in every way imaginable for a 94-76 whipping at United Center.

The Boilermakers (26-8) hadn’t given up so many points since Nov. 29, 2005 — the first season after Matt Painter took over a struggling program from Gene Keady.

Painter feared as much after watching a certain stretch of VCU’s tapes.

“You literally think they can beat anybody in the country,” Painter said. “I was hoping that team didn’t show up, but that team from VCU did show up.”

VCU (26-11), which won for the third time in 96 hours, looked absurdly confident from the opening tap.

While Purdue sharpshooter Ryne Smith (career-high-tying 20 points) got off to a hot start, VCU never wavered. When the Rams reeled off 13 points in a row in a 2-minute, 50-second stretch late in the first half, they owned control.

Brandon Rozzell (10 points) buried a pair of 3-pointers in transition during VCU’s run.

On the second one, brilliant point guard Joey Rodriguez (12 points, 11 assists, no turnovers) opted to throw a cross-court pass on a 3-on-1 break rather than do the conventional thing and take it to the basket.

“I thought Joey Rodriguez was excellent,” Painter said. “I thought he was the difference the game.”

“He told me ‘great game’ when I was shaking his hand,” Rodriguez said. “He said, ‘You’re a (heck of a) player.’ I really appreciate it.”

VCU led by 10 at the break. Despite exhortations from the bench and the Purdue fandom, the Boilers never got closer than 8 after halftime.

Whenever VCU needed points, it got the ball into the lane and then fed a cutter for an easy layup. The pick-and-roll never looked so easy as VCU finished with 48 points in the paint.

“Just basic principles that we didn’t execute on,” said Johnson, who posted 25 points, 14 rebounds and 3 blocks in his final college game.

While VCU wrapped up its first Sweet Sixteen spot, Purdue failed in its bid for a third straight Sweet Sixteen.

Of course, everyone pegged the Boilers as a top 3 team nationally … until Hummel’s injury.

“That’s a tough pill to swallow,” Painter said. “you still carry some guilt even though you couldn’t control it. Like, ‘If I could have been out there helping those guys, maybe this wouldn’t have happened.’”