You can forgive Purdue for its sloppy start against an Iowa team, which — in my mother’s words — stinks to high heaven. With undefeated West Virginia ahead on Friday in West Lafayette, the Boilermakers looked disinterested in a first half that saw them make just 11-of-30 shots, including 1-of-6 3-pointers. Still, Iowa led by just one at the half, and the handwriting was on the wall for the second half, as Purdue pulled away for a 67-56 win.

Robbie Hummel and E’Twaune Moore had hot second halves, but what might have been most surprising was JaJuan Johnson’s indifferent night. The junior had just six points and no free-throw attempts against one of major conference’s worst interior defenses. Johnson’s quiet night made no difference though, since Iowa couldn’t hold on to the ball on offense or stop the rest of the Boilers on defense. Considering the strengths and weaknesses of these two teams, Purdue’s far superior percentage on 2-pointers (52.4 to 42.9) and nine fewer turnovers were as predictable as they were devastating.

As the first half showed, Purdue’s offense can be less than overwhelming, even against one of the worst defenses Matt Painter’s team will see all season. The inconsistent offense is the reason why Purdue won’t emerge from a brutal six-game stretch undefeated. The Boilermakers host West Virginia and Minnesota before heading to Wisconsin, hosting Ohio State and visiting Northwestern and Illinois. Even a 4-2 record would be very good against that competition.

With Hummel, Johnson and Moore, Purdue has three players who take and make a lot of shots, so where is the relative inefficiency coming from? The main issues are getting to the foul line and making 3-pointers. Not getting to the free-throw line is not a new problem for Purdue, and it’s unlikely to change. For a 6-foot-8 player with a good body, Hummel just doesn’t draw as many fouls as one would expect, and, hence, his team doesn’t get to the line very much.

As for the 3-pointers, that has the potential to improve. Take a look at the dropoff for the three Boilers who take the most deep attempts.

The 3-point shot is not a major piece of Painter’s offensive arsenal, but Purdue has gone from scoring 28.5 percent of its points on 3’s last season to scoring just 23 percent from long range so far this season. If Hummel and Grant, particularly, can improve their accuracy, Purdue’s offense will get better as well.

Purdue’s next conference game is at home against Minnesota on Tuesday. The Gophers, like Purdue, opened their Big Ten season on Wednesday night hosting another second-division team, Penn State. And like Purdue, Minnesota struggled, trailing in the second half before pulling out a 75-70 victory.

Tubby Smith’s Gophers had a very rough three-game stretch just after Thanksgiving, losing on a neutral court to both Portland and Texas A&M before falling in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge at Miami a couple of nights later. Despite the three-game losing streak and the notable exit of top recruit Royce White, Minnesota is now 11-3 behind very strong defensive play. The Nittany Lions, though, became the first Minnesota opponent to score at least a point per possession all season on Tuesday.

Minnesota is one of the best defensive teams in American because it does two things particularly well — prevent made 2-pointers and force turnovers. The Gophers are sixth in the nation in both blocked-shot rate (which correlates heavily to 2-point defense) and steals rate. It would seem to be an unlikely combination, as teams that block shots tend to have great length, while teams that force steals tend to have great quickness. Still, there are five teams that rank in the nation’s top 30 in both rates.

Against Penn State, Minnesota still blocked a bunch of shots (five) and had a lot of steals (11), numbers right in line with the season rates. Talor Battle, however, is a one-man stat nullifier. He hit 5-of-8 3-pointers in a 23-point night. Penn State’s starting frontcourt of Andrew Jones, David Jackson and Jeff Brooks combined to nail 12-of-18 2-pointers. In the face of intimidating defenders, the shots went in, and Minnesota nearly lost.

Instead, Lawrence Westbrook prevented a sloppy start to conference play. He scored 29 points on just 16 field-goal attempts thanks to 11-for-16 shooting and four 3-pointers. Westbrook has that type of big-game potential, and it’s something a Minnesota offense, which struggles to get to the line or get second-chance baskets will need with greater consistency for the rest of the season.

Ten-deep with athletes and stifling on defense, Minnesota is surely the best team to not receive any votes in this week’s Associated Press rankings (I was a little stunned when I saw this). Al Nolen and Damian Johnson are two of the top thieves in the country. Johnson, Colton Iverson and Ralph Sampson are among the top shot-blockers in the nation. Blake Hoffarber has regained his stroke, and Lawrence Westbrook and Devoe Joseph can score it. The question is the offensive consistency. For one night in Big Ten play, the offense was there. It was just one night, though.