'This loss isn't on one person. It's on Purdue.' Boilers not good enough to be unfocused.

LINCOLN, Neb. — Purdue basketball is good.

Like, really good.

Good enough to win the whole damn thing this season.

The Boilermakers, however, are not good enough to walk into an arena with a lack of focus and expect to win a game based on talent alone.

It was a lesson learned, or re-learned, Tuesday night at Pinnacle Bank Arena after Nebraska thumped the nation's No. 1-ranked team, 88-72.

More: Purdue basketball coach Matt Painter lobbies for more control on court stormings

The attention to detail was lacking from the opening possession.

Tuesday's game in Lincoln began with Zach Edey winning the tip. Five seconds later, the Boilermakers promptly turned the ball over when Braden Smith passed to Lance Jones, who wasn't looking, only to see the ball sail out of bounds.

It was a lack of focus from the opening play, and Jones owned it after the game.

"I don't think we came out with a lot of energy," Jones said. "Me, myself, I think I came out pretty flat. I wasn't really locked in. I left Braden up there stranded, and he turned it over the first possession."

Come out with energy and respect your opponent. Don't do that, and you get beat by 16 points and are subjected to another court storming at your expense.

The Cornhuskers were a ridiculous 14-of-23 from 3-point range, and that certainly helped.

More: Purdue vs. Nebraska player ratings: Too many starters no-show as No. 1 goes down

The game though boiled down to two things.

Fourteen turnovers, a recurring theme each time Purdue has lost the past couple seasons.

And 13-0, as in the run Nebraska went on during a span of a little more than two minutes late in the first half to take a 41-30 halftime lead.

"That's probably the difference in the game," Purdue coach Matt Painter said. "We had a couple good fights there in the second half where we closed in single digits."

Even with mistakes and a clear lack of energy early, Purdue stayed afloat thanks to the outside shooting of Mason Gillis.

Gillis' 13 first-half points helped Purdue weather the storm of seven turnovers and a 32.1% shooting effort in the first 20 minutes.

Painter, grasping to find someone who could spark the Boilermakers, started Gillis and redshirt freshman Camden Heide in the second half over Trey Kaufman-Renn and Fletcher Loyer.

Gillis and Heide were Purdue's most productive players Tuesday.

But neither were flawless. Gillis, despite a team-high 16 points, was critical of himself afterwards only getting one rebound. Heide had five points, six rebounds and an assist in his most extensive meaningful minutes of the season, but also was whistled for four fouls in 22 minutes.

Nebraska is a quality team, just like every team left remaining on the schedule will be.

And if the Boilermakers aren't focused and ready to go, well, there'll be a lot more games that end up like Tuesday's.

"This loss isn't on one person," Gillis said. "It's on Purdue. Everybody has a job to do and we didn't do our jobs to the best of our abilities."

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: No. 1 Purdue basketball loses at Nebraska as Boilermakers unfocused