BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Greetings from Assembly Hall for what might be the strangest game of the year — Purdue vs. Indiana in front of cardboard.
Purdue's won seven in a row over Indiana for no one reason. It's had some teams that are just better, but it's also won a lot of games where these teams have very much been on an even plane, and won because it's been tougher, less flawed or however you want to put it.
Tonight will be another of those games where both teams are as good and as bad as each other, the two of them packed tonight in the middle of the Big Ten, same as last year. Hell, they have the exact same records for crying out loud.
Not sure what to expect here, because I don't know what a crowd not being here means. Does that help Purdue? Or has the environment here been one of the reasons Purdue's been able to band together and win a bunch of games here?
Purdue should be road-tested by now, whatever the hell playing on the road means in the Big Ten this year. Indiana, I think, is a pretty solid defensive team and you saw in the first half at Michigan State what can happen against these defensive teams that try to hamper freedom of movement.
Purdue's quietly been shooting not so great since the calendar turned and that's an area that may have to change tonight, because expecting Trevion Williams to go it alone tonight may not be great business.
Anyway, three more things ...
• These are two teams with real offensive limitations, at least according to both the statistics and the eye test. Could be ugly. Offensive rebounds and turnovers then will matter that much more, and they have in the past.
• Purdue has to make IU beat it with jumpers and not at the rim. If Trayce Jackson-Davis is scoring at the basket, if Race Thompson is scoring in the paint and if Rob Phinisee and Al Durham are getting to the rim, Purdue's gonna have a real hard time.
They need to make them make threes and make TJD try jumpers. When you do that, there's always the possoibility they outshoot their percentages, but that's the risk you have to take.
• Two players to watch tonight. Eric Hunter has to be better offensively, and maybe playing Phinisee does it, since they're buddies. But Hunter has to be really good on D too, because Phinisee may be No. 2 on the priority scale on D.
Then, Jaden Ivey. There always seems to be a rando for Purdue who shakes these games up and maybe Ivey can get to the hoop a few days or break out of this 3-for-21 three-point slide he's on.
Armaan Franklin is warming up, by the way.
Discuss the game here or however you wish.
I'll chip into the thread here but also you can follow on Twitter at @brianneubert
Not sure I'll get everything up on the site from Bloomington, but we'll get most of it, so stay tuned tonight and then into the early morning hours.
Purdue's won seven in a row over Indiana for no one reason. It's had some teams that are just better, but it's also won a lot of games where these teams have very much been on an even plane, and won because it's been tougher, less flawed or however you want to put it.
Tonight will be another of those games where both teams are as good and as bad as each other, the two of them packed tonight in the middle of the Big Ten, same as last year. Hell, they have the exact same records for crying out loud.
Not sure what to expect here, because I don't know what a crowd not being here means. Does that help Purdue? Or has the environment here been one of the reasons Purdue's been able to band together and win a bunch of games here?
Purdue should be road-tested by now, whatever the hell playing on the road means in the Big Ten this year. Indiana, I think, is a pretty solid defensive team and you saw in the first half at Michigan State what can happen against these defensive teams that try to hamper freedom of movement.
Purdue's quietly been shooting not so great since the calendar turned and that's an area that may have to change tonight, because expecting Trevion Williams to go it alone tonight may not be great business.
Anyway, three more things ...
• These are two teams with real offensive limitations, at least according to both the statistics and the eye test. Could be ugly. Offensive rebounds and turnovers then will matter that much more, and they have in the past.
• Purdue has to make IU beat it with jumpers and not at the rim. If Trayce Jackson-Davis is scoring at the basket, if Race Thompson is scoring in the paint and if Rob Phinisee and Al Durham are getting to the rim, Purdue's gonna have a real hard time.
They need to make them make threes and make TJD try jumpers. When you do that, there's always the possoibility they outshoot their percentages, but that's the risk you have to take.
• Two players to watch tonight. Eric Hunter has to be better offensively, and maybe playing Phinisee does it, since they're buddies. But Hunter has to be really good on D too, because Phinisee may be No. 2 on the priority scale on D.
Then, Jaden Ivey. There always seems to be a rando for Purdue who shakes these games up and maybe Ivey can get to the hoop a few days or break out of this 3-for-21 three-point slide he's on.
Armaan Franklin is warming up, by the way.
Discuss the game here or however you wish.
I'll chip into the thread here but also you can follow on Twitter at @brianneubert
Not sure I'll get everything up on the site from Bloomington, but we'll get most of it, so stay tuned tonight and then into the early morning hours.
