Greetings from Mackey Arena, where Purdue closes out the regular season against Indiana, looking for Win No. 9 in a row against the Hoosiers.
We'll see what IU has or doesn't have in terms of personnel, but there's a good chance they're really short-handed and that could super-size the edges Purdue would already have under normal circumstances.
Race Thompson would be an enormous matchup-specific loss for IU.
But even if IU was full strength, everything would point to Purdue here, given the respective trajectories these teams are on and the fact the Boilermakers have dominated this series lately and are playing at home.
Couple things ...
• The battle of attrition could be a big deal here, especially in the post. Without Thompson, Indiana wouldn't have a viable backup for Trayce Jackson-Davis, and that's the position that's gonna have to guard Trevion Williams and Zach Edey. That's a real problem for Indiana.
• This is the most one-dimensional offense Purdue may face this season and one of the simplest game plans to carry out, because no one else on Indiana scares you beside TJD. That said, simple doesn't mean easy. Jackson-Davis is a monster and Purdue would have gotten taken for 30-plus at IU had he made more free throws. Purdue is gonna go all out to stop him again, hoping to just slow him.
• Matchups: At Indiana, Purdue destroyed Indiana off its use of TJD on the baseline inbounder. And they did it by design. Let's see if IU learned from the first game.
It would be nice for Purdue to get Trevion Williams going today. He's not playing poorly but he's not been as productive lately from a scoring and rebounding perspective. They're gonna need him rolling come the postseason.
We'll be back after the game will full coverage. Discuss the game here or however you wish. I'll chip in here during the game and be on Twitter at @brianneubert
Thanks folks.
We'll see what IU has or doesn't have in terms of personnel, but there's a good chance they're really short-handed and that could super-size the edges Purdue would already have under normal circumstances.
Race Thompson would be an enormous matchup-specific loss for IU.
But even if IU was full strength, everything would point to Purdue here, given the respective trajectories these teams are on and the fact the Boilermakers have dominated this series lately and are playing at home.
Couple things ...
• The battle of attrition could be a big deal here, especially in the post. Without Thompson, Indiana wouldn't have a viable backup for Trayce Jackson-Davis, and that's the position that's gonna have to guard Trevion Williams and Zach Edey. That's a real problem for Indiana.
• This is the most one-dimensional offense Purdue may face this season and one of the simplest game plans to carry out, because no one else on Indiana scares you beside TJD. That said, simple doesn't mean easy. Jackson-Davis is a monster and Purdue would have gotten taken for 30-plus at IU had he made more free throws. Purdue is gonna go all out to stop him again, hoping to just slow him.
• Matchups: At Indiana, Purdue destroyed Indiana off its use of TJD on the baseline inbounder. And they did it by design. Let's see if IU learned from the first game.
It would be nice for Purdue to get Trevion Williams going today. He's not playing poorly but he's not been as productive lately from a scoring and rebounding perspective. They're gonna need him rolling come the postseason.
We'll be back after the game will full coverage. Discuss the game here or however you wish. I'll chip in here during the game and be on Twitter at @brianneubert
Thanks folks.
