This afternoon, the Florida A & M Rattlers (2-8) visit Mackey Arena to take on the top-ranked Purdue Boilermakers (12-0) in the last game of the non-conference season and 2022 for the Boilers. Tip is scheduled for approximately 5:00 pm (Eastern time) with television coverage on the Big Ten Network. This is the first meeting between the schools.
Expected Starting Line-ups:
Florida A & M - Jaylen Bates, Chase Barrs, Jordan Tillmon, Jordan Chatman, and Byron Smith
Purdue - Caleb Furst, Zach Edey, Ethan Morton, Fletcher Loyer, and Braden Smith
The Rattlers are led by junior forward Jaylen Bates, who paces the team with 10.9 points and 6.9 rebounds per game. Junior guard Jordan Tillman is the only other player on this year's roster averaging double figures through 10 games. Florida A&M also features redshirt freshman guard Austin Ezell, a native of Carmel, Ind., who attended Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School in Indianapolis. He's appeared in two games for the Rattlers this season. The Rattlers are coached by Birmingham, Ala., native Robert McCullum, who is in his sixth season with the program. He's also had head coaching stints with Western Michigan and South Florida throughout his career at the collegiate ranks.
Florida A & M will be the weakest non-conference opponent the Boilermakers have faced so far this season, coming in at No. 357 out of 363 teams in the KenPom rankings. They are currently 2-8 overall, which includes losses to Oregon, Miami, Florida, Georgia and Kentucky. Although this game appears to be a mis-match, similarly to the last several games, Purdue cannot afford to overlook any opponent and really needs to get back to playing consistently well for a full 40 minutes. Zach Edey has been practicing and appears to be fully healthy - the Boilers will want to re-establish his presence in the game and work the offense off of that. Caleb Furst was a little under the weather last game as well but also appears to be back to full strength. The flu bug that hit the team also appeared to have affected Ethan Morton a little - but he has practiced as well.
Purdue also needs to start hitting some of the open looks from beyond the arc and also re-establish some scoring production from the bench - today's game would be a great time to do that as three conference games loom next week with Rutgers coming to Mackey Arena Monday night and then trips to Columbus (Ohio State) and Philadelphia (Penn State) following that. The Boilers should be able to work their advantage on the glass and hopefully disrupt the Rattlers' offense. I'd like to see them maintain intensity if/when they make any runs.....they will need that certainly when conference play resumes.
All in all, Purdue has weathered the storm a little with cold shooting and some limited illness/injuries the past couple of weeks.....can they gets things really rolling again to end 2022 and start off strong for 2023?
We shall see in a few hours.....
Boiler up, my friends.......and, Happy New Year!
Expected Starting Line-ups:
Florida A & M - Jaylen Bates, Chase Barrs, Jordan Tillmon, Jordan Chatman, and Byron Smith
Purdue - Caleb Furst, Zach Edey, Ethan Morton, Fletcher Loyer, and Braden Smith
The Rattlers are led by junior forward Jaylen Bates, who paces the team with 10.9 points and 6.9 rebounds per game. Junior guard Jordan Tillman is the only other player on this year's roster averaging double figures through 10 games. Florida A&M also features redshirt freshman guard Austin Ezell, a native of Carmel, Ind., who attended Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School in Indianapolis. He's appeared in two games for the Rattlers this season. The Rattlers are coached by Birmingham, Ala., native Robert McCullum, who is in his sixth season with the program. He's also had head coaching stints with Western Michigan and South Florida throughout his career at the collegiate ranks.
Florida A & M will be the weakest non-conference opponent the Boilermakers have faced so far this season, coming in at No. 357 out of 363 teams in the KenPom rankings. They are currently 2-8 overall, which includes losses to Oregon, Miami, Florida, Georgia and Kentucky. Although this game appears to be a mis-match, similarly to the last several games, Purdue cannot afford to overlook any opponent and really needs to get back to playing consistently well for a full 40 minutes. Zach Edey has been practicing and appears to be fully healthy - the Boilers will want to re-establish his presence in the game and work the offense off of that. Caleb Furst was a little under the weather last game as well but also appears to be back to full strength. The flu bug that hit the team also appeared to have affected Ethan Morton a little - but he has practiced as well.
Purdue also needs to start hitting some of the open looks from beyond the arc and also re-establish some scoring production from the bench - today's game would be a great time to do that as three conference games loom next week with Rutgers coming to Mackey Arena Monday night and then trips to Columbus (Ohio State) and Philadelphia (Penn State) following that. The Boilers should be able to work their advantage on the glass and hopefully disrupt the Rattlers' offense. I'd like to see them maintain intensity if/when they make any runs.....they will need that certainly when conference play resumes.
All in all, Purdue has weathered the storm a little with cold shooting and some limited illness/injuries the past couple of weeks.....can they gets things really rolling again to end 2022 and start off strong for 2023?
We shall see in a few hours.....
Boiler up, my friends.......and, Happy New Year!
