It's that time of year again, Ladies and Gentlemen - the 23rd annual Big Ten/ACC Challenge. Purdue is one of only two conference schools (along with Penn State) with a winning record in the Challenge. The Boilers are 11-9 (8-2 at home and 3-7 on the road). This evening's match-up is between the visiting Florida State Seminoles and the Purdue Boilermakers in Mackey Arena with a scheduled tip in a little less than an hour @ 7:30 pm (Eastern); television coverage on ESPN. This will be the third Challenge meeting between Florida State and Purdue, with the Seminoles having won the previous two in '18 and '05, and the fifth overall in the all-time series with Purdue still looking to notch its first win against Florida State.
Tonight's game will be another good test for the now #2-ranked Boilers as Florida State (even without three regular players in a deep line-up) can pose some problems on both ends of the floor. I expect we'll see a fair amount of high screen/ball screen action as Purdue has struggled with that at times. If the Seminoles get shooters in the right spots and make the boilers pay for lack of rotations, they can make a game of it, and I expect this to be a fairly close game throughout. On the defensive end, Florida State has been solid, especially inside the arc, and I expect them to attack Purdue's high post action. The Boilers need to continue what they've done on offense and limit the turnovers, which is still a little bit of a concern even at the pace Purdue is scoring.
Jaden Ivey will be a key to how much Purdue can control the game action, IMO. He's at his best when he's distributing and also taking selective opportunities on the break. With a couple of Florida State's big men out, you could see Purdue try to go inside a little more than usual, and this could also be one of those games where the Boilers can wear the opposition out.....usually not the case with Florida State.
Can the Boilers keep things rolling? Conference play opens up on Friday with the unbeaten Iowa Hawkeyes coming to town - no rest for the weary. The Boilers can't afford to look ahead....can they finally get a win against Florida State? We shall see.....
Boiler Up, my friends........
Tonight's game will be another good test for the now #2-ranked Boilers as Florida State (even without three regular players in a deep line-up) can pose some problems on both ends of the floor. I expect we'll see a fair amount of high screen/ball screen action as Purdue has struggled with that at times. If the Seminoles get shooters in the right spots and make the boilers pay for lack of rotations, they can make a game of it, and I expect this to be a fairly close game throughout. On the defensive end, Florida State has been solid, especially inside the arc, and I expect them to attack Purdue's high post action. The Boilers need to continue what they've done on offense and limit the turnovers, which is still a little bit of a concern even at the pace Purdue is scoring.
Jaden Ivey will be a key to how much Purdue can control the game action, IMO. He's at his best when he's distributing and also taking selective opportunities on the break. With a couple of Florida State's big men out, you could see Purdue try to go inside a little more than usual, and this could also be one of those games where the Boilers can wear the opposition out.....usually not the case with Florida State.
Can the Boilers keep things rolling? Conference play opens up on Friday with the unbeaten Iowa Hawkeyes coming to town - no rest for the weary. The Boilers can't afford to look ahead....can they finally get a win against Florida State? We shall see.....
Boiler Up, my friends........
