With two minutes left in the first half of a game Purdue pretty much already had won, Caleb Swanigan took a shot.
A three.
He made it, looked good doing it, catching, setting and firing all in one smooth motion.
The crowd swooned.
It was the first shot a Purdue post player took this season, 18 minutes into said season, and it was from 20-plus feet.
Well, officially, it was the first shot a Purdue big man took in the first half of the Boilermakers' 81-40 win over North Carolina A&T Friday night, one of just two. Swanigan missed another jumper with nine seconds left in the half.
Isaac Haas … the guy who was Purdue's first, second and third option offensively to start the exhibition game, he didn't get a shot off, officially - remember, fouls don't count - until 16:20 remained to play.
Just like they drew it up, right?
The exact opposite actually.
But as funny as it sounds to say Purdue "found another way to win" Friday night when it hadn't even played a real game yet, that's true. This was the opposite of the Boilermakers' blueprint.
Purdue won this game with threes and transition, not to mention dominant defense against an opponent it shouldn't exactly beat its chest over blowing out.
Having to win games with threes and transition is dicey in theory. This was not a good three-point shooting team last season and it's not exactly stocked with thoroughbreds in the open floor.
But in games like this one, Purdue has more than enough to thrive once it gets settled, which took some time tonight.
Purdue will have nights this season where it's going to be made to shoot 30 threes. Anyone who watched last season had reason to shudder at that thought, but this will be a better shooting team.
Purdue may not be a great shooting team - or it may be - and it doesn't need to be great.
But what it cannot afford is to be awful.
It must never go 4-of-26 again.
Purdue may not have to win games with three-point shooting this season, but it may find itself in positions where it can lose games with it.
Some random stuff …
You saw tonight why Ryan Cline isn't redshirting. After missing his first two threes, he made his next four. Is that a promise of things to come this season? Not at all, but it's a hell of a start.
Thing with Cline is that he'll do this from time to time, just pull out the flamethrower and go to town. That's the dimension he adds. That said, he got loose tonight playing big minutes and after he got a couple misses out of his system. He had that luxury against North Carolina A&T; will he against Maryland or IU? No telling, but that the potential that he might is the reason he's playing.
I know this game was just general guarantee-game riff-raff, but how many teams out there can have their leading scorer from a year ago idling on the bench, but still have six guys score in double-figures? Not gawking at it, but seriously asking. That seems uncommon.
Purdue has too many players, too many mouths to feed.
"Good problem to have," Matt Painter always says.
Indeed.
This was an interesting post-game comment from Painter when he was asked about scoring dispersal:
"Everybody's going to have to sacrifice for our team to win. That's just the way it's going to be. Not everybody is going to be able to play major minutes every single night. You have to keep a good attitude about it and go out there and cheer for your teammates."
Makes you wonder if he's trying to get in front of issues before they're issues.
Worth mentioning: There was a play Stephens made in the first half, where he was in the throes of a run of a couple made shots where he could have launched another but instead shot-faked, put the ball on the floor, attacked a closeout hard, got into the lane and kicked out to P.J. Thompson for an open three that missed. Purdue didn't score off it, but that was new for Stephens. A really good basketball play and a sign of some development there, it looked like.
Stephens led a break, too, in the second half and looked functional doing it.
He's getting better as an all-around player.
If Vince Edwards keeps making long pull-up jumpers the way he has been, that's a very Hummel-ish dimension he can bring to Purdue's offensive mix.
A three.
He made it, looked good doing it, catching, setting and firing all in one smooth motion.
The crowd swooned.
It was the first shot a Purdue post player took this season, 18 minutes into said season, and it was from 20-plus feet.
Well, officially, it was the first shot a Purdue big man took in the first half of the Boilermakers' 81-40 win over North Carolina A&T Friday night, one of just two. Swanigan missed another jumper with nine seconds left in the half.
Isaac Haas … the guy who was Purdue's first, second and third option offensively to start the exhibition game, he didn't get a shot off, officially - remember, fouls don't count - until 16:20 remained to play.
Just like they drew it up, right?
The exact opposite actually.
But as funny as it sounds to say Purdue "found another way to win" Friday night when it hadn't even played a real game yet, that's true. This was the opposite of the Boilermakers' blueprint.
Purdue won this game with threes and transition, not to mention dominant defense against an opponent it shouldn't exactly beat its chest over blowing out.
Having to win games with threes and transition is dicey in theory. This was not a good three-point shooting team last season and it's not exactly stocked with thoroughbreds in the open floor.
But in games like this one, Purdue has more than enough to thrive once it gets settled, which took some time tonight.
Purdue will have nights this season where it's going to be made to shoot 30 threes. Anyone who watched last season had reason to shudder at that thought, but this will be a better shooting team.
Purdue may not be a great shooting team - or it may be - and it doesn't need to be great.
But what it cannot afford is to be awful.
It must never go 4-of-26 again.
Purdue may not have to win games with three-point shooting this season, but it may find itself in positions where it can lose games with it.
Some random stuff …
Thing with Cline is that he'll do this from time to time, just pull out the flamethrower and go to town. That's the dimension he adds. That said, he got loose tonight playing big minutes and after he got a couple misses out of his system. He had that luxury against North Carolina A&T; will he against Maryland or IU? No telling, but that the potential that he might is the reason he's playing.
Purdue has too many players, too many mouths to feed.
"Good problem to have," Matt Painter always says.
Indeed.
This was an interesting post-game comment from Painter when he was asked about scoring dispersal:
"Everybody's going to have to sacrifice for our team to win. That's just the way it's going to be. Not everybody is going to be able to play major minutes every single night. You have to keep a good attitude about it and go out there and cheer for your teammates."
Makes you wonder if he's trying to get in front of issues before they're issues.
Stephens led a break, too, in the second half and looked functional doing it.
He's getting better as an all-around player.
