NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Vince Edwards wasn't the reason Purdue lost at Vanderbilt tonight.
Listening to the Boilermaker freshman afterward, though, you'd have thought that he scored half the Commodores' points for them.
Edwards threw himself under the bus, then backed over himself for good measure, following a 10-point Purdue loss that may as well have been a 20-point Purdue loss when taking into account how it unfolded. Vanderbilt is not a decidedly better team than Purdue, if a better team at all, and the vaunted "road" was as friendly as it's ever gonna be considering the composition of the crowd.
Edwards self-critique: He didn't play hard enough and wasn't aggressive enough against a favorable defensive matchup, especially after starting out well enough with five early points.
Purdue, playing its fourth game in like a week while Vanderbilt was on ice for eight days, didn't lose because of these things, but lost because of a lot of different things, but by flaying himself, Edwards came off like a burgeoning alpha.
Purdue could use a couple.
The Boilermakers have needed A.J. Hammons to be one, banked on it really, but it's been years now, and it's not clicked. Is he wired for that role? Does he even want that role? I'm not sure anyone watching objectively could say yes. I'm not sure he'd say yes.
Matt Painter's invested so much in Hammons, committing to a certain way of doing things when Hammons was a freshman at a little bit of a price given the nature of those around the big man. More than two years later, a player who should be overwhelming people is looking overwhelmed at times with the ball in his hands.
The center is a big-time defensive player, a game-changer, really, but on offense, things are sideways.
Hammons is struggling to finish around the basket. He's getting the ball taken away from him. Yes, he's getting ganged up on, but still. Sometimes, when Hammons' initial move is thwarted - admittedly like it was on the game-winner vs. BYU - he looks lost. He loses his balance, has no plan. He doesn't play big with the ball in his hands. Those hands are not strong with the ball. He doesn't look comfortable, let alone like the alpha - the centerpiece - Purdue needs him to be.
Purdue needs those types of guys right now.
Kendall Stephens wants it, it looks like, but might not quite know how to go about it just yet. There were some costly shot-selection issues tonight.
Edwards and Isaac Haas seem made for it, but they're so young, if that matters.
Rapheal Davis is made for it, too, but he has a lower ceiling than some other guys, though he bumped his head on that ceiling he was so good tonight.
Hard to say anyone was that good, though, in a game so bad.
Again, the final score was cosmetic. Vandy did Purdue in well in advance of that final horn sounding, by virtue of its prodigious offense.
Purdue played poorly on defense, but it wasn't as disgustingly horrific as the numbers might say.
It did break down early and give Vandy some open threes. When those went, the floodgates opened and never closed.
And Vanderbilt won the post.
I don't care that stud Damian Jones was only 6-of-14 with five turnovers. His hook shot and baseline jumper over Haas to open the game went a long way toward warming Vandy up. That was early momentum. That was a big part of Vanderbilt 'getting its head up,' the term used after the game by just about everyone who opened their mouths around the media.
Vandy's bigs had a real quickness edge on the Boilermakers' more-lumbering pair.
Riley LaChance was obviously the player who doomed Purdue with his shooting - a night the freshman may play his whole career without matching - but James Siakam played a big, big role also, beating Purdue to offensive rebounds and scoring around the basket vs. players that towered over him.
The Boilermakers never took advantage with their size on offense, at least not until the second half, when Haas got some things done. By then, the hole was dug.
Purdue was done in early.
What's this mean?
It means Purdue didn't win a game that would have been a really nice win, but in this season in which everything's a lesson for these young guys, there must be one in this.
Understand that first road games are hard.
Teams that went on to be a hell of a lot better than this one probably will be struggled. Remember when the wunderkinds of the '07-08 team - the Baby Boilers, as they're called - faded at Clemson in a game they'd have won going away a month later, and totally melted down in the second half at Missouri?
When we talk about road games, we talk about it being hard on the visitor more than we talk about it being easier on the host. Things looked easy for Vandy tonight and Purdue's play was just part of that.
Notre Dame's going to be really difficult, but Vanderbilt just exposed a whole bunch of stuff that maybe Purdue can get better because of.
Listening to the Boilermaker freshman afterward, though, you'd have thought that he scored half the Commodores' points for them.
Edwards threw himself under the bus, then backed over himself for good measure, following a 10-point Purdue loss that may as well have been a 20-point Purdue loss when taking into account how it unfolded. Vanderbilt is not a decidedly better team than Purdue, if a better team at all, and the vaunted "road" was as friendly as it's ever gonna be considering the composition of the crowd.
Edwards self-critique: He didn't play hard enough and wasn't aggressive enough against a favorable defensive matchup, especially after starting out well enough with five early points.
Purdue, playing its fourth game in like a week while Vanderbilt was on ice for eight days, didn't lose because of these things, but lost because of a lot of different things, but by flaying himself, Edwards came off like a burgeoning alpha.
Purdue could use a couple.
The Boilermakers have needed A.J. Hammons to be one, banked on it really, but it's been years now, and it's not clicked. Is he wired for that role? Does he even want that role? I'm not sure anyone watching objectively could say yes. I'm not sure he'd say yes.
Matt Painter's invested so much in Hammons, committing to a certain way of doing things when Hammons was a freshman at a little bit of a price given the nature of those around the big man. More than two years later, a player who should be overwhelming people is looking overwhelmed at times with the ball in his hands.
The center is a big-time defensive player, a game-changer, really, but on offense, things are sideways.
Hammons is struggling to finish around the basket. He's getting the ball taken away from him. Yes, he's getting ganged up on, but still. Sometimes, when Hammons' initial move is thwarted - admittedly like it was on the game-winner vs. BYU - he looks lost. He loses his balance, has no plan. He doesn't play big with the ball in his hands. Those hands are not strong with the ball. He doesn't look comfortable, let alone like the alpha - the centerpiece - Purdue needs him to be.
Purdue needs those types of guys right now.
Kendall Stephens wants it, it looks like, but might not quite know how to go about it just yet. There were some costly shot-selection issues tonight.
Edwards and Isaac Haas seem made for it, but they're so young, if that matters.
Rapheal Davis is made for it, too, but he has a lower ceiling than some other guys, though he bumped his head on that ceiling he was so good tonight.
Hard to say anyone was that good, though, in a game so bad.
Again, the final score was cosmetic. Vandy did Purdue in well in advance of that final horn sounding, by virtue of its prodigious offense.
Purdue played poorly on defense, but it wasn't as disgustingly horrific as the numbers might say.
It did break down early and give Vandy some open threes. When those went, the floodgates opened and never closed.
And Vanderbilt won the post.
I don't care that stud Damian Jones was only 6-of-14 with five turnovers. His hook shot and baseline jumper over Haas to open the game went a long way toward warming Vandy up. That was early momentum. That was a big part of Vanderbilt 'getting its head up,' the term used after the game by just about everyone who opened their mouths around the media.
Vandy's bigs had a real quickness edge on the Boilermakers' more-lumbering pair.
Riley LaChance was obviously the player who doomed Purdue with his shooting - a night the freshman may play his whole career without matching - but James Siakam played a big, big role also, beating Purdue to offensive rebounds and scoring around the basket vs. players that towered over him.
The Boilermakers never took advantage with their size on offense, at least not until the second half, when Haas got some things done. By then, the hole was dug.
Purdue was done in early.
What's this mean?
It means Purdue didn't win a game that would have been a really nice win, but in this season in which everything's a lesson for these young guys, there must be one in this.
Understand that first road games are hard.
Teams that went on to be a hell of a lot better than this one probably will be struggled. Remember when the wunderkinds of the '07-08 team - the Baby Boilers, as they're called - faded at Clemson in a game they'd have won going away a month later, and totally melted down in the second half at Missouri?
When we talk about road games, we talk about it being hard on the visitor more than we talk about it being easier on the host. Things looked easy for Vandy tonight and Purdue's play was just part of that.
Notre Dame's going to be really difficult, but Vanderbilt just exposed a whole bunch of stuff that maybe Purdue can get better because of.
