Well, Purdue had its 2013-14 team at full strength for the first time Wednesday night and two things happened:
? The Boilermakers scored a hundred-and-nine points, flirting for a while with doubling its per-game average of 66 from last season.
? The Boilermakers stopped a great guard on defense.
It was not a perfect performance by any means and it did come against a team that managed to give up like nearly 50 points in 14 minutes at Yale last week. But Purdue hasn't won emphatically all that much lately, so any time that sort of thing happens, hey, great. Nothing wrong with a little November confidence.
In its new form, Purdue wasn't going to hit its stride right out of the gate and you saw so many flaws in the exhibitions and the season opener. But the Boilermakers were missing a big piece. The puzzle was fully put together Wednesday and the result impressive.
A.J. Hammons was good. He looked energized from the get-go after saying earlier in the week that he'd "play as hard as he could" in hopes of making amends for his suspension.
It will be interesting from here on out to find out whether tonight's spirit was a special occasion thing under the circumstances or a reflection of a new-and-improved, more consistent Hammons. We'll find out, I guess.
But obviously Purdue is better with its 7-footer than without. Bold assertion, huh? It took all of 19 seconds - the time that elapsed between tip-off and the first of Hammons' career-high seven blocks - for that to be very apparent.
All those defensive concerns from prior games, well, they don't just go away, but they're a little less magnified now with the Big Eraser back there.
Hammons made Purdue better on defense, but his role in flat-out shackling Kyle Vinales was Terone Johnson and other guards.
"I played horrible on defense last game, so I had to come out and try to do something," Terone Johnson said.
Vinales averaged 23 a game last year, making him one of the college game's most prolific scorers. He scored two more points than I did in the first half and did so on a shot I could have made, a low-hanging-fruit, uncontested, breakaway layup off a turnover forced by someone else. Vinales finished 6-of-21.
Don't be fooled by the 22 he finished with. Terone Johnson took him out when it mattered.
And Matt Hunter, the kid who dropped 40 at Indiana last season, was 1-of-7.
CCS - who I have spent the whole evening almost calling either 'CCR' or 'Central Catholic' on Twitter - shot less than 35 percent.
There were flaws in this performance by Purdue - getting outrebounded in the first half, missing 10 free throws, etc. - but at the end of the day, it's difficult to not view the sort of dominance Purdue showed in one form or another at both ends of the floor as a good thing for a team that could stand to gain some swagger during this five-game runway to Orlando, especially after the Northern Kentucky game.
I just wrote Friday about how Purdue doesn't make runs anymore, that it just hasn't been able to get enough stops or put together enough mistake-free possessions to make such moves.
Purdue made such a move after being down 17-12, the offensive boards playing such a significant role in its 18-0 surge that changed the game and ushered in garbage time.
There's something about a putback, something that seems to heartening for the team that gets it and disheartening for the one that gives it up. Purdue got fat off putbacks against Central Connecticut. Yes, the Boilermakers overmatched the Blue Devils physically, but you could say the same about NorK the other night, so it must have been doing something better.
Purdue is being aggressive on offense, which you have to like, because how is anything going to happen if no one's trying to make something happen? But there were more situations Wednesday night where battles weren't picked so wisely. It worked out most every time, though, but against better opponents, maybe a more judicious approach would be best.
But Purdue went for the throat in those situations.
And at the end of the night it set a positive tone for this group to go out and kill somebody.
Copyright, Boilers, Inc. 2013. All Rights Reserved. Reproducing or using editorial or graphical content, in whole or in part, without permission, is strictly prohibited. E-mail GoldandBlack.com/Boilers, Inc.
This post was edited on 11/14 12:05 AM by Brian_GoldandBlack.com
? The Boilermakers scored a hundred-and-nine points, flirting for a while with doubling its per-game average of 66 from last season.
? The Boilermakers stopped a great guard on defense.
It was not a perfect performance by any means and it did come against a team that managed to give up like nearly 50 points in 14 minutes at Yale last week. But Purdue hasn't won emphatically all that much lately, so any time that sort of thing happens, hey, great. Nothing wrong with a little November confidence.
In its new form, Purdue wasn't going to hit its stride right out of the gate and you saw so many flaws in the exhibitions and the season opener. But the Boilermakers were missing a big piece. The puzzle was fully put together Wednesday and the result impressive.
A.J. Hammons was good. He looked energized from the get-go after saying earlier in the week that he'd "play as hard as he could" in hopes of making amends for his suspension.
It will be interesting from here on out to find out whether tonight's spirit was a special occasion thing under the circumstances or a reflection of a new-and-improved, more consistent Hammons. We'll find out, I guess.
But obviously Purdue is better with its 7-footer than without. Bold assertion, huh? It took all of 19 seconds - the time that elapsed between tip-off and the first of Hammons' career-high seven blocks - for that to be very apparent.
All those defensive concerns from prior games, well, they don't just go away, but they're a little less magnified now with the Big Eraser back there.
Hammons made Purdue better on defense, but his role in flat-out shackling Kyle Vinales was Terone Johnson and other guards.
"I played horrible on defense last game, so I had to come out and try to do something," Terone Johnson said.
Vinales averaged 23 a game last year, making him one of the college game's most prolific scorers. He scored two more points than I did in the first half and did so on a shot I could have made, a low-hanging-fruit, uncontested, breakaway layup off a turnover forced by someone else. Vinales finished 6-of-21.
Don't be fooled by the 22 he finished with. Terone Johnson took him out when it mattered.
And Matt Hunter, the kid who dropped 40 at Indiana last season, was 1-of-7.
CCS - who I have spent the whole evening almost calling either 'CCR' or 'Central Catholic' on Twitter - shot less than 35 percent.
There were flaws in this performance by Purdue - getting outrebounded in the first half, missing 10 free throws, etc. - but at the end of the day, it's difficult to not view the sort of dominance Purdue showed in one form or another at both ends of the floor as a good thing for a team that could stand to gain some swagger during this five-game runway to Orlando, especially after the Northern Kentucky game.
I just wrote Friday about how Purdue doesn't make runs anymore, that it just hasn't been able to get enough stops or put together enough mistake-free possessions to make such moves.
Purdue made such a move after being down 17-12, the offensive boards playing such a significant role in its 18-0 surge that changed the game and ushered in garbage time.
There's something about a putback, something that seems to heartening for the team that gets it and disheartening for the one that gives it up. Purdue got fat off putbacks against Central Connecticut. Yes, the Boilermakers overmatched the Blue Devils physically, but you could say the same about NorK the other night, so it must have been doing something better.
Purdue is being aggressive on offense, which you have to like, because how is anything going to happen if no one's trying to make something happen? But there were more situations Wednesday night where battles weren't picked so wisely. It worked out most every time, though, but against better opponents, maybe a more judicious approach would be best.
But Purdue went for the throat in those situations.
And at the end of the night it set a positive tone for this group to go out and kill somebody.
Copyright, Boilers, Inc. 2013. All Rights Reserved. Reproducing or using editorial or graphical content, in whole or in part, without permission, is strictly prohibited. E-mail GoldandBlack.com/Boilers, Inc.
This post was edited on 11/14 12:05 AM by Brian_GoldandBlack.com
