CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Leron Black was great tonight for Illinois and so was Nnanna Egwu, to a lesser extent.
Good for them, good for Illinois.
But in Purdue's 66-57 loss here in Champaign tonight, they shouldn't have been allowed to be as great as they were.
After this game, Purdue talked about Black - a guy only starting tonight because another guy blew his retina - Mr. Woodbury, where were you around 2 p.m. yesterday and do you have anyone how can vouch for your whereabouts at that time? - as "the best player on the floor" and having "played harder than everyone on the floor."
Again, good for Illinois.
But that effort should have been matched, right? Illinois shouldn't have been allowed to clock bigger, badder Purdue on the boards. That has to be Purdue's strength every time out, even more so against a team that essentially had four guards out there at times.
Offensive rebounding won this game for Illinois, because it prevented it from losing it in the first half.
Second-chance opportunities positioned Illinois to let Purdue blow the game in the final minute-and-16 of the first half, which it did spectacularly.
Jon Octeus almost can't come off the floor for Purdue, but Matt Painter was right to pull him with two fouls. A third would have changed the game entirely and it's not too much to ask guys to get through a minute without imploding.
Not on this night it wasn't though.
Purdue lost the game then and there at the end of the half. It should have led by eight or 10 points at half. Instead it trailed by two and Illinois got real confident real quick, looked like to me.
The Boilermakers lost this game at both ends of the floor and all points in between.
After a great first half defensively - Illinois struggled almost to Michigan second-half levels - it didn't get stops or keep Illinois off the foul line after halftime. You can't tell me that didn't have at least a little to do with the momentum Purdue handed over at the end of the first half.
Offensively, how A.J. Hammons - often being guarded by a guard - takes six shots while teammates miss 16 threes that just doesn't compute.
Purdue has so much invested in the post. It was a no-show today, or at least wasn't given much of a chance to show. Maybe Illinois took it away, I don't know, but Purdue needed more high-percentage offense tonight and it seems like it was right there for the taking.
Those are the shots Purdue didn't take; of the ones it did it left countless points on the table, with blown layups and missed free throws, suddenly an anchor tied to this team's ankle again.
Purdue goes 4-of-9 tonight. Never mind the percentage there for a second and look at the volume. Shouldn't a team that generated almost half its offense in the paint be drawing more than 12 fouls and shooting more than nine free throws? This was very much like the Wisconsin game in that sense.
Seemed like an indictment of Purdue's aggressiveness on offense, its post-entry game and probably its rebounding, because effort has a funny way of drawing whistles on the glass.
Like Rapheal Davis said afterward, "We have to be better."
I don't know what's going on with Kendall Stephens here, but Purdue missed him, and I know I'm saying that after a game in which Purdue shot too many threes, open as they may have been.
Matt Painter used the word "broke" in relation to Stephens' finger for the first time tonight, saying it like it was nothing, like it was already out there. No one's ever said "broke" before. That can't be good. I asked if this might be something that may require him to sit for a while. Painter said, "I have no idea."
No bueno.
Dakota Mathias was OK in Stephens' absence tonight, but was fried physically at the end, his legs just shot while playing a far-and-away season-high 28 minutes.
The rotation has already been shortened. Losing a key piece now would be problematic.
People on Twitter are talking about Bryson Scott like the obvious fix for every one of Purdue's issues was just sitting there collecting dust tonight, and maybe the sophomore could have helped, but this was a predictable narrative, for angry onlookers to decide this is some personal vendetta between coach and player.
It's not. Coaches are paid to win games - their livelihoods depend on it - and they don't bench the players they think can help them win most for no good reason. It's not like Bryson Scott said something derogatory about anybody's mama or something.
If Painter trusted Bryson Scott right now to go in and make Purdue better, he would be . playing, I promise you. It's up to him to get back to that place and up to Painter to give him that chance on the practice floor, not the game floor.
(I always say about depth that until proven, "depth" is just numbers. All that depth that was discussed - but never really proven - earlier in the season has kind of gone by the wayside hasn't it?)
Purdue could have won this game tonight and it would have been a big one if it had. You might even say Purdue should have won given the impact its own transgressions had on the game.
But at the end of the day Purdue lost a competitive Big Ten road game without its leading scorer and best three-point shooter against an opponent that was allowing open threes all night.
There's some perspective needed there. Or an excuse depending on your anger levels and their influence on your rhetoric.
On to the next one.
Iowa is a big one.
Copyright, Boilers, Inc. 2015. 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.
Good for them, good for Illinois.
But in Purdue's 66-57 loss here in Champaign tonight, they shouldn't have been allowed to be as great as they were.
After this game, Purdue talked about Black - a guy only starting tonight because another guy blew his retina - Mr. Woodbury, where were you around 2 p.m. yesterday and do you have anyone how can vouch for your whereabouts at that time? - as "the best player on the floor" and having "played harder than everyone on the floor."
Again, good for Illinois.
But that effort should have been matched, right? Illinois shouldn't have been allowed to clock bigger, badder Purdue on the boards. That has to be Purdue's strength every time out, even more so against a team that essentially had four guards out there at times.
Offensive rebounding won this game for Illinois, because it prevented it from losing it in the first half.
Second-chance opportunities positioned Illinois to let Purdue blow the game in the final minute-and-16 of the first half, which it did spectacularly.
Jon Octeus almost can't come off the floor for Purdue, but Matt Painter was right to pull him with two fouls. A third would have changed the game entirely and it's not too much to ask guys to get through a minute without imploding.
Not on this night it wasn't though.
Purdue lost the game then and there at the end of the half. It should have led by eight or 10 points at half. Instead it trailed by two and Illinois got real confident real quick, looked like to me.
The Boilermakers lost this game at both ends of the floor and all points in between.
After a great first half defensively - Illinois struggled almost to Michigan second-half levels - it didn't get stops or keep Illinois off the foul line after halftime. You can't tell me that didn't have at least a little to do with the momentum Purdue handed over at the end of the first half.
Offensively, how A.J. Hammons - often being guarded by a guard - takes six shots while teammates miss 16 threes that just doesn't compute.
Purdue has so much invested in the post. It was a no-show today, or at least wasn't given much of a chance to show. Maybe Illinois took it away, I don't know, but Purdue needed more high-percentage offense tonight and it seems like it was right there for the taking.
Those are the shots Purdue didn't take; of the ones it did it left countless points on the table, with blown layups and missed free throws, suddenly an anchor tied to this team's ankle again.
Purdue goes 4-of-9 tonight. Never mind the percentage there for a second and look at the volume. Shouldn't a team that generated almost half its offense in the paint be drawing more than 12 fouls and shooting more than nine free throws? This was very much like the Wisconsin game in that sense.
Seemed like an indictment of Purdue's aggressiveness on offense, its post-entry game and probably its rebounding, because effort has a funny way of drawing whistles on the glass.
Like Rapheal Davis said afterward, "We have to be better."
I don't know what's going on with Kendall Stephens here, but Purdue missed him, and I know I'm saying that after a game in which Purdue shot too many threes, open as they may have been.
Matt Painter used the word "broke" in relation to Stephens' finger for the first time tonight, saying it like it was nothing, like it was already out there. No one's ever said "broke" before. That can't be good. I asked if this might be something that may require him to sit for a while. Painter said, "I have no idea."
No bueno.
Dakota Mathias was OK in Stephens' absence tonight, but was fried physically at the end, his legs just shot while playing a far-and-away season-high 28 minutes.
The rotation has already been shortened. Losing a key piece now would be problematic.
People on Twitter are talking about Bryson Scott like the obvious fix for every one of Purdue's issues was just sitting there collecting dust tonight, and maybe the sophomore could have helped, but this was a predictable narrative, for angry onlookers to decide this is some personal vendetta between coach and player.
It's not. Coaches are paid to win games - their livelihoods depend on it - and they don't bench the players they think can help them win most for no good reason. It's not like Bryson Scott said something derogatory about anybody's mama or something.
If Painter trusted Bryson Scott right now to go in and make Purdue better, he would be . playing, I promise you. It's up to him to get back to that place and up to Painter to give him that chance on the practice floor, not the game floor.
(I always say about depth that until proven, "depth" is just numbers. All that depth that was discussed - but never really proven - earlier in the season has kind of gone by the wayside hasn't it?)
Purdue could have won this game tonight and it would have been a big one if it had. You might even say Purdue should have won given the impact its own transgressions had on the game.
But at the end of the day Purdue lost a competitive Big Ten road game without its leading scorer and best three-point shooter against an opponent that was allowing open threes all night.
There's some perspective needed there. Or an excuse depending on your anger levels and their influence on your rhetoric.
On to the next one.
Iowa is a big one.
Copyright, Boilers, Inc. 2015. 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.
