This is what opponents like these are for: Working out the kinks.
As impressive as Purdue's young team looked in blowing Samford's doors off Friday night it looked equally choppy in dragging its hindquarters behind it at times against the Jaguars.
And still won by 20.
Good sign? Of course.
There were moments in Mackey Arena Sunday afternoon/evening that it did not even seem like the Boilermakers were winning, what with their sloppiness with the ball, apparent defensive breakdowns in the first half and inability to put the game away at the foul line. That's how I saw it anyway. Performance lies in the eye of the beholder, and I thought Purdue was uneven.
It should be, with so many new parts.
The gold standard for young-team success at Purdue is the '07-08 team. There were days early in the season that team looked like it had just rolled out of bed, figuratively speaking.
Teams in positions like Purdue's are due some leeway and Purdue used some of it tonight, playing a highly flawed game only to be carried along by a pair of special performances.
Vince Edwards may never be as good for the balance of his career as he was today for Purdue, and I say that to illustrate how good he was today, not to downplay what he's capable of as a Boilermaker. We knew he was going to be a productive one way or another this season; no one could have seen that coming, not this quickly at least.
And Kendall Stephens that's his ceiling, folks. That's him at his best, at least in terms of his player-defining skill: Shooting. He's nailing shots right now and taking all great ones, or at least close to all great ones. That said, the other four guys on the floor are getting him great shots, too. It won't be that easy much more this season.
It was a sight to behold, considering where Purdue's been, today, to see Stephens skip a perfect post feed into A.J. Hammons, only to see Hammons step through an initial defender before getting halted. Hammons kicked back out to Stephens for a three that was good.
Purdue's going to have the inside game. It needs to have the "inside-outside" portion. For that to happen, the ball needs to leave the post, too. That was a great sequence, the kind you'd not have seen last season.
Edwards and Stephens carried Purdue in more ways than one, masking some real flaws in this game that led to what might be a positive. Purdue got tested. There was some mild adversity and Purdue - albeit by the Boilermakers' own doing - responded favorably.
That's probably a good thing, but time will tell.
Lightning round
Really liking Jon Octeus so far. He's solid. Solid is good. He showed some flashes tonight of being a real leech in man-to-man D, leading the charge on one of the two shot-clock violations Purdue forced in the first half.
When Octeus came out in the first half, you noticed he wasn't out there, because Purdue's collective play fell off. Part of that was that Bryson Scott didn't have a good game - some old habits showing up - but it had a lot to do with the senior being off the floor. That's got to be the sign of a highly valuable player: Things change for the worse when he's on the bench.
People want to know who's going to get left out of Purdue's rotation. One thing is evident: Two of its three sophomores - Scott and Basil Smotherman - may not be on the precipice of getting left out, but they may have to fight like hell to maintain their niches.
Again, that is more a credit to others than indictment of them.
Hammons has been particularly productive on offense, but he's playing better than his numbers suggest, IMO, made some great passes today and made everyone's life easier.
Purdue is getting its scoring elsewhere because practically speaking, it's there. Hammons is a marked man, and the decoy he presents is making life simpler for Edwards, Stephens, Dakota Mathias and everyone else.
When Purdue starts playing more balanced matchups, he'll get more opportunities, but there's no cause for concern there at all, aside from the fact he has to make his free throws.
If he keeps shooting the way he has, he's going to be an 18-a-game player who scores 13 every night.
Copyright, Boilers, Inc. 2014. 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.
As impressive as Purdue's young team looked in blowing Samford's doors off Friday night it looked equally choppy in dragging its hindquarters behind it at times against the Jaguars.
And still won by 20.
Good sign? Of course.
There were moments in Mackey Arena Sunday afternoon/evening that it did not even seem like the Boilermakers were winning, what with their sloppiness with the ball, apparent defensive breakdowns in the first half and inability to put the game away at the foul line. That's how I saw it anyway. Performance lies in the eye of the beholder, and I thought Purdue was uneven.
It should be, with so many new parts.
The gold standard for young-team success at Purdue is the '07-08 team. There were days early in the season that team looked like it had just rolled out of bed, figuratively speaking.
Teams in positions like Purdue's are due some leeway and Purdue used some of it tonight, playing a highly flawed game only to be carried along by a pair of special performances.
Vince Edwards may never be as good for the balance of his career as he was today for Purdue, and I say that to illustrate how good he was today, not to downplay what he's capable of as a Boilermaker. We knew he was going to be a productive one way or another this season; no one could have seen that coming, not this quickly at least.
And Kendall Stephens that's his ceiling, folks. That's him at his best, at least in terms of his player-defining skill: Shooting. He's nailing shots right now and taking all great ones, or at least close to all great ones. That said, the other four guys on the floor are getting him great shots, too. It won't be that easy much more this season.
It was a sight to behold, considering where Purdue's been, today, to see Stephens skip a perfect post feed into A.J. Hammons, only to see Hammons step through an initial defender before getting halted. Hammons kicked back out to Stephens for a three that was good.
Purdue's going to have the inside game. It needs to have the "inside-outside" portion. For that to happen, the ball needs to leave the post, too. That was a great sequence, the kind you'd not have seen last season.
Edwards and Stephens carried Purdue in more ways than one, masking some real flaws in this game that led to what might be a positive. Purdue got tested. There was some mild adversity and Purdue - albeit by the Boilermakers' own doing - responded favorably.
That's probably a good thing, but time will tell.
Lightning round
When Octeus came out in the first half, you noticed he wasn't out there, because Purdue's collective play fell off. Part of that was that Bryson Scott didn't have a good game - some old habits showing up - but it had a lot to do with the senior being off the floor. That's got to be the sign of a highly valuable player: Things change for the worse when he's on the bench.
Again, that is more a credit to others than indictment of them.
Purdue is getting its scoring elsewhere because practically speaking, it's there. Hammons is a marked man, and the decoy he presents is making life simpler for Edwards, Stephens, Dakota Mathias and everyone else.
When Purdue starts playing more balanced matchups, he'll get more opportunities, but there's no cause for concern there at all, aside from the fact he has to make his free throws.
If he keeps shooting the way he has, he's going to be an 18-a-game player who scores 13 every night.
Copyright, Boilers, Inc. 2014. 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.
