Effort was kind of Purdue's great equalizer Wednesday night.
And that's a pretty good sign for a Boilermaker team that's just trying to get right.
For everything that was wrong with Purdue's triple-overtime odyssey against the Golden Gophers - whether it was the first-half turnovers, the botched end-of-regulation sequence or the foul shooting that I don't even have a word to describe - what it all boiled down to Wednesday night was effort.
I don't want to say Purdue wanted it more, 'cause that's a tired cliche, but if "if" means "the ball," then yes, Purdue wanted it more.
Purdue beat Minnesota, and broke Minnesota, on the offensive glass, grabbing 23 do-overs on the boards. It wasn't just A.J. Hammons and his Godzilla routine around the basket; it was Errick Peck; and it was Ronnie and Terone Johnson, who were tractor beams to whatever wandering offensive rebounds came in their general direction.
When Purdue has been good this season, it's been great on the backboard. Purdue wasn't particularly good against Minnesota, but being great on the backboard was good enough.
Thanks to their rebounding, the Boilermakers won in spite of themselves, despite being an absolute chemical spill at the foul line, where Terone Johnson missed five - four, plus a lane violation-generated Mulligan - in the final two minutes, then Errick Peck missed two at the end of the third OT, adding one last anxious sequence to a night full of them.
Purdue was 9-of-23. Really? Really?
It overcame it because it rebounded and because it outplayed Minnesota at the two most important positions on the floor.
Hammons, after being worked by Elliott Eliason in Minneapolis one month ago, played 46 minutes. For him, that's like two-and-a-half AAU games back in the day.
After a needed breather to start the third OT - during which Jay Simpson was great in his place - Hammons was good in the third overtime, good throughout all the overtimes really. It says something about his effort today that he was wound up at the end when he might have otherwise been winding down. It can't be easy to play nearly four-dozen minutes, not when you're that big, not when you're absorbing that much contact. It can't be easy to play, let alone really play.
Hammons played.
And Ronnie Johnson was great in scoring 11 to go along with eight rebounds and eight assists to just one turnover.
There was that one play where Johnson darted into the paint to beat a Gopher to an offensive rebound, then in one motion, seemed like, directed it to Hammons for one of his three dunks. For starters, he could have not asserted himself for that ball. Second, he could have forced the shot himself. Great all-around play as part of a great all-around game.
Sterling Carter was again influential for Purdue, carrying them as a scorer in the first half as he finally found the bottom of the net a couple times from three, and playing a very solid game all throughout. Kendall Stephens made some shots in the second half that were really big.
It all sounds great, right?
Well, remember, Minnesota had a three to win it at the end of the second OT. How would it all sound had that shot gone in?
About as ugly as it all looked.
Purdue was kind of lucky to win after it undermined itself the way it did.
Then again, they say that sometimes you make your own luck. I disagree, because if luck were manufactured, it wouldn't be luck. Luck is inherently random, right?
Regardless, let's say for argument's sake that you can make your own luck.
Purdue's effort Wednesday night made it lucky.
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.
And that's a pretty good sign for a Boilermaker team that's just trying to get right.
For everything that was wrong with Purdue's triple-overtime odyssey against the Golden Gophers - whether it was the first-half turnovers, the botched end-of-regulation sequence or the foul shooting that I don't even have a word to describe - what it all boiled down to Wednesday night was effort.
I don't want to say Purdue wanted it more, 'cause that's a tired cliche, but if "if" means "the ball," then yes, Purdue wanted it more.
Purdue beat Minnesota, and broke Minnesota, on the offensive glass, grabbing 23 do-overs on the boards. It wasn't just A.J. Hammons and his Godzilla routine around the basket; it was Errick Peck; and it was Ronnie and Terone Johnson, who were tractor beams to whatever wandering offensive rebounds came in their general direction.
When Purdue has been good this season, it's been great on the backboard. Purdue wasn't particularly good against Minnesota, but being great on the backboard was good enough.
Thanks to their rebounding, the Boilermakers won in spite of themselves, despite being an absolute chemical spill at the foul line, where Terone Johnson missed five - four, plus a lane violation-generated Mulligan - in the final two minutes, then Errick Peck missed two at the end of the third OT, adding one last anxious sequence to a night full of them.
Purdue was 9-of-23. Really? Really?
It overcame it because it rebounded and because it outplayed Minnesota at the two most important positions on the floor.
Hammons, after being worked by Elliott Eliason in Minneapolis one month ago, played 46 minutes. For him, that's like two-and-a-half AAU games back in the day.
After a needed breather to start the third OT - during which Jay Simpson was great in his place - Hammons was good in the third overtime, good throughout all the overtimes really. It says something about his effort today that he was wound up at the end when he might have otherwise been winding down. It can't be easy to play nearly four-dozen minutes, not when you're that big, not when you're absorbing that much contact. It can't be easy to play, let alone really play.
Hammons played.
And Ronnie Johnson was great in scoring 11 to go along with eight rebounds and eight assists to just one turnover.
There was that one play where Johnson darted into the paint to beat a Gopher to an offensive rebound, then in one motion, seemed like, directed it to Hammons for one of his three dunks. For starters, he could have not asserted himself for that ball. Second, he could have forced the shot himself. Great all-around play as part of a great all-around game.
Sterling Carter was again influential for Purdue, carrying them as a scorer in the first half as he finally found the bottom of the net a couple times from three, and playing a very solid game all throughout. Kendall Stephens made some shots in the second half that were really big.
It all sounds great, right?
Well, remember, Minnesota had a three to win it at the end of the second OT. How would it all sound had that shot gone in?
About as ugly as it all looked.
Purdue was kind of lucky to win after it undermined itself the way it did.
Then again, they say that sometimes you make your own luck. I disagree, because if luck were manufactured, it wouldn't be luck. Luck is inherently random, right?
Regardless, let's say for argument's sake that you can make your own luck.
Purdue's effort Wednesday night made it lucky.
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.
