Tonight's Nebraska win for Purdue was everything the Maryland game should have been.
Different opponents, different venues obviously, but think of how different the feeling would have been around the Boilermakers, and even inside their walls, had they just handled the Terps without incident and won convincingly, like they would have if not for that two-minute catatonic state.
Coming off the floor after that game, Purdue had to feel as if it had just walked away from a plane crash unscathed.
Purdue needed a smooth landing tonight, the sort of thing it denied itself against Maryland with its momentary lapse of reason.
This game, this was that game, and on the road no less. Nebraska is no Maryland and I think Purdue caught a bit of a break with Andrew White clearly not being himself due to that shoulder problem, but so what?
Never mind the Nebraska run that got to being only down eight at half. If A.J. Hammons and Isaac Haas don't both get two first-half fouls, my guess is that never happens, or at least not to that extent. Purdue didn't have its wall, the wall that its defense is based around.
Can that sort of thing happen again? Sure.
Will it? Well, how often has it?
Purdue has not always been decisive in victory against inferior competition, especially on the road. It got sucker-punched by Illinois, blew a game at Michigan and had to mud-wrestle with Minnesota to not let the animals out of the Barn that night. I'm choosing to not include Rutgers because it takes a special kind of team to bring to mind the practicality for contraction in the Big Ten, though I doubt it will want to meddle with anything.
When expansion was in the works, the Big Ten hoped Maryland and Rutgers would make for a nice pair to add to the league. In basketball, one has. The other is simply hopeless.
Maybe one of these days …
But back to Purdue, for the first time in what seems like forever, Purdue played a game and fans had nothing to complain about afterward.
(Right?)
Purdue has been an inconsistent basketball team and while no one is going to crown anyone or anything for a win over a middling Big Ten also-ran, Tuesday night was a positive development, because the Boilermakers have been the best there is at following up success with success.
And this wasn't just a skate-by win, this was a decisive win, won well.
Style points don't matter, but playing well in victory did tonight, and Purdue played well.
It is playing some of its best basketball offensively of the season and when it doesn't turn the ball over - like it didn't tonight - that fact is allowed to breath. The Boilermakers are shooting the basketball well from outside, as if its endless river of missed threes at Maryland was its come-to-Jesus moment on bulk, fool-hardy three-point shooting.
Dakota Mathias has emerged, Johnny Hill has stepped up and A.J. Hammons is still a stud-and-a-half. Vince Edwards is confident and aggressive and Caleb Swanigan is getting efficient. Purdue is showing a strong pulse on offense right now.
Now, it could all go out the window this weekend against a transformed Wisconsin team, but I'm guessing it doesn't.
College basketball is all about your timing: Play your best when it matters most.
With that time coming, Purdue is trending well.
It opens March now with high hopes.
Different opponents, different venues obviously, but think of how different the feeling would have been around the Boilermakers, and even inside their walls, had they just handled the Terps without incident and won convincingly, like they would have if not for that two-minute catatonic state.
Coming off the floor after that game, Purdue had to feel as if it had just walked away from a plane crash unscathed.
Purdue needed a smooth landing tonight, the sort of thing it denied itself against Maryland with its momentary lapse of reason.
This game, this was that game, and on the road no less. Nebraska is no Maryland and I think Purdue caught a bit of a break with Andrew White clearly not being himself due to that shoulder problem, but so what?
Never mind the Nebraska run that got to being only down eight at half. If A.J. Hammons and Isaac Haas don't both get two first-half fouls, my guess is that never happens, or at least not to that extent. Purdue didn't have its wall, the wall that its defense is based around.
Can that sort of thing happen again? Sure.
Will it? Well, how often has it?
Purdue has not always been decisive in victory against inferior competition, especially on the road. It got sucker-punched by Illinois, blew a game at Michigan and had to mud-wrestle with Minnesota to not let the animals out of the Barn that night. I'm choosing to not include Rutgers because it takes a special kind of team to bring to mind the practicality for contraction in the Big Ten, though I doubt it will want to meddle with anything.
When expansion was in the works, the Big Ten hoped Maryland and Rutgers would make for a nice pair to add to the league. In basketball, one has. The other is simply hopeless.
Maybe one of these days …
But back to Purdue, for the first time in what seems like forever, Purdue played a game and fans had nothing to complain about afterward.
(Right?)
Purdue has been an inconsistent basketball team and while no one is going to crown anyone or anything for a win over a middling Big Ten also-ran, Tuesday night was a positive development, because the Boilermakers have been the best there is at following up success with success.
And this wasn't just a skate-by win, this was a decisive win, won well.
Style points don't matter, but playing well in victory did tonight, and Purdue played well.
It is playing some of its best basketball offensively of the season and when it doesn't turn the ball over - like it didn't tonight - that fact is allowed to breath. The Boilermakers are shooting the basketball well from outside, as if its endless river of missed threes at Maryland was its come-to-Jesus moment on bulk, fool-hardy three-point shooting.
Dakota Mathias has emerged, Johnny Hill has stepped up and A.J. Hammons is still a stud-and-a-half. Vince Edwards is confident and aggressive and Caleb Swanigan is getting efficient. Purdue is showing a strong pulse on offense right now.
Now, it could all go out the window this weekend against a transformed Wisconsin team, but I'm guessing it doesn't.
College basketball is all about your timing: Play your best when it matters most.
With that time coming, Purdue is trending well.
It opens March now with high hopes.
