Purdue is defined by its size, the carnival-sideshow collection of giants that has made the Boilermakers a really good team and something of a curiosity in the college basketball world.
So there would seem to be a bit of irony - you know, like rain on your wedding cake, or that good advice, that you just can't take - to the smallest dude on the floor looming largest, as P.J. Thompson has now done on more than one occasion this season.
Thompson was the hero of the Florida game in Connecticut and the hero of tonight's win over Ohio State.
I should add that those games were head-to-head meetings with a McDonald's All-American in Kasey Hill and a would-have-been-McDonald's All-American-had-he-not-gone-to-prep-school in JaQuan Lyle.
Tonight, it was Thompson.
Before it's been A.J. Hammons carrying Purdue through closely contested second halves, Dakota Mathias making so many big shots or Ryan Cline sucker-punching Pitt with that barrage of threes.
Purdue just seems to have guys who make plays when it matters.
Again, tonight it was Thompson's turn, starting with the sequence that quickly switched from the worst sequence of the night for Purdue into the most important.
Purdue caught some real breaks in some games this season, train-wreck plays that suddenly come up aces. It had a couple more tonight, starting with the Rapheal Davis lay-up - it was an and-one, but the foul shot was off - that very easily could have wound up a turnover - and moving on to Thompson's pivotal three, a play made possible by an airball and blown point-blank layup from a guy who's 84 inches tall.
I guess good teams find ways, however they may be, and luck - whether it was manufactured or not - was a small part of it tonight.
But give Purdue credit, because it hung in, hung in during a stretch in which it couldn't make a shot and wasn't defending worth a damn. Typically, that's a difficult combination.
It hung in with offensive rebounds, points off turnovers and uncommon sources of offense.
Purdue's sometimes-maligned point guards were flawless tonight: 20 points, 5-of-7 shooting, zero turnovers and three steals between them, not to mention some of the biggest plays of the game, is ridiculous productivity from complementary players. Thompson scored 12 points on three field goal attempts. That's hard to do.
Credit Rapheal Davis, too. He's struggling badly on offense right now, the worst funk of his career probably. But he took Kam Williams out of that game after Kam Williams got Ohio State in the game in the first half.
This was like Michigan and Illinois: Davis can only guard one guy. It was Marc Loving in the first half. He did nothing. Then it was, mostly, Kam Williams in the second. He did nothing.
(Davis did start the half on Loving, who attacked him with early success.)
Funny game: Purdue shoots 39 percent and winds up with 75 points. And 75 points will win you a lot of Big Ten basketball games.
Garbage points matter, and I know you're sick of reading about that, but it's true, and so much of that couch-cushion scoring went Purdue's way tonight.
It bears repeating: When Purdue doesn't turn the ball over, it's pretty good.
But Purdue didn't play great tonight, but still grinded out a win in the face of a solid effort from a talented opponent.
It has to be better against Iowa.
So there would seem to be a bit of irony - you know, like rain on your wedding cake, or that good advice, that you just can't take - to the smallest dude on the floor looming largest, as P.J. Thompson has now done on more than one occasion this season.
Thompson was the hero of the Florida game in Connecticut and the hero of tonight's win over Ohio State.
I should add that those games were head-to-head meetings with a McDonald's All-American in Kasey Hill and a would-have-been-McDonald's All-American-had-he-not-gone-to-prep-school in JaQuan Lyle.
Tonight, it was Thompson.
Before it's been A.J. Hammons carrying Purdue through closely contested second halves, Dakota Mathias making so many big shots or Ryan Cline sucker-punching Pitt with that barrage of threes.
Purdue just seems to have guys who make plays when it matters.
Again, tonight it was Thompson's turn, starting with the sequence that quickly switched from the worst sequence of the night for Purdue into the most important.
Purdue caught some real breaks in some games this season, train-wreck plays that suddenly come up aces. It had a couple more tonight, starting with the Rapheal Davis lay-up - it was an and-one, but the foul shot was off - that very easily could have wound up a turnover - and moving on to Thompson's pivotal three, a play made possible by an airball and blown point-blank layup from a guy who's 84 inches tall.
I guess good teams find ways, however they may be, and luck - whether it was manufactured or not - was a small part of it tonight.
But give Purdue credit, because it hung in, hung in during a stretch in which it couldn't make a shot and wasn't defending worth a damn. Typically, that's a difficult combination.
It hung in with offensive rebounds, points off turnovers and uncommon sources of offense.
Purdue's sometimes-maligned point guards were flawless tonight: 20 points, 5-of-7 shooting, zero turnovers and three steals between them, not to mention some of the biggest plays of the game, is ridiculous productivity from complementary players. Thompson scored 12 points on three field goal attempts. That's hard to do.
Credit Rapheal Davis, too. He's struggling badly on offense right now, the worst funk of his career probably. But he took Kam Williams out of that game after Kam Williams got Ohio State in the game in the first half.
This was like Michigan and Illinois: Davis can only guard one guy. It was Marc Loving in the first half. He did nothing. Then it was, mostly, Kam Williams in the second. He did nothing.
(Davis did start the half on Loving, who attacked him with early success.)
Funny game: Purdue shoots 39 percent and winds up with 75 points. And 75 points will win you a lot of Big Ten basketball games.
Garbage points matter, and I know you're sick of reading about that, but it's true, and so much of that couch-cushion scoring went Purdue's way tonight.
It bears repeating: When Purdue doesn't turn the ball over, it's pretty good.
But Purdue didn't play great tonight, but still grinded out a win in the face of a solid effort from a talented opponent.
It has to be better against Iowa.
