Purdue's two feet in on Big Ten play now, but on Wednesday night got to play another non-conference game.
Penn State is obviously a league member, but its 74-57 loss in West Lafayette tonight unfolded much like Purdue's games earlier this season did.
The Boilermakers' size influenced the game, controlled the boards and decisively won out.
The 42-25 rebounding advantage is the game's breakout statistic, the one that masked a few less-than-perfect elements tonight.
It was like a non-conference game, with Penn State not having much of a chance, really, against a team that just physically overmatched it.
But I thought - and maybe I imagined this - you also saw a different Purdue team, one that asserted itself at both ends of the floor.
After getting its lunch eaten by Illinois on defense a couple nights ago, Purdue came out aggressive and forced turnovers. Like, forced them and didn't just get them. This is a Purdue team, I might add, that ranks among the bottom percentiles nationally in turnover generation, surprisingly given its history but not surprisingly given its current complexion.
But more so I thought you saw a different team offensively.
Vince Edwards came out like a killer, so to speak, and showed that he's much more than just the window dressing he sometimes fades into for Purdue. We've said all along this is a player who might be Option 1 on a lot of other teams and is playing the role of wing man at Purdue, and I don't just mean his position. He was terrific tonight.
Dakota Mathias was similarly commanding, dominating this game with his passing for a stretch and fitting nicely into a Purdue attack that got the ball and just went, which was new.
You saw some different things, like Caleb Swanigan diving hard to the rim as A.J. Hammons turned a post-up into a face-up, then hit Swanigan barreling toward the goal a couple times. Maybe it just hasn't worked before like it did tonight but that seemed new. Hammons is passing the ball pretty well right now, by the way.
I liked the presumably set play Purdue ran for Edwards in the first half to iso him on Brandon Taylor, leading to a foul. The more players Purdue has engaged and meaningfully involved in doing more offensively than complementing the bigs, the better probably, understanding there are only so many shots and possessions to go around.
Isaac Haas played well tonight and returned to non-conference form in terms of his ability to push people around, which he did in the first half. Caleb Swanigan - who you saw both the relative best and relative worst of tonight - nearly scored his first double-double since non-conference play ended.
You saw Purdue win comfortably despite a blip it doesn't want repeated: shoddy foul shooting.
A.J. Hammons, who was just OK in this game until picking it up in the second half somewhat - and just OK for him is still 13 and seven boards - missed three one-and-ones. I wonder what the record is and went a percentage-poisoning 1-for-6.
You saw Purdue win despite Rapheal Davis doing nothing on offense, even though he came out looking to make aggressive plays. I wonder if he's really 100-percent healthy after going through that issue earlier in the season.
What you didn't see was much of Kendall Stephens, who played only nine minutes. As we wrote elsewhere, there was a time not all that long ago it was hard to imagine Purdue having a good team without Stephens being really good. But here is playing nine minutes in a Big Ten game as a junior.
Shot selection, I guess, but I don't think anyone's going to give up on him any time soon. He's too talented.
Purdue beat Penn State easily Wednesday night, but there's not going to be a parade. This doesn't mean the issues that fed the Boilermakers a .500 league record through four games are remedied.
What does it mean? No idea.
But Purdue had to win this game and did, without much trouble.
Next up: Rutgers.
Much the same result should be a reasonable expectation.
Penn State is obviously a league member, but its 74-57 loss in West Lafayette tonight unfolded much like Purdue's games earlier this season did.
The Boilermakers' size influenced the game, controlled the boards and decisively won out.
The 42-25 rebounding advantage is the game's breakout statistic, the one that masked a few less-than-perfect elements tonight.
It was like a non-conference game, with Penn State not having much of a chance, really, against a team that just physically overmatched it.
But I thought - and maybe I imagined this - you also saw a different Purdue team, one that asserted itself at both ends of the floor.
After getting its lunch eaten by Illinois on defense a couple nights ago, Purdue came out aggressive and forced turnovers. Like, forced them and didn't just get them. This is a Purdue team, I might add, that ranks among the bottom percentiles nationally in turnover generation, surprisingly given its history but not surprisingly given its current complexion.
But more so I thought you saw a different team offensively.
Vince Edwards came out like a killer, so to speak, and showed that he's much more than just the window dressing he sometimes fades into for Purdue. We've said all along this is a player who might be Option 1 on a lot of other teams and is playing the role of wing man at Purdue, and I don't just mean his position. He was terrific tonight.
Dakota Mathias was similarly commanding, dominating this game with his passing for a stretch and fitting nicely into a Purdue attack that got the ball and just went, which was new.
You saw some different things, like Caleb Swanigan diving hard to the rim as A.J. Hammons turned a post-up into a face-up, then hit Swanigan barreling toward the goal a couple times. Maybe it just hasn't worked before like it did tonight but that seemed new. Hammons is passing the ball pretty well right now, by the way.
I liked the presumably set play Purdue ran for Edwards in the first half to iso him on Brandon Taylor, leading to a foul. The more players Purdue has engaged and meaningfully involved in doing more offensively than complementing the bigs, the better probably, understanding there are only so many shots and possessions to go around.
Isaac Haas played well tonight and returned to non-conference form in terms of his ability to push people around, which he did in the first half. Caleb Swanigan - who you saw both the relative best and relative worst of tonight - nearly scored his first double-double since non-conference play ended.
You saw Purdue win comfortably despite a blip it doesn't want repeated: shoddy foul shooting.
A.J. Hammons, who was just OK in this game until picking it up in the second half somewhat - and just OK for him is still 13 and seven boards - missed three one-and-ones. I wonder what the record is and went a percentage-poisoning 1-for-6.
You saw Purdue win despite Rapheal Davis doing nothing on offense, even though he came out looking to make aggressive plays. I wonder if he's really 100-percent healthy after going through that issue earlier in the season.
What you didn't see was much of Kendall Stephens, who played only nine minutes. As we wrote elsewhere, there was a time not all that long ago it was hard to imagine Purdue having a good team without Stephens being really good. But here is playing nine minutes in a Big Ten game as a junior.
Shot selection, I guess, but I don't think anyone's going to give up on him any time soon. He's too talented.
Purdue beat Penn State easily Wednesday night, but there's not going to be a parade. This doesn't mean the issues that fed the Boilermakers a .500 league record through four games are remedied.
What does it mean? No idea.
But Purdue had to win this game and did, without much trouble.
Next up: Rutgers.
Much the same result should be a reasonable expectation.
