PISCATAWAY, N.J. - Purdue's been playing Whack-A-Mole all year.
If it's rebounding, then it's turning the ball over. If it's turning the ball over, then it's rebounding. If it's scoring, it's not getting stops. If it's getting stops, it's struggling to score.
That may be over-generalizing to an extent, but it is fair to say complete games have been elusive for these Boilermakers this season.
Luckily for Purdue, one phase of the game was plenty tonight at Rutgers, a team that simply can't score to save itself and a group that's just in over its head in this league in Year 1.
(Watch Eddie Jordan's press conference and tell me that looks like a man who believes his team has any chance at all.)
Anyway, I don't know if giving Purdue all the credit for defending its way to a win tonight is altogether appropriate. To do so would be to minimize the role Rutgers' ineptness played. This is a team with no skill at all on offense. No one who can pass, no one who can make a shot, or at least prior to the final six minutes of a game.
But though Purdue didn't always force the Scarlet Knights to miss the rim from, uh, right under it; miss not one, but two, breakaway layups; and lay a truckload of brick from the foul line, it did make it really hard on a team for which nothing comes easy.
So, yes, Purdue deserves credit.
A.J. Hammons deserves a lot of credit.
Same thing tonight as the last few blogs. Hammons has been tremendous and, more importantly, consistently tremendous.
This was a front-line of grown men Rutgers has, too. It's the one thing Rutgers does have.
Hammons is now safely established as one of the best players in the Big Ten. He is now what we all always thought he could be but didn't know for sure he ever would be.
Or at least right on the cusp of it.
The NBA will be a decision he has to make come spring, but what he's putting on tape for scouts to see right now is some pretty impressive stuff.
I still say Purdue winning big would help him too, whether it be this year or next, if there is a next.
Hammons really wants to play in an NCAA Tournament and he's giving Purdue a chance. He's been the single-biggest driving force for the Boilermakers in this push they've made toward the Field of 68.
My guess right now: If Hammons maintains this level of play, Purdue makes the Tournament and Hammons leaves after the season. If Purdue doesn't make the Tournament, no idea what he'll do, frankly.
Again, Hammons has given Purdue a chance.
To continue to have a chance, Purdue needed to win tonight at Rutgers.
It was non-negotiable. This was the game that would have ruined the season - in the context of still what might be - had it gone sideways on Purdue.
Purdue didn't play a complete game. It was so very bleh on offense, turnover-prone and again unable to throw the ball in the Atlantic from the shore from long range.
"It's been frustrating," Matt Painter said of his team's perimeter shooting, "because we feel the shots we're missing from the perimeter are good shots by guys who can make them, but we just haven't been able to knock them down. We're looking forward to that day."
But for Purdue all season, as one thing, whatever it may be, has fallen off, another has often risen up.
Purdue scored just 61 points and shot 40 percent tonight and notched a double-digit road victory.
Defense carried it.
Copyright, Boilers, Inc. 2015. 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.
If it's rebounding, then it's turning the ball over. If it's turning the ball over, then it's rebounding. If it's scoring, it's not getting stops. If it's getting stops, it's struggling to score.
Luckily for Purdue, one phase of the game was plenty tonight at Rutgers, a team that simply can't score to save itself and a group that's just in over its head in this league in Year 1.
(Watch Eddie Jordan's press conference and tell me that looks like a man who believes his team has any chance at all.)
Anyway, I don't know if giving Purdue all the credit for defending its way to a win tonight is altogether appropriate. To do so would be to minimize the role Rutgers' ineptness played. This is a team with no skill at all on offense. No one who can pass, no one who can make a shot, or at least prior to the final six minutes of a game.
But though Purdue didn't always force the Scarlet Knights to miss the rim from, uh, right under it; miss not one, but two, breakaway layups; and lay a truckload of brick from the foul line, it did make it really hard on a team for which nothing comes easy.
So, yes, Purdue deserves credit.
A.J. Hammons deserves a lot of credit.
Same thing tonight as the last few blogs. Hammons has been tremendous and, more importantly, consistently tremendous.
This was a front-line of grown men Rutgers has, too. It's the one thing Rutgers does have.
Hammons is now safely established as one of the best players in the Big Ten. He is now what we all always thought he could be but didn't know for sure he ever would be.
Or at least right on the cusp of it.
The NBA will be a decision he has to make come spring, but what he's putting on tape for scouts to see right now is some pretty impressive stuff.
I still say Purdue winning big would help him too, whether it be this year or next, if there is a next.
Hammons really wants to play in an NCAA Tournament and he's giving Purdue a chance. He's been the single-biggest driving force for the Boilermakers in this push they've made toward the Field of 68.
My guess right now: If Hammons maintains this level of play, Purdue makes the Tournament and Hammons leaves after the season. If Purdue doesn't make the Tournament, no idea what he'll do, frankly.
Again, Hammons has given Purdue a chance.
To continue to have a chance, Purdue needed to win tonight at Rutgers.
It was non-negotiable. This was the game that would have ruined the season - in the context of still what might be - had it gone sideways on Purdue.
Purdue didn't play a complete game. It was so very bleh on offense, turnover-prone and again unable to throw the ball in the Atlantic from the shore from long range.
"It's been frustrating," Matt Painter said of his team's perimeter shooting, "because we feel the shots we're missing from the perimeter are good shots by guys who can make them, but we just haven't been able to knock them down. We're looking forward to that day."
But for Purdue all season, as one thing, whatever it may be, has fallen off, another has often risen up.
Purdue scored just 61 points and shot 40 percent tonight and notched a double-digit road victory.
Defense carried it.
Copyright, Boilers, Inc. 2015. 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.
