MADISON, Wis. - The spotlight shined in A.J. Hammons' eyes.
"Let me know if I have food on my face," he said.
This was after Purdue's 61-55 win at Wisconsin and that spotlight was a TV camera after another dominant performance by the Boilermakers' senior center, who destroyed Wisconsin's frontcourt and his post-game meal alike. Unconfirmed reports say it involved alfredo.
There was some symbolism there, in Hammons facing that spotlight and worrying about something trivial, but I'm not sure I have an astute enough eye or am a skilled-enough, uh, user of words to both recognize and articulate it.
But something about it reflected what Hammons was then and what he is now.
College athletes are not static beings. They all develop physically, mentally and whatever else. They grow, in more ways than one. They mature. That's the nature of their age group. Some do it all faster than others.
So Hammons' story - what he's grown into - certainly isn't anything out of the ordinary, but that doesn't make it any less impressive.
This was a player when he was younger that was needed to play a leading role when he, by his own admission - and who admits this kind of stuff? - wasn't ready to, and maybe didn't even want to. He didn't respond well to pressure. You might not have seen it in games, but it came out one way or another. Hell, this was a guy who had to make a free throw to beat Penn State a few years ago and was so anxious his coach resorted to small talk about pizza to help him deal.
(He did not have pizza on his face in the post-game press conference, we can confirm.)
What Hammons was back then was just human, feeling things everybody feels in one form or another in some way or another. It's just that these guys feel their way around through such things for the whole world to see. In these guys' cases, when real human vulnerabilities are exposed, they're exposed on TV and online, accompanied by Buffalo Wild Wings commercials.
In some ways, Hammons is no different today than he was then. In others, he's hardly recognizable.
That player before who didn't want the spotlight, didn't want the pressure of being his team's centerpiece, now embraces it. And the irony, if this isn't a use-of-irony foul, is that he's doing it for a team that has other potential centerpieces. Whereas before he was force-fed that role by default, now he's earned it. He's risen to the point where not only is it his, he's worthy of it.
Hammons is just flat-out carrying Purdue right now, and that's more a credit to him than an indictment of others, though the Boilermakers have to be very careful to not allow their big man's stellar play to mask the things that are going to get it beat down the line if they continue.
This was a good win for Purdue led by a guy who's emerging as a great player, but it's also fair warning: Purdue has to be better than this if it wants to be what it aspires to be the next three-plus months.
The turnovers and quick threes need to be curbed. This group shows it is very good when it takes care of the basketball, defends and leverages its size to the highest degree, then lets everything else fall in place after that.
But Purdue is winning, being carried by a player who was never really one for heavy lifting.
Until now, that is.
"Let me know if I have food on my face," he said.
This was after Purdue's 61-55 win at Wisconsin and that spotlight was a TV camera after another dominant performance by the Boilermakers' senior center, who destroyed Wisconsin's frontcourt and his post-game meal alike. Unconfirmed reports say it involved alfredo.
There was some symbolism there, in Hammons facing that spotlight and worrying about something trivial, but I'm not sure I have an astute enough eye or am a skilled-enough, uh, user of words to both recognize and articulate it.
But something about it reflected what Hammons was then and what he is now.
College athletes are not static beings. They all develop physically, mentally and whatever else. They grow, in more ways than one. They mature. That's the nature of their age group. Some do it all faster than others.
So Hammons' story - what he's grown into - certainly isn't anything out of the ordinary, but that doesn't make it any less impressive.
This was a player when he was younger that was needed to play a leading role when he, by his own admission - and who admits this kind of stuff? - wasn't ready to, and maybe didn't even want to. He didn't respond well to pressure. You might not have seen it in games, but it came out one way or another. Hell, this was a guy who had to make a free throw to beat Penn State a few years ago and was so anxious his coach resorted to small talk about pizza to help him deal.
(He did not have pizza on his face in the post-game press conference, we can confirm.)
What Hammons was back then was just human, feeling things everybody feels in one form or another in some way or another. It's just that these guys feel their way around through such things for the whole world to see. In these guys' cases, when real human vulnerabilities are exposed, they're exposed on TV and online, accompanied by Buffalo Wild Wings commercials.
In some ways, Hammons is no different today than he was then. In others, he's hardly recognizable.
That player before who didn't want the spotlight, didn't want the pressure of being his team's centerpiece, now embraces it. And the irony, if this isn't a use-of-irony foul, is that he's doing it for a team that has other potential centerpieces. Whereas before he was force-fed that role by default, now he's earned it. He's risen to the point where not only is it his, he's worthy of it.
Hammons is just flat-out carrying Purdue right now, and that's more a credit to him than an indictment of others, though the Boilermakers have to be very careful to not allow their big man's stellar play to mask the things that are going to get it beat down the line if they continue.
This was a good win for Purdue led by a guy who's emerging as a great player, but it's also fair warning: Purdue has to be better than this if it wants to be what it aspires to be the next three-plus months.
The turnovers and quick threes need to be curbed. This group shows it is very good when it takes care of the basketball, defends and leverages its size to the highest degree, then lets everything else fall in place after that.
But Purdue is winning, being carried by a player who was never really one for heavy lifting.
Until now, that is.
