Purdue beat Rutgers tonight by 19.
Should have been closer to 30 and would have been had the end of the bench not been a hot mess out there for the final minute-plus of the game, handing the Knights a meaningless 7-0 run to end the game.
It felt like the Boilermakers won by about seven. Maybe that was just me and probably was, but that game seemed uncomfortably close even if the scoreboard said the exact opposite in the final 10 minutes.
I guess maybe I was holding Purdue to too high a standard or Rutgers to too low a standard, but the fact Rutgers had a shot rim out early in the second half that would have brought it to within two points, after halftime, it was surprising, even if there probably wasn't a moment of real doubt about the outcome here.
Rutgers kept close for the better part of 30 minutes Tuesday night on the home floor of what might be the best team in the Big Ten. You have to credit Rutgers for that — they did what they could for as long as they could — but also recognize the role Purdue itself played in it.
I don't know what Purdue's deal was in the first half, but it played the game like a mixtape, almost like it thought it could just do whatever it wanted to blow Rutgers out. Remember, Purdue beat this team by 272 points — if I recall correctly — on its home floor last season. This time around, it opened the game almost showing a fundamental disrespect for its opponent with its selection of shots and with the hurriedness with with which it took them. That was surprising and difficult to explain. I'm only theorizing about the blowout-hunger thing here, I don't know, but that stretch of play was atypical for this team.
It was all rendered moot as Isaac Haas trampled Rutgers in the second half, but the unevenness between halves reiterated again that Purdue is winning right now, but not playing particularly well doing it, by its standards, at least.
Offensively, Purdue has had two so-so nights from three-point range in a row and its foul shooting has taken a step backward. Those have been constants the majority of the season. The defense has come through, however, to offset that offensive regression the past two games.
Can Purdue be good on both offense and defense at the same time in really high-level games? If this offensive dip is a step in that direction, then it's well worth it. As for whatever the first half was tonight, Purdue has learned lessons through the course of this season and maybe this is another one to come.
Should have been closer to 30 and would have been had the end of the bench not been a hot mess out there for the final minute-plus of the game, handing the Knights a meaningless 7-0 run to end the game.
It felt like the Boilermakers won by about seven. Maybe that was just me and probably was, but that game seemed uncomfortably close even if the scoreboard said the exact opposite in the final 10 minutes.
I guess maybe I was holding Purdue to too high a standard or Rutgers to too low a standard, but the fact Rutgers had a shot rim out early in the second half that would have brought it to within two points, after halftime, it was surprising, even if there probably wasn't a moment of real doubt about the outcome here.
Rutgers kept close for the better part of 30 minutes Tuesday night on the home floor of what might be the best team in the Big Ten. You have to credit Rutgers for that — they did what they could for as long as they could — but also recognize the role Purdue itself played in it.
I don't know what Purdue's deal was in the first half, but it played the game like a mixtape, almost like it thought it could just do whatever it wanted to blow Rutgers out. Remember, Purdue beat this team by 272 points — if I recall correctly — on its home floor last season. This time around, it opened the game almost showing a fundamental disrespect for its opponent with its selection of shots and with the hurriedness with with which it took them. That was surprising and difficult to explain. I'm only theorizing about the blowout-hunger thing here, I don't know, but that stretch of play was atypical for this team.
It was all rendered moot as Isaac Haas trampled Rutgers in the second half, but the unevenness between halves reiterated again that Purdue is winning right now, but not playing particularly well doing it, by its standards, at least.
Offensively, Purdue has had two so-so nights from three-point range in a row and its foul shooting has taken a step backward. Those have been constants the majority of the season. The defense has come through, however, to offset that offensive regression the past two games.
Can Purdue be good on both offense and defense at the same time in really high-level games? If this offensive dip is a step in that direction, then it's well worth it. As for whatever the first half was tonight, Purdue has learned lessons through the course of this season and maybe this is another one to come.
