Defensive gem … 32 points in last 10 minutes

[Born Boiler]

The second half of the second half turned a 51-43 lead into a 75-73 loss and lost control of the league race. Purdue put up 22 points in those last 10 minutes but still got outscored by 10 … 32-22. At that rate, Michigan wins 128-88.

Sure the zebras smelled. Nothing new. Going to the hole, Furst draws more uncalled bumps and grabs than a pole dancer in a ’70s dive bar; he should shed his T-shirt to show the nail trails. But the bigger problem is small ball. Most teams play bigger than Purdue – Michigan, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Illinois and indinia, to name a few – so it was inevitable our two 6-9 guys would meet deep foul trouble, especially against the two 7-footers. Trouble is, we then always go to a 6-6 guy, as we did for years with the Duke defector, often outsized by guards, while everyone else goes bigger and bangs better. Purdue now ranks 15th in the Big Ten in rebounding. Defense suffers.

Back during the cupcake days, Burgess and Berg should’ve been getting more time to develop as minimally usable backups. Now, beyond the two starters, we have big trouble. Half those 32 points in the last 10 minutes were scored by Michigan’s two bigs. Meanwhile ours scored hemorrhoids.

 

[Old Gold n Black]

The second half of the second half turned a 51-43 lead into a 75-73 loss and lost control of the league race. Purdue put up 22 points in those last 10 minutes but still got outscored by 10 … 32-22. At that rate, Michigan wins 128-88.

Sure the zebras smelled. Nothing new. Going to the hole, Furst draws more uncalled bumps and grabs than a pole dancer in a ’70s dive bar; he should shed his T-shirt to show the nail trails. But the bigger problem is small ball. Most teams play bigger than Purdue – Michigan, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Illinois and indinia, to name a few – so it was inevitable our two 6-9 guys would meet deep foul trouble, especially against the two 7-footers. Trouble is, we then always go to a 6-6 guy, as we did for years with the Duke defector, often outsized by guards, while everyone else goes bigger and bangs better. Purdue now ranks 15th in the Big Ten in rebounding. Defense suffers.

Back during the cupcake days, Burgess and Berg should’ve been getting more time to develop as minimally usable backups. Now, beyond the two starters, we have big trouble. Half those 32 points in the last 10 minutes were scored by Michigan’s two bigs. Meanwhile ours scored hemorrhoids.

Great post. We were totally outsized, but the irony is that we outrebounded UM last night. Caleb and Trey both played physical on both ends of the court, and Caleb in particular was quick to the ball last night. I thought his defense was great again last night, too. But his lack of offensive prowess is a head scratcher. He clearly got fouled several times under the basket last night, but how do we explain the no-calls? Does he need to play more "angry"? Does he need to be more vocal? Maybe occasionally let out a Vlad Golden-esque scream like a wookie just ripped off his arms on a touch foul?

I certainly think Burgess needs more time in the rotation. The season is far from over, so there's still time for him to grow into a slightly larger role. If Heide isn't hitting his outside shots, what's the point of playing him as a stretch 4 when he's clearly overmatched in the paint? Heck, at this point why not give Waddell a go?

 

[DrEss]

It would be interesting to know Purdue’s team +/- for the last 10 minutes for this season’s Big Ten games. Foul trouble is not normally an issue, but maybe it is more related to fatigue. Big 3 play a lot of minutes, due to the relatively ineffective bench.

 

[Purdue79fan]

Great post. We were totally outsized, but the irony is that we outrebounded UM last night. Caleb and Trey both played physical on both ends of the court, and Caleb in particular was quick to the ball last night. I thought his defense was great again last night, too. But his lack of offensive prowess is a head scratcher. He clearly got fouled several times under the basket last night, but how do we explain the no-calls? Does he need to play more "angry"? Does he need to be more vocal? Maybe occasionally let out a Vlad Golden-esque scream like a wookie just ripped off his arms on a touch foul?

I certainly think Burgess needs more time in the rotation. The season is far from over, so there's still time for him to grow into a slightly larger role. If Heide isn't hitting his outside shots, what's the point of playing him as a stretch 4 when he's clearly overmatched in the paint? Heck, at this point why not give Waddell a go?

Would love to see Waddell or Colvin getting time at the 4 when Heide isn't contributing. 1 rebound in 16 minutes and not having a great D game. Colvin had 5 boards in 9 minutes and appeared far quicker to the ball. Cam may be fighting a virus or something; we don't know but hopefully the coaches do.

 

[MightyMike55]

Last night I would have liked to see Burg get some minutes over Cam. If Cam is having trouble hitting his shots as a stretch 4, we could have used the size in Burg to clog up the lane and generate some open looks for Smith and Loyer.

 

[boilerzz]

Last night I would have liked to see Burg get some minutes over Cam. If Cam is having trouble hitting his shots as a stretch 4, we could have used the size in Burg to clog up the lane and generate some open looks for Smith and Loyer.

I can't imagine Berg trying to guard Danny Wolf either straight up of off a switch.

 

[Gman544]

Waddell apparently can’t play at this level.

 

[BoilerDaddy]

The second half of the second half turned a 51-43 lead into a 75-73 loss and lost control of the league race. Purdue put up 22 points in those last 10 minutes but still got outscored by 10 … 32-22. At that rate, Michigan wins 128-88.

Sure the zebras smelled. Nothing new. Going to the hole, Furst draws more uncalled bumps and grabs than a pole dancer in a ’70s dive bar; he should shed his T-shirt to show the nail trails. But the bigger problem is small ball. Most teams play bigger than Purdue – Michigan, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Illinois and indinia, to name a few – so it was inevitable our two 6-9 guys would meet deep foul trouble, especially against the two 7-footers. Trouble is, we then always go to a 6-6 guy, as we did for years with the Duke defector, often outsized by guards, while everyone else goes bigger and bangs better. Purdue now ranks 15th in the Big Ten in rebounding. Defense suffers.

Back during the cupcake days, Burgess and Berg should’ve been getting more time to develop as minimally usable backups. Now, beyond the two starters, we have big trouble. Half those 32 points in the last 10 minutes were scored by Michigan’s two bigs. Meanwhile ours scored hemorrhoids.

If only one of TKR and Furst had gotten into foul trouble, I think it would have been a different story. Golden and Wolf are one on the most dominant big man combos in the country and it was just too much last night.

 

[pubill]

Last night I would have liked to see Burg get some minutes over Cam. If Cam is having trouble hitting his shots as a stretch 4, we could have used the size in Burg to clog up the lane and generate some open looks for Smith and Loyer.

Berg cannot play meaningful minutes, give it up

 

[DwaynePurvis00]

If only one of TKR and Furst had gotten into foul trouble, I think it would have been a different story. Golden and Wolf are one on the most dominant big man combos in the country and it was just too much last night.

Yeah and we shut them down. The ticky tack foul calls were pathetic. How did at least 2 MORE fouls not get called in Michigan with how physical that game was?

 

[New Pal Boiler]

Back during the cupcake days, Burgess and Berg should’ve been getting more time to develop as minimally usable backups. Now, beyond the two starters, we have big trouble. Half those 32 points in the last 10 minutes were scored by Michigan’s two bigs. Meanwhile ours scored hemorrhoids

Berg had his chance. He is unfortunately too laterally slow to stay with ANYONE.

Other than as the back of a 1-3-1 zone, he can’t play defense in the B1G. ESPECIALLY against a team with mobile bigs.

 

[Purdue Grad in Texas]

I can't imagine Berg trying to guard Danny Wolf either straight up of off a switch.

I would hasten to wager he would foul out in < 4 minutes.

 

[qazplm]

We all love the guy who puts in the work and doesn't complain. That's Berg. But he simply isn't good enough. I'm sorry, it sucks, we all want that old school story of the kid who sticks it out four years and finally contributes that last season but that's the exception not the rule. Same with Waddell.

 

[Born Boiler]

Berg had his chance. He is unfortunately too laterally slow to stay with ANYONE.

Other than as the back of a 1-3-1 zone, he can’t play defense in the B1G. ESPECIALLY against a team with mobile bigs.

I would hasten to wager he would foul out in < 4 minutes.

We all love the guy who puts in the work and doesn't complain. That's Berg. But he simply isn't good enough. I'm sorry, it sucks, we all want that old school story of the kid who sticks it out four years and finally contributes that last season but that's the exception not the rule. Same with Waddell.

Berg has only 107 of Purdue’s 5,000 minutes for the season, yet he’s only three off the team lead for blocked shots. (Kinda sad, ain’t it?) And he is shooting a team-high 80 percent with 12 of 15 from the field. (Wish all the big guys’ free-throwing would keep that pace.) Even without sufficient grooming, he’d still be good for a couple minutes of painting and planting goons who slam our guys to the floor, a la USC and indinia. Burgess showed how. “Gimme an F! One!”

Not that there’s anything right about that. We wouldn’t dare advocate bullying any bullies.

By the way, isn’t Joe Krabbenhoft’s and Brian Butch’s old team coming to town?

 

[tjreese]

Berg had his chance. He is unfortunately too laterally slow to stay with ANYONE.

Other than as the back of a 1-3-1 zone, he can’t play defense in the B1G. ESPECIALLY against a team with mobile bigs.

Assuming an offense would counter in a 2-1-2 look against that 1-3-1 Berg would struggle covering the back 2 in the baseline corner. We all wished he would have worked out, but it doesn’t appear it will