Good morning everyone, it's 2:37 a.m. and there's bull-riding now on my office TV on the station on which Purdue lost to Clemson 81-70. Here are some final musings about that game, because I know how much you like musings.
• Shrug the result off, plain and simple. This team is at a massive disadvantage without Eric Hunter. That reality showed up in both victory and defeat this week. Throwing Jaden Ivey into that mix made this a molotov cocktail. The fact that Ethan Morton is fresh off mono suddenly became the least of your backcourt problems.
Clemson had Purdue in a vice and twisted it over and over. A team that plays like 30 guys throwing the kitchen sink at a team that has eight and only a couple who can dribble, one of whom just had mono.
Yikes.
Nothing was going to be easy for Purdue this season and there's no guarantee this team would be very good, never was any guarantee, but circumstance has already kneecapped the Boilermakers, and there's no way Purdue turns the ball over 22 times otherwise.
• Obviously Isaiah Thompson didn't play at the level Purdue needed of him, even though his scoring numbers look good (and that counts). I don't know how great a preseason he had, but Purdue must hope now that this can be a teachable moment or what have you with him, because they're gonna need him.
• Zach Edey's sucker-punching of the college basketball world this weekend probably overshadowed Brandon Newman putting together a damn good week in Florida. It shouldn't. Newman wasn't perfect but his presence was felt, at both ends. His stroke is picturesque and his game off the dribble coming along nicely. His energy and exuberance on D will make the mistakes he may make worth it.
Keeper.
• The 4 has been Purdue's most unsettled position and tonight looked like it. I like Mason Gillis and think he'll round into something more than he looked like this week, and may show up more in more physical games, but Aaron Wheeler varied strongly between Games 1 and 2, and if he can just make something between playing great and blending in his normal, the Boilermakers will be much better off for it.
Purdue just needs solid, consistent play, effort and defense from those guys and the occasional open three.
I've thought Purdue may mix Morton in there once he returns to form, but the guard situation being what it is, I don't know if that happens any time soon.
• Gotta get Trevion Williams going. Don't need to beat that topic into the ground, but it speaks for itself. He's better than this. Everyone knows that.
• I thought Purdue showed a little something at the very end of the game, because when Clemson went up 15, I thought a young and short-handed team was on its way to losing by 22 or something. Didn't happen. It's cliché but Purdue kept fighting. Showed a little something there, I think. What would last year's team have done in that situation? Lost by 22 or something.
• I think people are really going to like Ethan Morton. He's a shell of himself right now, but he was part of that game-tying run Purdue made. Things just worked better with him out there, and five assists is no small number for a guy who practiced like twice before his first two college games. For him to come feeling like death on a stick, I'd have to think, against this pressure, with this little experience, and to do what he did, that's impressive.
• Zach Edey is just fantastic, but I'm here to be the guy who reminds you that there's still bound to be some inconsistency and the Big Ten is already devising ways to crowd him, move him, punch him in the belly without the ref noticing, etc. He's still gonna have some ups and downs. That's natural for a freshman. Purdue needs Trevion Williams playing at a level where no casual observer is sitting here wondering who Purdue's best center is.
Thanks everyone for reading and have a good night/morning.
