A few final musings — yes, musings — from Purdue's 79-62 loss to No. 21 Illinois in Mackey Arena.
• Purdue's air of invincibility in Mackey Arena is broken. I know that Texas won at Purdue and Minnesota damn near did the same, but the Boilermakers put Virginia and Michigan State in a blender on both those nights, and the Minnesota game came with a hint at a certain survival instinct at home.
Illinois, in the final 20 minutes, laughed in the face of one of the Big Ten's best homecourt advantages, because it was the tougher of the two teams, clearly, and because it took away the three totally. Purdue's forcefield at home has been the three. It saved Purdue's bacon against Minnesota and cooked Virginia's and Michigan State's on those nights.
Illinois simply took it away.
• Why could Illinois take away the three? Again, because Purdue lacks athletes and playmakers in the backcourt, and while it may have some nice pieces, they are pieces after all and when confronted with athleticism applying high degrees of pressure, open shots are hard to come by and one's only recourse is to play to your weaknesses and drive the lane at freaking Godzilla.
What Purdue needed to do — and, again, this is why Purdue would have beaten Texas Tech with Isaac Haas, IMO — was take advantage one-on-one on the interior, but to complete its team, Illinois went out and got itself a Kofi Cockburn and his impact goes way beyond points and rebounds in that sense.
There aren't many players who are bad matchups for both Matt Haarms and Trevion Williams. Cockburn is that guy, and in large part because of it, Illinois is this year's Minnesota for Purdue, that matchup tailor-made to take away its strengths and rub raw its limitations.
• Purdue's defense in the second half really lapsed. I mean, Illinois was 11-of-12 at one point, for crying out loud. Obviously it lapsed. Illinois did some different things in ball screen offense, but even when it kept it basic, the Boilermakers' rotations were less than ideal often and its closeouts, especially on Trent Frazier, not so good. This was not Eric Hunter's finest hour, but it was no one person.
• I'll say it again: When Nojel Eastern is your leading scorer, hey, great for him, but that is an indictment of the whole operation, because it means a void has been left by the guys who are needed to be scoring.
Two games in a row, Eastern has filled those voids in losses, which may not be a coincidence. Purdue needs the post established early, often and always, and to make shots to complement it.
Illinois took all of it away.
I'll say this about Eastern: In the past three games, Purdue has faced two of the toughest — as in toughness — teams in the conference, and played in one of its most difficult environments. And who's been the one guy who's absolutely shown up in all three games? Write off his contributions at your own peril, folks.
I'll give Sasha Stefanovic credit as well: He's not afraid to get dunked on, which is admirable. After, of course, he got stepped on.
• No bigger Kansas-Kansas State fan than Alan Griffin right now, who should be the subject of an e-mail from the Big Ten to Illinois tomorrow morning strongly suggesting a university-imposed suspension of some kind. But that's not nearly the ugliest thing that happened in college basketball tonight, so good for him.
Good night everybody and thanks for reading.
• Purdue's air of invincibility in Mackey Arena is broken. I know that Texas won at Purdue and Minnesota damn near did the same, but the Boilermakers put Virginia and Michigan State in a blender on both those nights, and the Minnesota game came with a hint at a certain survival instinct at home.
Illinois, in the final 20 minutes, laughed in the face of one of the Big Ten's best homecourt advantages, because it was the tougher of the two teams, clearly, and because it took away the three totally. Purdue's forcefield at home has been the three. It saved Purdue's bacon against Minnesota and cooked Virginia's and Michigan State's on those nights.
Illinois simply took it away.
• Why could Illinois take away the three? Again, because Purdue lacks athletes and playmakers in the backcourt, and while it may have some nice pieces, they are pieces after all and when confronted with athleticism applying high degrees of pressure, open shots are hard to come by and one's only recourse is to play to your weaknesses and drive the lane at freaking Godzilla.
What Purdue needed to do — and, again, this is why Purdue would have beaten Texas Tech with Isaac Haas, IMO — was take advantage one-on-one on the interior, but to complete its team, Illinois went out and got itself a Kofi Cockburn and his impact goes way beyond points and rebounds in that sense.
There aren't many players who are bad matchups for both Matt Haarms and Trevion Williams. Cockburn is that guy, and in large part because of it, Illinois is this year's Minnesota for Purdue, that matchup tailor-made to take away its strengths and rub raw its limitations.
• Purdue's defense in the second half really lapsed. I mean, Illinois was 11-of-12 at one point, for crying out loud. Obviously it lapsed. Illinois did some different things in ball screen offense, but even when it kept it basic, the Boilermakers' rotations were less than ideal often and its closeouts, especially on Trent Frazier, not so good. This was not Eric Hunter's finest hour, but it was no one person.
• I'll say it again: When Nojel Eastern is your leading scorer, hey, great for him, but that is an indictment of the whole operation, because it means a void has been left by the guys who are needed to be scoring.
Two games in a row, Eastern has filled those voids in losses, which may not be a coincidence. Purdue needs the post established early, often and always, and to make shots to complement it.
Illinois took all of it away.
I'll say this about Eastern: In the past three games, Purdue has faced two of the toughest — as in toughness — teams in the conference, and played in one of its most difficult environments. And who's been the one guy who's absolutely shown up in all three games? Write off his contributions at your own peril, folks.
I'll give Sasha Stefanovic credit as well: He's not afraid to get dunked on, which is admirable. After, of course, he got stepped on.
• No bigger Kansas-Kansas State fan than Alan Griffin right now, who should be the subject of an e-mail from the Big Ten to Illinois tomorrow morning strongly suggesting a university-imposed suspension of some kind. But that's not nearly the ugliest thing that happened in college basketball tonight, so good for him.
Good night everybody and thanks for reading.
