A few final musings from No. 14 Purdue's 86-51 win over Ohio State ...
• My remotely educated opinion is that this was most likely the last Mackey Arena sees of Carsen Edwards, for a lot of reasons, one of which is just that I think this season for him has largely been about making the jump, and his time is now.
If it was good-bye, then, he certainly left Keady Court with a fond memory, because he was outstanding in this game, and a high-stakes game on an emotional day, it was.
Obviously, when he makes shots the way he was in the first half, he's as special as any player in the game, but he was good in other ways, too. I think he's defending well right now, and that's huge for Purdue, found money in a sense, because it's not something he's done consistently this season. And when he was scorching offensively today, he still made solid decisions, and shared the ball, I thought. I know there was the 37-footer or whatever it was, but around it there were good decisions, at least one great pass to Matt Haarms, and a continued eagerness to get to the basket. Purdue is better when he's looking to score in a lot of different ways and get to the foul line.
• You know, prior to the season, I thought that for Purdue to be good this season, it was up to the sophomores. Not sure I was correct on that because the seniors were better than I thought and Trevion Williams added something midseason, but at the very least I think you're seeing right now how good Purdue can be because of them.
Hell, Matt Haarms is as good as any big man in the Big Ten right now, I think, and that's ushered Purdue through some struggles elsewhere. And Nojel Eastern's added some scoring punch lately to his game-changing defense and rebounding, and that's been huge for Purdue today in situations where maybe some other pieces weren't in place.
Today, every piece was in place, but those two have been great for Purdue.
• Even before the game was decided, Eric Hunter was very good for Purdue today, a couple turnovers aside.
Aaron Wheeler, as well. Don't care what the score was, that offensive rebound and put-back and-one was a big-time play and in context a meaningful one for a player Purdue will want to see become more physical and aggressive in time. He made a couple plays in garbage time where it didn't matter that it was garbage time, because they showed some things he'd not shown to this point this season, another being a mid-range jumper off the dribble and yet another being that jumped passing lane for a steal and dunk. The latter wasn't altogether unique, but worth mentioning it nonetheless. The entirety of it, from a skill-set perspective, offers a glimpse of what that kid is capable of over time. He can be really good.
• If Trevion Williams has plateaued because of the illness or just because he's a freshman and the wall has hit, I don't know, but Matt Painter's apparently seeing what we've been seeing from the outside, a player who's laboring a bit. And so Evan Boudreaux claimed an earlier entry and more minutes today.
Even when Williams was playing great, and you took into account his story, losing so much weight so fast, you had to figure there was some warped-reality going on and struggles would eventually occur, so this isn't some sort of problem as much as it might be the natural progression of things.
It's a damn good thing, then, that Purdue has a known commodity in Boudreaux and a credit to him that he's apparently not been so affected by his minutes dropping that he's called it a season, so to speak.
• There's no asterisk on this win whatsoever. Kaleb Wesson's suspension, I mean.
He's good, but not 35-point-differential good, and the reality is that the way Purdue shot the basketball in the first half, they could have had Giannis on the floor instead of Kaleb Wesson and it might not have mattered.
• My remotely educated opinion is that this was most likely the last Mackey Arena sees of Carsen Edwards, for a lot of reasons, one of which is just that I think this season for him has largely been about making the jump, and his time is now.
If it was good-bye, then, he certainly left Keady Court with a fond memory, because he was outstanding in this game, and a high-stakes game on an emotional day, it was.
Obviously, when he makes shots the way he was in the first half, he's as special as any player in the game, but he was good in other ways, too. I think he's defending well right now, and that's huge for Purdue, found money in a sense, because it's not something he's done consistently this season. And when he was scorching offensively today, he still made solid decisions, and shared the ball, I thought. I know there was the 37-footer or whatever it was, but around it there were good decisions, at least one great pass to Matt Haarms, and a continued eagerness to get to the basket. Purdue is better when he's looking to score in a lot of different ways and get to the foul line.
• You know, prior to the season, I thought that for Purdue to be good this season, it was up to the sophomores. Not sure I was correct on that because the seniors were better than I thought and Trevion Williams added something midseason, but at the very least I think you're seeing right now how good Purdue can be because of them.
Hell, Matt Haarms is as good as any big man in the Big Ten right now, I think, and that's ushered Purdue through some struggles elsewhere. And Nojel Eastern's added some scoring punch lately to his game-changing defense and rebounding, and that's been huge for Purdue today in situations where maybe some other pieces weren't in place.
Today, every piece was in place, but those two have been great for Purdue.
• Even before the game was decided, Eric Hunter was very good for Purdue today, a couple turnovers aside.
Aaron Wheeler, as well. Don't care what the score was, that offensive rebound and put-back and-one was a big-time play and in context a meaningful one for a player Purdue will want to see become more physical and aggressive in time. He made a couple plays in garbage time where it didn't matter that it was garbage time, because they showed some things he'd not shown to this point this season, another being a mid-range jumper off the dribble and yet another being that jumped passing lane for a steal and dunk. The latter wasn't altogether unique, but worth mentioning it nonetheless. The entirety of it, from a skill-set perspective, offers a glimpse of what that kid is capable of over time. He can be really good.
• If Trevion Williams has plateaued because of the illness or just because he's a freshman and the wall has hit, I don't know, but Matt Painter's apparently seeing what we've been seeing from the outside, a player who's laboring a bit. And so Evan Boudreaux claimed an earlier entry and more minutes today.
Even when Williams was playing great, and you took into account his story, losing so much weight so fast, you had to figure there was some warped-reality going on and struggles would eventually occur, so this isn't some sort of problem as much as it might be the natural progression of things.
It's a damn good thing, then, that Purdue has a known commodity in Boudreaux and a credit to him that he's apparently not been so affected by his minutes dropping that he's called it a season, so to speak.
• There's no asterisk on this win whatsoever. Kaleb Wesson's suspension, I mean.
He's good, but not 35-point-differential good, and the reality is that the way Purdue shot the basketball in the first half, they could have had Giannis on the floor instead of Kaleb Wesson and it might not have mattered.
