Some closing musings on another Purdue-Penn State debacle at Bryce Jordan ...
• A reminder of what a skilled team Purdue is, that it can win a game on the road and shoot 55 percent from three and 91 percent at the foul line, after losing the aggregate skill it enjoyed the past few seasons.
• It's a back-handed compliment to Purdue when people praise Matt Painter for the job he's doing winning with what he's winning with, the drive-by take being that it's Carsen Edwards and a veritable cast of thousands.
It's not, as people who are paying attention should know.
Look, Ryan Cline is not a part. He's a player, has been his whole Purdue career before he ever really got a shot to show it. Now he is. If people don't realize now what a quality Big Ten player he is, then they're hopeless, to be honest.
And Purdue has players all over the floor, from Nojel Eastern to Matt Haarms to Trevion Williams and Aaron Wheeler and so on.
It's just that players don't always look good when they're out there finding their way together, and that's what Purdue spent November and December doing.
• Look, I know Mike Watkins has issues, and I don't know what his issue was that got him benched for this game, but for Pat Chambers to not start him in OT was a huge mistake. The drop-off from Watkins to that other kid they have is significant, and that other kid had just blown the play Purdue tied it on by not helping at the rim after Penn State played perimeter defense on Carsen Edwards that made Troy Williams think he did a hell of a job containing Jon Octeus.
I thought at first that Penn State might have thought it was up three, because that layup was so easy.
Anyway, the backup big man started OT and Purdue immediately got the first defensive rebound of the extra session and then Trevion Williams scored on the guy. Obviously, that didn't decide the game, but it may have set a tone for an overtime Purdue owned.
• I don't know what more to say about Nojel Eastern. This has been incredible what he's done at the foul line. It's not like he's shooting 70 percent or something that would in itself be remarkable progress. He's making all of them.
• Don't forget about Aaron Wheeler's banked-in three at the halftime buzzer. That was a huge play, and the sort of thing that happens to you when you're Penn State playing at home against Purdue.
• A reminder of what a skilled team Purdue is, that it can win a game on the road and shoot 55 percent from three and 91 percent at the foul line, after losing the aggregate skill it enjoyed the past few seasons.
• It's a back-handed compliment to Purdue when people praise Matt Painter for the job he's doing winning with what he's winning with, the drive-by take being that it's Carsen Edwards and a veritable cast of thousands.
It's not, as people who are paying attention should know.
Look, Ryan Cline is not a part. He's a player, has been his whole Purdue career before he ever really got a shot to show it. Now he is. If people don't realize now what a quality Big Ten player he is, then they're hopeless, to be honest.
And Purdue has players all over the floor, from Nojel Eastern to Matt Haarms to Trevion Williams and Aaron Wheeler and so on.
It's just that players don't always look good when they're out there finding their way together, and that's what Purdue spent November and December doing.
• Look, I know Mike Watkins has issues, and I don't know what his issue was that got him benched for this game, but for Pat Chambers to not start him in OT was a huge mistake. The drop-off from Watkins to that other kid they have is significant, and that other kid had just blown the play Purdue tied it on by not helping at the rim after Penn State played perimeter defense on Carsen Edwards that made Troy Williams think he did a hell of a job containing Jon Octeus.
I thought at first that Penn State might have thought it was up three, because that layup was so easy.
Anyway, the backup big man started OT and Purdue immediately got the first defensive rebound of the extra session and then Trevion Williams scored on the guy. Obviously, that didn't decide the game, but it may have set a tone for an overtime Purdue owned.
• I don't know what more to say about Nojel Eastern. This has been incredible what he's done at the foul line. It's not like he's shooting 70 percent or something that would in itself be remarkable progress. He's making all of them.
• Don't forget about Aaron Wheeler's banked-in three at the halftime buzzer. That was a huge play, and the sort of thing that happens to you when you're Penn State playing at home against Purdue.
