A few final musings — yes, musings — from Purdue's 88-76 loss to No. 13 Penn State.
• Until proven otherwise, my guess is that this game was little to nothing more than a really good team riding a special shooting night, the ole buzzsaw for those of you who like that term.
Penn State shot over its head, made every big shot the same way Purdue did at Indiana days earlier and most importantly seized control from the outset by making five of its first seven. I think that set its blasters to stun, so quote Star Wars.
Did Purdue miss some closeouts or whatever? Sure. But a whole bunch of those threes were far from routine, particularly Myles Dread's.
• Obviously, Purdue didn't defend well enough, which is atypical, but the 88 points of course were bloated by Penn State making 11 free throws in the final two-plus minutes and all of it warped by surreal shooting. That said, Purdue has to be able to not let Mike Watkins go crazy to start the second half. That had nothing to do with scorching outside shooting.
And Purdue has to get some loose balls. That was a significant issue tonight. Effort, luck, whatever the issue was, they went Penn State's way, including at least two buckets off what should have been turnovers.
• I'll say it again, because I think it's an important point: At least three times, Purdue had that shot all lined up, the three from which the levee might break, and each time it missed. This was out of character from what the Boilermakers have been lately, especially at home. Missing and making shots and missing and making shots at the right or wrong times are two different things, and Purdue was stricken by both. This was the opposite of the Iowa and Indiana games in that sense. Purdue was unstoppable from deep against Iowa, and made all the big ones at IU. Funny how that works, but I don't think Purdue's shooting woes had anything to do with Penn State's defense. Just missed them.
Playing from behind at home in the first half, though, was new, and perhaps Penn State's hot shooting affected Purdue that way. Remember how Carsen Edwards' early shot-making freaked Villanova out in the NCAA Tournament a couple years ago?
• Penn State's transformed, man. Those dudes are killers, and they're players. That Roman Catholic pipeline Pat Chambers got going has transformed that program. That Lundy kid who you may have never heard of before tonight was a Rivals150 guy who picked them over Marquette, Louisville and Virginia Tech, from the same school as Lamar Stevens and Tony Carr. Hell, all those guys are Philly kids, seems like.
We'll see if they can keep it going post-Stevens but those kids are fearless and obviously really good.
Chambers' perennial hotseat is no more, thanks to that pipeline to that city.
• Purdue's guards continue doing a great job in transition. They needed a lot more of it tonight, however.
Thanks for reading everybody.
Have a good night.
• Until proven otherwise, my guess is that this game was little to nothing more than a really good team riding a special shooting night, the ole buzzsaw for those of you who like that term.
Penn State shot over its head, made every big shot the same way Purdue did at Indiana days earlier and most importantly seized control from the outset by making five of its first seven. I think that set its blasters to stun, so quote Star Wars.
Did Purdue miss some closeouts or whatever? Sure. But a whole bunch of those threes were far from routine, particularly Myles Dread's.
• Obviously, Purdue didn't defend well enough, which is atypical, but the 88 points of course were bloated by Penn State making 11 free throws in the final two-plus minutes and all of it warped by surreal shooting. That said, Purdue has to be able to not let Mike Watkins go crazy to start the second half. That had nothing to do with scorching outside shooting.
And Purdue has to get some loose balls. That was a significant issue tonight. Effort, luck, whatever the issue was, they went Penn State's way, including at least two buckets off what should have been turnovers.
• I'll say it again, because I think it's an important point: At least three times, Purdue had that shot all lined up, the three from which the levee might break, and each time it missed. This was out of character from what the Boilermakers have been lately, especially at home. Missing and making shots and missing and making shots at the right or wrong times are two different things, and Purdue was stricken by both. This was the opposite of the Iowa and Indiana games in that sense. Purdue was unstoppable from deep against Iowa, and made all the big ones at IU. Funny how that works, but I don't think Purdue's shooting woes had anything to do with Penn State's defense. Just missed them.
Playing from behind at home in the first half, though, was new, and perhaps Penn State's hot shooting affected Purdue that way. Remember how Carsen Edwards' early shot-making freaked Villanova out in the NCAA Tournament a couple years ago?
• Penn State's transformed, man. Those dudes are killers, and they're players. That Roman Catholic pipeline Pat Chambers got going has transformed that program. That Lundy kid who you may have never heard of before tonight was a Rivals150 guy who picked them over Marquette, Louisville and Virginia Tech, from the same school as Lamar Stevens and Tony Carr. Hell, all those guys are Philly kids, seems like.
We'll see if they can keep it going post-Stevens but those kids are fearless and obviously really good.
Chambers' perennial hotseat is no more, thanks to that pipeline to that city.
• Purdue's guards continue doing a great job in transition. They needed a lot more of it tonight, however.
Thanks for reading everybody.
Have a good night.
