A few final musings — yes, musings — from Purdue's 70-51 win over Wisconsin.
• This game, if nothing else, debunked any thinking that Purdue was any different a team because of the Maryland and Illinois losses. The second half at Illinois was a blip, against a very good team and a horrific matchup. Friday night, Purdue looked back to being that team that's really good at home that now has to show it can do it on the road.
But reports of the Boilermakers' demise post-Illinois were greatly exaggerated.
As awful as the Illinois matchup is, the Wisconsin matchup is almost ideal.
• There has always been a role there for that intangibles and effort guy and Evan Boudreaux's been the most logical candidate, as we wrote about before the season. He was elite at it tonight, same as he was a short while ago vs. Michigan State. Those are now basically Purdue's two best wins of the season.
Boudreaux is now Purdue's starting power forward, and he may be for the foreseeable future. The twin-post lineups are providing few advantages and Aaron Wheeler hasn't played well all season, but this is more about Boudreaux earning it. He obviously set himself apart in practice the past few days and maximized the opportunity and then some vs. Wisconsin.
It may seem like overstatement to suggest that this might be the spark that changes Purdue's season, but he and Nojel Eastern are providing something very distinct right now.
You never know.
• Good luck finding a more dominant half of defense than the first 20 minutes Nojel Eastern played against not just scoreless Wisconsin leading scorer Kobe King, but Wisconsin, period.
Eastern neutralized King entirely. When he did get a decent look at the basket, Eastern blocked it, one of King's five misses on five shots.
But it wasn't just King he tormented.
With three-and-a-half minutes left in the first half, D'Mitrik Trice blew past Isaiah Thompson and looked for a teammate at the rim. Eastern snuck in and stole from behind. Prior, he'd stuffed Micah Potter, one of the defensive plays of the season for Purdue. He blocked three shots for the game, to go along with two steals.
Here's the most important part: Eastern turned all three of those plays into points, as Purdue scored in transition off all three, two by Eastern's hand, three off Eastern's assist and another three indirectly off a steal he created that Trevion Williams collected.
Let's do math: Eastern scored eight points. His defense led to two threes for teammates. His defensive assignment scored zero points when he averages 14. That's a 28-point swing, by my count.
Purdue's largest lead of the game: 28.
• That said, Purdue did bog down offensively after it was up big, and part of that was Wisconsin sagging off Eastern to stalk the post from behind. That's nothing new. If opponents aren't going to guard Eastern on the perimeter — and that's sound logic considering he's not made a three this season or last and may never again in a Purdue uniform — then I think Purdue needs to reverse the ball and post him on the guy who's not guarding him, then leaving Trevion Williams as the backside offensive rebounder. Or pass fake into Williams and throw it to Eastern if the angle allows.
Anyway, Eastern came out of the game, and when I re-watch the game tomorrow, I'll make not of what changed that Purdue's offense then opened back up. May have been coincidence, because Isaiah Thompson scored a bunch, and offensive rebounds mattered.
• Purdue had to have this game, and I thought you saw Matt Painter coach accordingly. It seemed like he was subbing in the first five minutes like it was the final five minutes, sitting key players around media timeouts to make sure he could get them back in ASAP. I'll go back and watch tomorrow, but that's how it seemed live.
Thanks for reading, everybody. Good night.
• This game, if nothing else, debunked any thinking that Purdue was any different a team because of the Maryland and Illinois losses. The second half at Illinois was a blip, against a very good team and a horrific matchup. Friday night, Purdue looked back to being that team that's really good at home that now has to show it can do it on the road.
But reports of the Boilermakers' demise post-Illinois were greatly exaggerated.
As awful as the Illinois matchup is, the Wisconsin matchup is almost ideal.
• There has always been a role there for that intangibles and effort guy and Evan Boudreaux's been the most logical candidate, as we wrote about before the season. He was elite at it tonight, same as he was a short while ago vs. Michigan State. Those are now basically Purdue's two best wins of the season.
Boudreaux is now Purdue's starting power forward, and he may be for the foreseeable future. The twin-post lineups are providing few advantages and Aaron Wheeler hasn't played well all season, but this is more about Boudreaux earning it. He obviously set himself apart in practice the past few days and maximized the opportunity and then some vs. Wisconsin.
It may seem like overstatement to suggest that this might be the spark that changes Purdue's season, but he and Nojel Eastern are providing something very distinct right now.
You never know.
• Good luck finding a more dominant half of defense than the first 20 minutes Nojel Eastern played against not just scoreless Wisconsin leading scorer Kobe King, but Wisconsin, period.
Eastern neutralized King entirely. When he did get a decent look at the basket, Eastern blocked it, one of King's five misses on five shots.
But it wasn't just King he tormented.
With three-and-a-half minutes left in the first half, D'Mitrik Trice blew past Isaiah Thompson and looked for a teammate at the rim. Eastern snuck in and stole from behind. Prior, he'd stuffed Micah Potter, one of the defensive plays of the season for Purdue. He blocked three shots for the game, to go along with two steals.
Here's the most important part: Eastern turned all three of those plays into points, as Purdue scored in transition off all three, two by Eastern's hand, three off Eastern's assist and another three indirectly off a steal he created that Trevion Williams collected.
Let's do math: Eastern scored eight points. His defense led to two threes for teammates. His defensive assignment scored zero points when he averages 14. That's a 28-point swing, by my count.
Purdue's largest lead of the game: 28.
• That said, Purdue did bog down offensively after it was up big, and part of that was Wisconsin sagging off Eastern to stalk the post from behind. That's nothing new. If opponents aren't going to guard Eastern on the perimeter — and that's sound logic considering he's not made a three this season or last and may never again in a Purdue uniform — then I think Purdue needs to reverse the ball and post him on the guy who's not guarding him, then leaving Trevion Williams as the backside offensive rebounder. Or pass fake into Williams and throw it to Eastern if the angle allows.
Anyway, Eastern came out of the game, and when I re-watch the game tomorrow, I'll make not of what changed that Purdue's offense then opened back up. May have been coincidence, because Isaiah Thompson scored a bunch, and offensive rebounds mattered.
• Purdue had to have this game, and I thought you saw Matt Painter coach accordingly. It seemed like he was subbing in the first five minutes like it was the final five minutes, sitting key players around media timeouts to make sure he could get them back in ASAP. I'll go back and watch tomorrow, but that's how it seemed live.
Thanks for reading, everybody. Good night.
