A few final musings from Purdue's 71-68 loss at Minnesota, because I know how you like musings.
• Not gonna BS you here: This one's a real kick in the you-know-what. It's not being myopic to say Purdue should have won this game, and the blame only lies in a hard-line way with Purdue. This was a lot of bad luck, bad bounces and bad breaks. The banked-in three by Marcus Carr was straight trash, as we'd say on the playground as kids, and it was a bad shot taken with too much time on the clock. Heroball rewarded.
It's too bad for Purdue, which is now two possessions away from being 5-3 on the road in the Big Ten. This one stings worse than Maryland, though, I'd have to think.
• I wasn't prepared for the post-game press conference because of the end-of-game scramble, and that's my fault so I didn't ask questions that should have been asked, one of which was what they were trying to do on the full-court in-bound, and then about the lineup on the floor for the final shot. You didn't really have people on the floor who are great at getting free and putting that ball in Stefanovic's hands in that situation seemed like a tough spot for him.
As much as Jaden Ivey has struggled from three, he's made big ones and he's one of the few guys who can create space for himself. He'd have gotten a shot up.
Purdue had Aaron Wheeler and Ethan Morton (to inbound) out there, too.
Purdue was trying to get Stefanovic free off a screen by Aaron Wheeler, but Gabe Kalscheur walked right past Wheeler's screen and ate Stefanovic up. Something was really off about that play. I don't know if the pass was late, the cut was bad, the screen was bad or what, but all the action had already ceased when the ball finally came in and the play was DOA.
• I just watched the block call on Mason Gillis like 20 times. Charge all the way.
But that call of all calls is going to be wrong a lot. Everything happens so fast and so many moving parts.
Tough break for Purdue.
• I don't know what more to say about this, but Mason Gillis is +11 and Aaron Wheeler is -13. Flawed metric, yes, but not totally irrelevant.
• Jaden Ivey's 1-of-8 four-turnover game was Purdue living by the sword, dying by the sword in terms of the inconsistencies of youth. He's become one of the most prominently featured players on this team the past few games, and rightfully so, but he is still a freshman.
• Kudos to Eric Hunter for really giving them an offensive boost, while again doing a really nice job on Marcus Carr. Through nearly 39 minutes, Carr had 11 points and was 5-of-16 from the floor.
• That's a really good big man, Liam Robbins, that Trevion Williams has really outplayed twice this season. He's had a great year.
• I just watched the Trevion Williams travel like 20 times. Don't see a travel.
Seriously. I'm not trying to pander to my audience here or sycophant-ing for the team I cover. I don't see it.
• Still can't believe what a mediocre shooting team Purdue is. Please read the analysis for more on this.
• The 90-foot post-entry feed from Sasha Stefanovic to, presumably, Zach Edey with seven seconds left was a real head-scratcher. That was a live ball off the made free throw — no stoppage I mean — so I wonder if that was the inbounder thinking there was an advantage there with both bigs out there or if Purdue sent that in. Purdue was lucky just to keep possession.
• Gabe Kalscheur: 22-percent shooter who was 4-of-7 tonight. And that wasn't Purdue letting him shoot.
Thanks for reading, everybody, and have a good night
• Not gonna BS you here: This one's a real kick in the you-know-what. It's not being myopic to say Purdue should have won this game, and the blame only lies in a hard-line way with Purdue. This was a lot of bad luck, bad bounces and bad breaks. The banked-in three by Marcus Carr was straight trash, as we'd say on the playground as kids, and it was a bad shot taken with too much time on the clock. Heroball rewarded.
It's too bad for Purdue, which is now two possessions away from being 5-3 on the road in the Big Ten. This one stings worse than Maryland, though, I'd have to think.
• I wasn't prepared for the post-game press conference because of the end-of-game scramble, and that's my fault so I didn't ask questions that should have been asked, one of which was what they were trying to do on the full-court in-bound, and then about the lineup on the floor for the final shot. You didn't really have people on the floor who are great at getting free and putting that ball in Stefanovic's hands in that situation seemed like a tough spot for him.
As much as Jaden Ivey has struggled from three, he's made big ones and he's one of the few guys who can create space for himself. He'd have gotten a shot up.
Purdue had Aaron Wheeler and Ethan Morton (to inbound) out there, too.
Purdue was trying to get Stefanovic free off a screen by Aaron Wheeler, but Gabe Kalscheur walked right past Wheeler's screen and ate Stefanovic up. Something was really off about that play. I don't know if the pass was late, the cut was bad, the screen was bad or what, but all the action had already ceased when the ball finally came in and the play was DOA.
• I just watched the block call on Mason Gillis like 20 times. Charge all the way.
But that call of all calls is going to be wrong a lot. Everything happens so fast and so many moving parts.
Tough break for Purdue.
• I don't know what more to say about this, but Mason Gillis is +11 and Aaron Wheeler is -13. Flawed metric, yes, but not totally irrelevant.
• Jaden Ivey's 1-of-8 four-turnover game was Purdue living by the sword, dying by the sword in terms of the inconsistencies of youth. He's become one of the most prominently featured players on this team the past few games, and rightfully so, but he is still a freshman.
• Kudos to Eric Hunter for really giving them an offensive boost, while again doing a really nice job on Marcus Carr. Through nearly 39 minutes, Carr had 11 points and was 5-of-16 from the floor.
• That's a really good big man, Liam Robbins, that Trevion Williams has really outplayed twice this season. He's had a great year.
• I just watched the Trevion Williams travel like 20 times. Don't see a travel.
Seriously. I'm not trying to pander to my audience here or sycophant-ing for the team I cover. I don't see it.
• Still can't believe what a mediocre shooting team Purdue is. Please read the analysis for more on this.
• The 90-foot post-entry feed from Sasha Stefanovic to, presumably, Zach Edey with seven seconds left was a real head-scratcher. That was a live ball off the made free throw — no stoppage I mean — so I wonder if that was the inbounder thinking there was an advantage there with both bigs out there or if Purdue sent that in. Purdue was lucky just to keep possession.
• Gabe Kalscheur: 22-percent shooter who was 4-of-7 tonight. And that wasn't Purdue letting him shoot.
Thanks for reading, everybody, and have a good night
