A few final musings from Purdue's 81-76 loss at No. 14 Rutgers because I know how you like musings.
• The Boilermakers have themselves a chance, but Purdue's just going to be really hard-pressed to win games like this if it can't be better defensively, and to be honest, I'm not even sure how much potential they have to do so this season. Can they be better? Of course. But I suspect that there are enough limitations there that this is going to be something where they just have to do the best they can with all season. They're not gonna transform.
Purdue is known for defense, but right now that's way more reputation than reality, and that's been the case for a few seasons now, even if their metrics and all that have been pretty respectable and whatnot.
There's a lot to unpack regarding Purdue's defense, starting with its philosophy, which I do think can lend itself to a team getting hot early from three and it snowballing on you. You're asking a lot of you guys who have to get out to shooters, and when you don't have elite athleticism or length, that's tough. Purdue just has to be ahead of plays, and that's tough when you're either not all that gifted athletically or still trying to figure out what the hell you're doing.
And Purdue's still so susceptible to the high ball screen because of its size. Same reason they couldn't stop Zavier Simpson last year to close out a win at Michigan.
Purdue just has to lot of work to do, and a lot to overcome.
It doesn't matter who your opponent doesn't have (Ron Harper Jr.) if you struggle to stop anyone. People assuming Purdue would win once they found out Harper was out were getting way ahead of themselves.
• Gotta make your dunks.
• Tough sledding for Purdue when Eric Hunter struggles like he did tonight, because he's a good offensive player who wasn't tonight, but he's also the best you have defensively and not having him on the floor is a tough pill to swallow when you're struggling on D.
• Good for Isaiah Thompson. Maybe this gets him going. It's been a bit of a roller-coaster for him this season. He should be confident now.
• I'll repeat this: Jaden Ivey works like crazy on his game and is dying to become a consistent three-point shooter. Driving to the basket is his strength, though, and he mustn't allow what he wants to be to distract from what he is at this stage of his career. He can be a real difference-maker for Purdue right now in his current form.
• Gotta make your dunks.
• Mason Gillis has been great lately, if you ask me. He played 31 minutes tonight and would have played 40 if that were like possible for him. Not sure it is. Another disappointing night from Aaron Wheeler. Not sure what the solution there is.
• Kudos again to Trevion Williams. He was what Purdue needed him to be on offense and the glass.
• It was too bad for Purdue they blew that over-and-back call at the end. It was pretty obvious, was it not?
• This isn't the end of the world. Hell, there's probably even some positive to take from Purdue having a chance in the final minutes. Rutgers is a good team even without Harper, they play well at home (FWIW) and they have shooters. Purdue won't be the favorite at Illinois this weekend, either, but it should have good reason to believe now that it can win these sorts of games, because it had a real chance to tonight.
• I kinda figured Montez Mathis would sneak up on Purdue tonight. He's been a nuisance for them before.
And of course you had to figure Geo Baker would get untracked eventually.
• Gotta make your dunks.
Thanks for reading, everybody and have a good, err, morning.
• The Boilermakers have themselves a chance, but Purdue's just going to be really hard-pressed to win games like this if it can't be better defensively, and to be honest, I'm not even sure how much potential they have to do so this season. Can they be better? Of course. But I suspect that there are enough limitations there that this is going to be something where they just have to do the best they can with all season. They're not gonna transform.
Purdue is known for defense, but right now that's way more reputation than reality, and that's been the case for a few seasons now, even if their metrics and all that have been pretty respectable and whatnot.
There's a lot to unpack regarding Purdue's defense, starting with its philosophy, which I do think can lend itself to a team getting hot early from three and it snowballing on you. You're asking a lot of you guys who have to get out to shooters, and when you don't have elite athleticism or length, that's tough. Purdue just has to be ahead of plays, and that's tough when you're either not all that gifted athletically or still trying to figure out what the hell you're doing.
And Purdue's still so susceptible to the high ball screen because of its size. Same reason they couldn't stop Zavier Simpson last year to close out a win at Michigan.
Purdue just has to lot of work to do, and a lot to overcome.
It doesn't matter who your opponent doesn't have (Ron Harper Jr.) if you struggle to stop anyone. People assuming Purdue would win once they found out Harper was out were getting way ahead of themselves.
• Gotta make your dunks.
• Tough sledding for Purdue when Eric Hunter struggles like he did tonight, because he's a good offensive player who wasn't tonight, but he's also the best you have defensively and not having him on the floor is a tough pill to swallow when you're struggling on D.
• Good for Isaiah Thompson. Maybe this gets him going. It's been a bit of a roller-coaster for him this season. He should be confident now.
• I'll repeat this: Jaden Ivey works like crazy on his game and is dying to become a consistent three-point shooter. Driving to the basket is his strength, though, and he mustn't allow what he wants to be to distract from what he is at this stage of his career. He can be a real difference-maker for Purdue right now in his current form.
• Gotta make your dunks.
• Mason Gillis has been great lately, if you ask me. He played 31 minutes tonight and would have played 40 if that were like possible for him. Not sure it is. Another disappointing night from Aaron Wheeler. Not sure what the solution there is.
• Kudos again to Trevion Williams. He was what Purdue needed him to be on offense and the glass.
• It was too bad for Purdue they blew that over-and-back call at the end. It was pretty obvious, was it not?
• This isn't the end of the world. Hell, there's probably even some positive to take from Purdue having a chance in the final minutes. Rutgers is a good team even without Harper, they play well at home (FWIW) and they have shooters. Purdue won't be the favorite at Illinois this weekend, either, but it should have good reason to believe now that it can win these sorts of games, because it had a real chance to tonight.
• I kinda figured Montez Mathis would sneak up on Purdue tonight. He's been a nuisance for them before.
And of course you had to figure Geo Baker would get untracked eventually.
• Gotta make your dunks.
Thanks for reading, everybody and have a good, err, morning.
