STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — A few final musings from Purdue's 74-67 win at Penn State, because I know how you like musings.
• You know, offensive rebounds really probably won Purdue this game as much as anything. The power of just getting it up on the rim when you have Trevion Williams and Zach Edey, though you hardly saw him today.
• Trevion Williams delivered today. Sasha Stefanovic played a great game today. And Eric Hunter was really good on D, I thought. Nice response from the seniors.
• Lost in the story of this game was the huge three Isaiah Thompson made. He needed that one. Seems to me as if he might be rushing his shots ever so slightly of late.
• Jalen Pickett's fantastic. That was some performance Purdue overcame. Penn State did a good job getting him downhill and playing inside-out with him, he did a good job scoring and passing around the basket and his shot-clock-beating jumpers would have been one of the stories of this game had Penn State pulled it out.
• Never thought it would come to the point this season where Brandon Newman would DNP-CD, but when he was skipped over in the first half, it was apparent.
The key word there is trust. Painter has to trust him to do the right things at both ends of the floor. This season is different, because Ethan Morton's been so valuable. There's no more just playing through it.
He'll get chances again. Here's hoping for his sake this doesn't affect him too much, or at all, mentally, because this was probably hard for him.
• Underscoring this: Stefanovic was really good today. He was a big part of the reason Seth Lundy didn't do anything in the first half, and that assist he had to Caleb Furst and that bucket he scored on the give-and-go with Trevion Williams were great improv plays.
• Lots of Purdue fans at the game.
• Jaden Ivey is Spider-Man. That putback of his own miss and that driving bucket he had during that key stretch in the second half, just ridiculous. I thought his decision-making on offense was again very good and he did a better job defensively today. Some lapses, yes, but a better job. He was on the ball more bringing it up, so maybe that can lock a guy in right away.
• Screw you, BJC wifi.
Thanks for reading, everybody, and have a good night.
• You know, offensive rebounds really probably won Purdue this game as much as anything. The power of just getting it up on the rim when you have Trevion Williams and Zach Edey, though you hardly saw him today.
• Trevion Williams delivered today. Sasha Stefanovic played a great game today. And Eric Hunter was really good on D, I thought. Nice response from the seniors.
• Lost in the story of this game was the huge three Isaiah Thompson made. He needed that one. Seems to me as if he might be rushing his shots ever so slightly of late.
• Jalen Pickett's fantastic. That was some performance Purdue overcame. Penn State did a good job getting him downhill and playing inside-out with him, he did a good job scoring and passing around the basket and his shot-clock-beating jumpers would have been one of the stories of this game had Penn State pulled it out.
• Never thought it would come to the point this season where Brandon Newman would DNP-CD, but when he was skipped over in the first half, it was apparent.
The key word there is trust. Painter has to trust him to do the right things at both ends of the floor. This season is different, because Ethan Morton's been so valuable. There's no more just playing through it.
He'll get chances again. Here's hoping for his sake this doesn't affect him too much, or at all, mentally, because this was probably hard for him.
• Underscoring this: Stefanovic was really good today. He was a big part of the reason Seth Lundy didn't do anything in the first half, and that assist he had to Caleb Furst and that bucket he scored on the give-and-go with Trevion Williams were great improv plays.
• Lots of Purdue fans at the game.
• Jaden Ivey is Spider-Man. That putback of his own miss and that driving bucket he had during that key stretch in the second half, just ridiculous. I thought his decision-making on offense was again very good and he did a better job defensively today. Some lapses, yes, but a better job. He was on the ball more bringing it up, so maybe that can lock a guy in right away.
• Screw you, BJC wifi.
Thanks for reading, everybody, and have a good night.
