Obviously we can talk about the 8-10 from three in the 2nd half, the clutch shots by guys and winning despite Illinois shooting more free throws. Those are great. But...
Most impressive to me was holding Illinois to 71 points (and 31 in the 2nd half). Illinois has an impressively explosive offense. They entered the game #2 at KenPom and have averaged 91 points in the 9 games prior to playing Purdue. They were firing on all cylinders and I had little confidence we could slow them down (hence why I placed a money losing bet on the O164.5 prior to the game).
On the flipside, I've been preaching that people were focused on the wrong things when Purdue looked less dominant for a few weeks. In the 8 game stretch starting with the OT win over NW, Purdue was just 12th nationally in efficiency margin. But we were still #2 in adjusted offensive efficiency. So clamoring for more scoring during that stretch made little sense to me. On the flip side, during that same 8 game stretch, Purdue was #123 in adjusted defensive efficiency. That's five alarm fire mediocre for a national title hopeful. That's why our defensive effort last night was impressive and much needed.
Most impressive to me was holding Illinois to 71 points (and 31 in the 2nd half). Illinois has an impressively explosive offense. They entered the game #2 at KenPom and have averaged 91 points in the 9 games prior to playing Purdue. They were firing on all cylinders and I had little confidence we could slow them down (hence why I placed a money losing bet on the O164.5 prior to the game).
On the flipside, I've been preaching that people were focused on the wrong things when Purdue looked less dominant for a few weeks. In the 8 game stretch starting with the OT win over NW, Purdue was just 12th nationally in efficiency margin. But we were still #2 in adjusted offensive efficiency. So clamoring for more scoring during that stretch made little sense to me. On the flip side, during that same 8 game stretch, Purdue was #123 in adjusted defensive efficiency. That's five alarm fire mediocre for a national title hopeful. That's why our defensive effort last night was impressive and much needed.