MY COUCH - Greetings from my house, where Purdue and Ohio State will be playing in high-def on my TV tonight while I sit here grounded by weather.
(We will still have normal coverage from Columbus, including post-game video courtesy of a stringer.)
Big game for Purdue tonight as it will get all it can bargain for in Value City Arena. See what we did there? Value, bargain, get it?
OK, enough silliness.
VCA is a venue where Purdue's often stacked up well when even it's had inferior teams. Tonight it does not have an inferior team. These are two pretty equally matched teams if you ask me, the Boilermakers the winner of a close game in the first meeting between these two squads.
Ohio State will be slightly different this time around because it will have three-point gunner Marc Loving who was suspended for the first game. Loving might make a difference, might not. He's not been lighting the world on fire lately, but he is a weapon that must be accounted for.
If Loving's a weapon, then D'Angelo Russell's a nuke.
Purdue did a solid job against him in Mackey, allowing him 20 points but an inefficient 20. He never took over and he got matched in scoring by the guy guarding him, Rapheal Davis.
I don't know where Russell is today relative to where he was then, but he's shooting 34 percent the past four games and has a bruised thigh now.
Purdue has to slow him down, make him work, and not let somebody like Shannon Scott bury five threes or Sam Thompson go nuts on the offensive boards.
Purdue won the first meeting with defense, almost solely with defense.
Let this sink in: Ohio State scored 51 points against Purdue. Seventeen came off Boilermaker turnovers. Another 17 came off second-chance points from offensive rebounds. That was 66.6666666666666666666 . percent of its scoring.
Easy fix for Purdue?
We'll see.
It has to get A.J. Hammons involved on offense, IMO; has to control the boards; and has to keep turnovers to a minimum.
Ohio State threw Purdue's offense out of whack in the first meeting with the pressure it put on its guards and guess what's coming again tonight.
And after the Boilermakers were reduced to a quivering puddle of slop by backcourt pressure in the final five minutes against Rutgers - Rutgers! - the other night, Ohio State's going to try to twist that knife again, I promise.
All eyes on Jon Octeus
I like the Buckeyes in this one, but nothing will surprise me, not after Purdue won in Assembly Hall.
Anyway, feel free to discuss the game in this thread or in new ones.
We'll talk to you afterward. Game story, blog, Wrap Video, etc.
(We will still have normal coverage from Columbus, including post-game video courtesy of a stringer.)
Big game for Purdue tonight as it will get all it can bargain for in Value City Arena. See what we did there? Value, bargain, get it?
OK, enough silliness.
VCA is a venue where Purdue's often stacked up well when even it's had inferior teams. Tonight it does not have an inferior team. These are two pretty equally matched teams if you ask me, the Boilermakers the winner of a close game in the first meeting between these two squads.
Ohio State will be slightly different this time around because it will have three-point gunner Marc Loving who was suspended for the first game. Loving might make a difference, might not. He's not been lighting the world on fire lately, but he is a weapon that must be accounted for.
If Loving's a weapon, then D'Angelo Russell's a nuke.
Purdue did a solid job against him in Mackey, allowing him 20 points but an inefficient 20. He never took over and he got matched in scoring by the guy guarding him, Rapheal Davis.
I don't know where Russell is today relative to where he was then, but he's shooting 34 percent the past four games and has a bruised thigh now.
Purdue has to slow him down, make him work, and not let somebody like Shannon Scott bury five threes or Sam Thompson go nuts on the offensive boards.
Purdue won the first meeting with defense, almost solely with defense.
Let this sink in: Ohio State scored 51 points against Purdue. Seventeen came off Boilermaker turnovers. Another 17 came off second-chance points from offensive rebounds. That was 66.6666666666666666666 . percent of its scoring.
Easy fix for Purdue?
We'll see.
It has to get A.J. Hammons involved on offense, IMO; has to control the boards; and has to keep turnovers to a minimum.
Ohio State threw Purdue's offense out of whack in the first meeting with the pressure it put on its guards and guess what's coming again tonight.
And after the Boilermakers were reduced to a quivering puddle of slop by backcourt pressure in the final five minutes against Rutgers - Rutgers! - the other night, Ohio State's going to try to twist that knife again, I promise.
All eyes on Jon Octeus
I like the Buckeyes in this one, but nothing will surprise me, not after Purdue won in Assembly Hall.
Anyway, feel free to discuss the game in this thread or in new ones.
We'll talk to you afterward. Game story, blog, Wrap Video, etc.
