Looking back at Purdue’s 76-73 win over Butler …
TRUE POST TOUCHES
Second Half
MISC BACK-TO-BASKET STUFF
RANDOM
• Haarms did seem to do a nice job walling off the lane for teammates who were driving. That’s obviously a big piece of what Haas does and does better than anyone out there because of his dimensions, but Haarms did a pretty solid job holding up. Physically he did hung up on Tyler Wideman a few times, but a lot of people would.
• The different dynamic of Matt Haarms offensively. Around the 17-minute mark of the second half, Purdue runs Dakota Mathias in a pick-and-roll with Haarms. Tyler Wideman hedges to force Mathias out well behind the arc. But Haarms rolls to the lane, forcing Sean McDermott to rotate off P.J. Thompson, who’s wide open right in front of Purdue’s bench. Mathias finds him and he buries maybe the most open three Purdue got all day, Ryan Cline’s aside. Obviously, Haas would participate in that same sort of action, but probably not pose nearly the threat because of his quickness deficit. Butler was clearly aware of Haarms on those rolls to the goal.
(Next time down, Purdue runs the exact same thing, only with Vincent Edwards as the screener, and Dakota Mathias makes the same three Thompson had previously. Jacquil Taylor was at the 5 for Purdue, which just totally cleared him to keep Wideman out of the lane.)
• Nothing new here because you’ve seen it all season, but it does reflect once again what Purdue is now defensively. With under 11 minutes to play, Haarms guarded up top initially, cutting off Sean McDermott, then rotated back to guard Wideman until Kelan Martin got a driving lane on the opposite side of the floor. Haarms came over, took a charge, and completed a perfect triangular defensive sequence.
• Great pass by Haarms on the interior to Nojel Eastern for a bucket with 10:09 to play. Haarms had a bad angle to score, otherwise he had space between him and rim, and he reacted nicely.
• Nice tip-back by Haarms on Carsen Edwards’ missed three with 9:27 left. Only a 7-3 dude was getting a hand on that ball and only a quick 7-3 dude. Purdue kept possession but did nothing with it.
TRUE POST TOUCHES
- Jacquil Taylor posts up on the wing and misses a turnaround jumper.
- As soon as Vincent Edwards came back with two fouls with a little less than 11 minutes left in the first half, Purdue brought Haarms to the top of the arc and rolled Edwards into the post behind him with guard Sean McDermott on him. He dribbled into a post-up and through McDermott and scored. It seemed like a significant basket, because the few possessions prior, Purdue seemed to be wandering through the wilderness offensively with some non-scorers on the floor, looking for something to go to.
- After setting a screen for Nojel Eastern left of the lane, Matt Haarms bounced to the right of the lane, where he fixed his hair, then took Ryan Cline’s post entry, faced up Tyler Wideman, drove and made a lefty hook over him on the move — obviously very different post production from what Purdue is accustomed to from its center.
- Next time down, I think, Matt Haarms cuts to the top, while Vincent Edwards eases into a post-up. Haarms passes to Edwards then dives to the basket and Edwards hits him for a foul on Tyler Wideman, who was put on skates by the play, but Haarms then missed both.
- Vincent Edwards gets Henry Baddley on his hip, gets the ball, spins baseline and gets fouled, then makes both.
- Purdue works Vincent Edwards into a post-up on point guard Aaron Thompson and he draws a common foul on a bump.
Second Half
- With no center on the floor, Purdue runs Mathias off a double screen, the first from Vincent Edwards, then Edwards rolls parallel to Mathias into a post-up on the guard who switched onto him. P.J. Thompson then sprints to the top, changes course and darts through the lane to take a simple bounce from Edwards out of that post-up for an easy layup. Picture-perfect execution, assuming that was the intent. Purdue’s up 10.
- Butler starts switching with 5:22 left, and Purdue gets a clean entry to Vincent Edwards in post, and he kicks to P.J. Thompson — after a double-team comes — for an open three, but it misses.
- To try to close the game out, Purdue went inside, but with 3:11 left, Edwards posted, but missed a turnaround jumper.
MISC BACK-TO-BASKET STUFF
- Vincent Edwards in isolation drove on a guard for a spinning shot off the glass.
- Vincent Edwards initiated with his back to the basket on Christian David, but from like 18 feet out. He faced up, put on a couple dribble moves, then made a long jump shot.
- Borderline on calling this a true post-up or not because it was a quick-hitter off screen-and-roll, but it wound up with Dakota Mathias hitting a flashing Jacquil Taylor in the lane. He was met by Kelan Martin in rotation, but made a quick back-to-the-basket move and got the roll.
RANDOM
- Butler hit Tyler Wideman rolling to the basket for its first bucket of the game, but even though Purdue got scored on there, it showed some of the upshot to Matt Haarms defensively, because he was up to defend the initial ball screen, then dropped into the lane quickly enough to make Butler have to make a pretty difficult pass to a big man who probably would have been wide open had their been a slower 5 on the floor.
- In the grand scheme of big plays, this one is easy to miss: After Butler went up nine in the first half, Dakota Mathias made a three that wasn’t exactly wide open playing off a screen from Jacquil Taylor.
- I think you probably saw everything you needed to know about Butler’s focus on Purdue’s three-point shooting when Ryan Cline gave a simple pump fake on a curl and two Bulldogs practically jumped into Lake Michigan in response, opening the lane to where Cline could have been pushed in a wheelbarrow to the basket. He wasn’t — the NCAA didn’t give Purdue permission for the wheelbarrow — but Cline’s legs sufficed and he scored over Tyler Wideman.
- Ryan Cline’s three: Butler didn’t know what defense it was playing up top. Paul Jorgensen and Aaron Thompson both followed P.J. Thompson off a hand-off with Cline, then realized their mistake and both stunted back to Cline, then changed their mind and chased Thompson again, turning their back to Cline, who dribbled up and made a crucial three. Apparently LaVall Jordan was yelling at Jorgensen after, so it was probably on him.
- On Vincent Edwards’ LeBron block, you have to give Carsen Edwards credit for making the play by hustling back, interfering with Kamar Baldwin and making him change the trajectory of his shot, buying that split second that allowed Edwards to block it.
- How the hell did Kamar Baldwin get so many dribbles in in two seconds before the last-second shot? Also, was P.J. Thompson trying to foul? Not sure why else you’d go for the steal there as opposed to simply stopping the ball or redirecting the ball-handler to the sideline, against his body.
• Haarms did seem to do a nice job walling off the lane for teammates who were driving. That’s obviously a big piece of what Haas does and does better than anyone out there because of his dimensions, but Haarms did a pretty solid job holding up. Physically he did hung up on Tyler Wideman a few times, but a lot of people would.
• The different dynamic of Matt Haarms offensively. Around the 17-minute mark of the second half, Purdue runs Dakota Mathias in a pick-and-roll with Haarms. Tyler Wideman hedges to force Mathias out well behind the arc. But Haarms rolls to the lane, forcing Sean McDermott to rotate off P.J. Thompson, who’s wide open right in front of Purdue’s bench. Mathias finds him and he buries maybe the most open three Purdue got all day, Ryan Cline’s aside. Obviously, Haas would participate in that same sort of action, but probably not pose nearly the threat because of his quickness deficit. Butler was clearly aware of Haarms on those rolls to the goal.
(Next time down, Purdue runs the exact same thing, only with Vincent Edwards as the screener, and Dakota Mathias makes the same three Thompson had previously. Jacquil Taylor was at the 5 for Purdue, which just totally cleared him to keep Wideman out of the lane.)
• Nothing new here because you’ve seen it all season, but it does reflect once again what Purdue is now defensively. With under 11 minutes to play, Haarms guarded up top initially, cutting off Sean McDermott, then rotated back to guard Wideman until Kelan Martin got a driving lane on the opposite side of the floor. Haarms came over, took a charge, and completed a perfect triangular defensive sequence.
• Great pass by Haarms on the interior to Nojel Eastern for a bucket with 10:09 to play. Haarms had a bad angle to score, otherwise he had space between him and rim, and he reacted nicely.
• Nice tip-back by Haarms on Carsen Edwards’ missed three with 9:27 left. Only a 7-3 dude was getting a hand on that ball and only a quick 7-3 dude. Purdue kept possession but did nothing with it.
- With 8:43 left, Dakota Mathias and Matt Haarms run pick-and-roll, Haarms rolls, Vincent Edwards bounces off Wideman, whose one of two Bulldogs to chase Haarms to the rim, allowing Edwards to pop to the top for a wide-open three. Breakdown on Butler’s part but indicative of the stress Haarms put on the defense and probably the lack of time Butler really had to prepare for seeing so damn much of it. Purdue went back to that same action next time down and Butler held up, but the movement it created might have given Mathias space enough to dribble into the jumper he stuck.
