A closer look back at Purdue's 80-72 win over Penn State.
BREAKING DOWN THE OFFENSE
When Purdue's guards attacked with the dribble in the first half, good things normally happened. Sasha Stefanovic got all the way to the basket for a bucket on a drive from the corner. Brandon Newman made a floater from the middle of the lane, Jaden Ivey drew a foul and Eric Hunter made a nice entry to Zach Edey for a shot that rimmed out. On the first possession, Penn State hard-hedged Stefanovic, freeing Trevion Williams around the basket. The pass was wild, but found its way to Williams, who then put back his own miss. Penn State had a really big lineup on the floor for a while, and that put Seth Lundy on Brandon Newman, and Newman attacked him off the bounce for a bucket. Later dribbled in against Sam Sessoms and picked up a touch foul in the bonus then made both.
With seven minutes left in the first half, though, Penn State went to their zone and Purdue went right inside and got a bucket from Edey.
This is the precise moment when three-point shooting came to the forefront.
Purdue generated a great look for Eric Hunter using Ethan Morton to inside-out the ball from the middle of the zone. The shot missed. Penn State made the game's first three next time down.
The first play where Purdue really attacked the zone off the dribble, Isaiah Thompson dribbled into it and kicked back out to Sasha Stefanovic for Purdue's first three of the day, lining up with our point here that when Purdue's guards drove, positive outcomes came about more often than not. Great play by Thompson.
During this stretch against the zone, I think Jaden Ivey settled for too many threes. If he attacks these closeouts, he's going to the foul line at worst. When Ivey attacked from the wing with 2:29 left in the first half, guess what, foul.
With 1:08 to go, Eric Hunter breaches the lane with the dribble, stops, pivots and makes a fallaway J.
In the second half, Penn State comes out in man.
The very significant portion of this game was the end of the first and start of the second, when Mason Gillis just beats two good defensive possessions for Penn State with threes. That's six points when there easily could have been zero.
Penn State goes back to zone with around 15 minutes left to play, and soon after Purdue pulled what may have been the possession of the night, Brandon Newman throwing a dart of a bounce pass to Eric Hunter cutting to the rim. Hunter jump stops and pivots and throws back to Sasha Stefanovic in the corner for a wide-open three. A clever play by Hunter, and excellent execution by Purdue getting the ball in the middle of Penn State's zone.
Hunter dribbles into the middle and makes a jumper next time down.
Point here is that I think Purdue did mostly all the right things offensively, except make more threes early. Attacking off the dribble more might have been wise but it's not like they neglected it altogether. I do think Ivey will want to find a balance between his threes and his drives.
MASON GILLIS' VALUE
A couple examples ...
• Gillis gets jacked in the back by Penn State on the rebound of Brandon Newman's airball from three. He goes to the line for one-and-one and makes both. Two points.
• Early in the second half, Gillis jumps Penn State's bounce pass, steals it and gets fouled. Purdue possession. On that possession, Gillis chases the offensive rebound and runs enough interference where neither of the two Nittany Lions on the scene can control it. It bounces to Eric Hunter. Moments later, Brandon Newman nails a three, capping Purdue's 10-0 run.
• With 6:43 left and Penn State desperately needing points, Gillis poaches Penn State's pick-and-roll pass to John Harrar for his second steal.
• 51.3 seconds left and Penn State still holds faint hope down seven. After a turnover, Seth Lundy misses a three and Gillis gets the most important rebound of the game. He was the one who challenged the shot, then darted to the ball to grab it over Myreon Jones, who fouled him. Gillis made both shots. Ball game.
• Gillis grabs the contested rebound of Jones' heave with 7.8 seconds left — Purdue up six — and gets fouled and again makes both.
By the way, during Purdue's 13-0 run overlapping halftime, Gillis had a hand in 11 of the points.
DEFENSE
• Purdue struggled to guard this action Penn State runs where it brings Izaiah Brockinton off a far-side screen, then another from the 5 around the elbow. It got Brandon Newman off him a few times that way, and Brockington scored twice times off it over Purdue's centers, then backed out of it and made a long jumper once.
Jaden Ivey gets a crack at it later in the first half and does a great job avoiding the screens and meeting Brockington on the other side. Ivey has a chance to be a good man defender in time.
But later he gives up a jumper. Granted, it was a tough jumper.
Penn State ran this over and over and over again, and to be honest I'm not sure what Purdue's recourse against it was other than to beat the screens or help with the big man.
At the end of the day here, Purdue made Penn State make contested two-point jumpers. Not a bad deal.
Obviously their best offense was the offensive glass, and Myeron Jones' late heaves, and they were heaves. Penn State shot 39 threes.
MISC
• On that rebounding debacle to start the game, a bunch of things happened here. 1) John Harrar played his tail off and no one did much of anything to prevent him from getting the ball, 2) Sasha Stefanovic is fouled on the first of those four offensive rebounds, but the refs really let them play and 3) Purdue collided a couple times chasing the ball itself. Just a calamity right out of the gate.
• The way Brandon Newman is attacking closeouts and scoring off the dribble is going to put him much more in the scorer category as opposed to just the shooter category long-term. He's been really effective off the dribble this season, and that's been a huge priority for him over the years.
• The most underappreciated part of Trevion Williams' game, to me: The catches he makes. How many difficult catches has he made between defenders? He won the Michigan State game, to be honest, by just being able to make tough catches before the game-winner. He has unbelievable hands.
• Here, Aaron Wheeler makes the best defensive play of the game, running down this blocked shot of Izaiah Brockington. It should be noted that Wheeler missed the three from the corner that created the long rebound that triggered this break, so he ran the full length of the court to make this play. Some effort.
• If he wouldn't have gotten in foul trouble, Trevion Williams would have gotten 20 rebounds.
• Man, Purdue has really benefited from some trash foul shooting by opponents. Illinois and Indiana couldn't make free throws to save their lives and Penn State did the Boilermakers a great service by missing those back-to-back one-and-ones in the final few minutes of the first half.
• Against the press, Purdue's got to stop catching in corners. Walked right into traps more than once. The first turnover against the late press shouldn't have counted, because Newman got fouled and they didn't call it. The second one was a trainwreck, but the turnover didn't occur until Purdue crossed center court, so debatable as to whether you call it 'press' at that point. Purdue was sped up.
• This ridiculous putback from Ivey is really impressive when you put it in context: This isn't hot dog stuff, there's nothing else he can do with the ball here because he's flying out of bounds. If he corrals it, he may not be able to come down in-bounds with it. Just an elite athleticism play by the freshman.
• John Harrar is probably like the 11th-best starting center in the Big Ten and he just had 14 and 14. Unbelievable post depth again in the Big Ten.
BREAKING DOWN THE OFFENSE
When Purdue's guards attacked with the dribble in the first half, good things normally happened. Sasha Stefanovic got all the way to the basket for a bucket on a drive from the corner. Brandon Newman made a floater from the middle of the lane, Jaden Ivey drew a foul and Eric Hunter made a nice entry to Zach Edey for a shot that rimmed out. On the first possession, Penn State hard-hedged Stefanovic, freeing Trevion Williams around the basket. The pass was wild, but found its way to Williams, who then put back his own miss. Penn State had a really big lineup on the floor for a while, and that put Seth Lundy on Brandon Newman, and Newman attacked him off the bounce for a bucket. Later dribbled in against Sam Sessoms and picked up a touch foul in the bonus then made both.
With seven minutes left in the first half, though, Penn State went to their zone and Purdue went right inside and got a bucket from Edey.
This is the precise moment when three-point shooting came to the forefront.
Purdue generated a great look for Eric Hunter using Ethan Morton to inside-out the ball from the middle of the zone. The shot missed. Penn State made the game's first three next time down.
The first play where Purdue really attacked the zone off the dribble, Isaiah Thompson dribbled into it and kicked back out to Sasha Stefanovic for Purdue's first three of the day, lining up with our point here that when Purdue's guards drove, positive outcomes came about more often than not. Great play by Thompson.
During this stretch against the zone, I think Jaden Ivey settled for too many threes. If he attacks these closeouts, he's going to the foul line at worst. When Ivey attacked from the wing with 2:29 left in the first half, guess what, foul.
With 1:08 to go, Eric Hunter breaches the lane with the dribble, stops, pivots and makes a fallaway J.
In the second half, Penn State comes out in man.
The very significant portion of this game was the end of the first and start of the second, when Mason Gillis just beats two good defensive possessions for Penn State with threes. That's six points when there easily could have been zero.
Penn State goes back to zone with around 15 minutes left to play, and soon after Purdue pulled what may have been the possession of the night, Brandon Newman throwing a dart of a bounce pass to Eric Hunter cutting to the rim. Hunter jump stops and pivots and throws back to Sasha Stefanovic in the corner for a wide-open three. A clever play by Hunter, and excellent execution by Purdue getting the ball in the middle of Penn State's zone.
Hunter dribbles into the middle and makes a jumper next time down.
Point here is that I think Purdue did mostly all the right things offensively, except make more threes early. Attacking off the dribble more might have been wise but it's not like they neglected it altogether. I do think Ivey will want to find a balance between his threes and his drives.
MASON GILLIS' VALUE
A couple examples ...
• Gillis gets jacked in the back by Penn State on the rebound of Brandon Newman's airball from three. He goes to the line for one-and-one and makes both. Two points.
• Early in the second half, Gillis jumps Penn State's bounce pass, steals it and gets fouled. Purdue possession. On that possession, Gillis chases the offensive rebound and runs enough interference where neither of the two Nittany Lions on the scene can control it. It bounces to Eric Hunter. Moments later, Brandon Newman nails a three, capping Purdue's 10-0 run.
• With 6:43 left and Penn State desperately needing points, Gillis poaches Penn State's pick-and-roll pass to John Harrar for his second steal.
• 51.3 seconds left and Penn State still holds faint hope down seven. After a turnover, Seth Lundy misses a three and Gillis gets the most important rebound of the game. He was the one who challenged the shot, then darted to the ball to grab it over Myreon Jones, who fouled him. Gillis made both shots. Ball game.
• Gillis grabs the contested rebound of Jones' heave with 7.8 seconds left — Purdue up six — and gets fouled and again makes both.
By the way, during Purdue's 13-0 run overlapping halftime, Gillis had a hand in 11 of the points.
DEFENSE
• Purdue struggled to guard this action Penn State runs where it brings Izaiah Brockinton off a far-side screen, then another from the 5 around the elbow. It got Brandon Newman off him a few times that way, and Brockington scored twice times off it over Purdue's centers, then backed out of it and made a long jumper once.
Jaden Ivey gets a crack at it later in the first half and does a great job avoiding the screens and meeting Brockington on the other side. Ivey has a chance to be a good man defender in time.
But later he gives up a jumper. Granted, it was a tough jumper.
Penn State ran this over and over and over again, and to be honest I'm not sure what Purdue's recourse against it was other than to beat the screens or help with the big man.
At the end of the day here, Purdue made Penn State make contested two-point jumpers. Not a bad deal.
Obviously their best offense was the offensive glass, and Myeron Jones' late heaves, and they were heaves. Penn State shot 39 threes.
MISC
• On that rebounding debacle to start the game, a bunch of things happened here. 1) John Harrar played his tail off and no one did much of anything to prevent him from getting the ball, 2) Sasha Stefanovic is fouled on the first of those four offensive rebounds, but the refs really let them play and 3) Purdue collided a couple times chasing the ball itself. Just a calamity right out of the gate.
• The way Brandon Newman is attacking closeouts and scoring off the dribble is going to put him much more in the scorer category as opposed to just the shooter category long-term. He's been really effective off the dribble this season, and that's been a huge priority for him over the years.
• The most underappreciated part of Trevion Williams' game, to me: The catches he makes. How many difficult catches has he made between defenders? He won the Michigan State game, to be honest, by just being able to make tough catches before the game-winner. He has unbelievable hands.
• Here, Aaron Wheeler makes the best defensive play of the game, running down this blocked shot of Izaiah Brockington. It should be noted that Wheeler missed the three from the corner that created the long rebound that triggered this break, so he ran the full length of the court to make this play. Some effort.
• If he wouldn't have gotten in foul trouble, Trevion Williams would have gotten 20 rebounds.
• Man, Purdue has really benefited from some trash foul shooting by opponents. Illinois and Indiana couldn't make free throws to save their lives and Penn State did the Boilermakers a great service by missing those back-to-back one-and-ones in the final few minutes of the first half.
• Against the press, Purdue's got to stop catching in corners. Walked right into traps more than once. The first turnover against the late press shouldn't have counted, because Newman got fouled and they didn't call it. The second one was a trainwreck, but the turnover didn't occur until Purdue crossed center court, so debatable as to whether you call it 'press' at that point. Purdue was sped up.
• This ridiculous putback from Ivey is really impressive when you put it in context: This isn't hot dog stuff, there's nothing else he can do with the ball here because he's flying out of bounds. If he corrals it, he may not be able to come down in-bounds with it. Just an elite athleticism play by the freshman.
• John Harrar is probably like the 11th-best starting center in the Big Ten and he just had 14 and 14. Unbelievable post depth again in the Big Ten.
