Our more in-depth review of Purdue's 96-52 win over Wright State ...
FIRST HALF ONLY
PURDUE'S DEFENSIVE GAME PLAN
Sure looks like to me like Purdue shuffled its defensive matchups to put Sasha Stefanovic on 4 man Tim Finke and Caleb Furst on "center" Grant Basile, Wright State's biggest threat scoring-wise. This allowed Zach Edey to give C.J. Wilbourn the Nojel Eastern treatment. They're not guarding him, allowing Edey to just sit in the lane and terrorize everyone as a help defender, rebounder and rim protector.
This kept Furst from having to defend a guard and actually gave Purdue a defensive plus by putting his mobility on Basile.
Wright State could have burned Purdue here, when it posted Basile on Furst and drew Edey over to double. Furst didn't cut off the baseline as well as probably would have been ideal and that allowed for a chance to pass to Edey's man cutting to the basket, but either the pass was bad or the receiver asleep at the wheel and it wound up a turnover.
Things change when Trevion Williams comes in, or Wilbourn went out, whichever. Wilbourn played only 10 minutes, perhaps because of this.
When Wilbourn came back in, Purdue put Williams on him and Ethan Morton — the 4 — on Basile. Wright State went right to trying to lob the ball over Williams into Wilbourn and threw it right out of bounds.
Note: Wilbourn stuck with Williams at the other end, and made no effort to block out next time down the floor and gave up an and-one putback dunk. Soon as Wilbourn came out, Williams went back to Basile and Morton slid over to Tim Finke with Sasha Stefanovic out of the game.
THIS SEQUENCE
Zach Edey is a next-level basketball player who just happens to be playing college basketball right now.
It's summed up nicely here.
First, Wright State kinda has Purdue beat on a back cut here, but Edey just puts his arms up and winds up deflecting the pass, which winds up a turnover.
He then runs down the floor to set a high ball screen for Isaiah Thompson.
Edey runs pick-and-roll with Thompson. Thompson's shot rims off, but Edey's right there for the putback.
Next time down, he sets successive screens for Sasha Stefanovic to run his man off, the second of which is this haymaker that sets up a three for Stefanovic.
Next time down, Edey gets put in pick-and-roll. He initially contains the dribble, dropping into the lane to do so, then sprints back to the top to take away Grant Basile's three off pick-and-pop. When Basile is forced to put it on the floor, the 7-foot-4, 300-pounder in full short-burst sprint somehow doesn't foul him.
Basile ends up at the foul line after Stefanovic slid over and was called for a block. He missed the free throw, Edey rebounded and got fouled and swished both free throws (though the second was waved off due to a lane violation.)
This was all bang-bang-bang in the span of about 90 seconds.
MISC
• I don't know if it's instinct, systematic or what, but Caleb Furst did a great job seeing things unfolding and getting where he needed to be for Trevion Williams to find him around the basket for easy scores. Looked like the two of them had been playing together for years.
Furst's activity level has been a really big deal for Purdue.
• Jaden Ivey's ability to change ends off rebounds is something that sets this team apart from other Purdue teams that have come before them. Puts incredible pressure on defenses.
FIRST HALF ONLY
PURDUE'S DEFENSIVE GAME PLAN
Sure looks like to me like Purdue shuffled its defensive matchups to put Sasha Stefanovic on 4 man Tim Finke and Caleb Furst on "center" Grant Basile, Wright State's biggest threat scoring-wise. This allowed Zach Edey to give C.J. Wilbourn the Nojel Eastern treatment. They're not guarding him, allowing Edey to just sit in the lane and terrorize everyone as a help defender, rebounder and rim protector.
This kept Furst from having to defend a guard and actually gave Purdue a defensive plus by putting his mobility on Basile.
Wright State could have burned Purdue here, when it posted Basile on Furst and drew Edey over to double. Furst didn't cut off the baseline as well as probably would have been ideal and that allowed for a chance to pass to Edey's man cutting to the basket, but either the pass was bad or the receiver asleep at the wheel and it wound up a turnover.
Things change when Trevion Williams comes in, or Wilbourn went out, whichever. Wilbourn played only 10 minutes, perhaps because of this.
When Wilbourn came back in, Purdue put Williams on him and Ethan Morton — the 4 — on Basile. Wright State went right to trying to lob the ball over Williams into Wilbourn and threw it right out of bounds.
Note: Wilbourn stuck with Williams at the other end, and made no effort to block out next time down the floor and gave up an and-one putback dunk. Soon as Wilbourn came out, Williams went back to Basile and Morton slid over to Tim Finke with Sasha Stefanovic out of the game.
THIS SEQUENCE
Zach Edey is a next-level basketball player who just happens to be playing college basketball right now.
It's summed up nicely here.
First, Wright State kinda has Purdue beat on a back cut here, but Edey just puts his arms up and winds up deflecting the pass, which winds up a turnover.
He then runs down the floor to set a high ball screen for Isaiah Thompson.
Edey runs pick-and-roll with Thompson. Thompson's shot rims off, but Edey's right there for the putback.
Next time down, he sets successive screens for Sasha Stefanovic to run his man off, the second of which is this haymaker that sets up a three for Stefanovic.
Next time down, Edey gets put in pick-and-roll. He initially contains the dribble, dropping into the lane to do so, then sprints back to the top to take away Grant Basile's three off pick-and-pop. When Basile is forced to put it on the floor, the 7-foot-4, 300-pounder in full short-burst sprint somehow doesn't foul him.
Basile ends up at the foul line after Stefanovic slid over and was called for a block. He missed the free throw, Edey rebounded and got fouled and swished both free throws (though the second was waved off due to a lane violation.)
This was all bang-bang-bang in the span of about 90 seconds.
MISC
• I don't know if it's instinct, systematic or what, but Caleb Furst did a great job seeing things unfolding and getting where he needed to be for Trevion Williams to find him around the basket for easy scores. Looked like the two of them had been playing together for years.
Furst's activity level has been a really big deal for Purdue.
• Jaden Ivey's ability to change ends off rebounds is something that sets this team apart from other Purdue teams that have come before them. Puts incredible pressure on defenses.
