Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Today is the second round game in the Midwest Region from Indianapolis with the #8-seed Utah State Aggies (28-6, 1-0) taking on the #1-seed, #3-ranked Purdue Boilermakers (30-4, 1-0). The winner will advance to the Regional semi-finals next Friday evening in Detroit to take on Gonzaga. Tip is scheduled for approximately 2:40 pm (Eastern time) with television coverage on CBS.
Projected Starting Line-ups:
Utah State - Isaac Johnson, Great Osobor, Mason Falslev, Ian Martinez, and Darius Brown II
Purdue - Zach Edey, Trey Kaufman-Renn, Lance Jones, Fletcher Loyer, and Braden Smith
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Utah State upended ninth-seeded TCU 88-72 in their first-round matchup Friday night, and Purdue used a strong second half to eliminate 16th-seeded Grambling 78-50 in their first-round matchups Friday night. These two schools have met once previously. Purdue picked up an 85-64 win in a game played at the Hard Rock Hotel in Riviera Maya in Cancun, Mexico on November 22, 2016.
The Aggies come into this contest 28-6 overall and went 14-4 in conference play in the regular season. Against TCU, Utah State trailed by as many as eight in the first half and was down one with 3:34 to play in the first half before going on a 9-2 run to take a 43-37 advantage at the break. Utah State then used a 14-6 run in the second half to turn a four-point edge to a 12-point advantage. They weren’t seriously challenged after that. The Aggies shot 55% from the floor, including eight of 19 from three-point range, and forced 14 turnovers in the win to offset losing the battle of the boards 41-30 in the contest. Ian Martinez, a transfer from Maryland, paced Utah State with 21 points in the win.
Utah State is a solid, well-coached team. Danny Sprinkle has them in the tournament in his first year (coming from Montana State) while essentially turning over the entire roster. The KenPom ratings have them at 44th, with an adjusted offense rating of 29th and 67th adjusted defense. They have an adjusted tempo of 108th, so a little higher pace than Purdue. On the year, Utah State averages 80 points per contest on the season, putting them 40th in the nation in scoring offense. The Aggies are pulling down an average of 36.1 rebounds per contest while passing off 16.6 assists per game. They are 125th in scoring defense by allowing an average of 70.3 points a night.
Great Osobor is one of four players for Utah State averaging in double figures as he puts up 17.8 points plus 9.1 rebounds per contest. Matt Painter and others have likened his game somewhat similarly to that of former Boiler, Trevion Williams. Ian Martinez is contributing 13.4 points plus 3.7 rebounds a game, and Darius Brown II (12.4 points, 6.6 assists) and Mason Falslev (11.3 points, 4.4 rebounds) are solid secondary scoring options. Josh Uduje, Isaac Johnson, Max Agbonkpolo, Javon Jackson, Kalifa Sakho and Karson Templin are other pieces in Danny Sprinkle’s rotation.
Utah State shoots well overall - 49.5% from the field as a team on the year, putting them 7th in Division I. Utah State also makes an average of 6.4 three-pointers a game this season while shooting 33.3% from three-point range on the year. If they get hot from the outside today, that could be a big problem for the Boilers, as that will give even more space for players like Osobor and Falssev to operate. As usual, Purdue will also need to limit the second-chance opportunities - with a team like Utah State, those could be particularly lethal. On the other end, Zach Edey will be a tough cover for Utah State, and Edey is coming off a 30-points and 21-rebound performance in the last game - first time a player has done that in a NCAA Tournament game since 1995. Osobor draws fouls well - not quite to the level of Zach Edey - but it could also be a factor. I expect that Trey Kaufman-Renn will check Osobor initially, but we'll see on that.
How does the Purdue team respond to a step up or two with the opponent and pressure? If they can play with the focus and energy on defense similarly to the second half from Friday's game, they should be in really good shape. If it's more like the first half - with some coverage mistakes and careless turnovers, this season could end in disappointing fashion. The Boilers also need to get better production from Lance Jones and Mason Gillis today. As Matt Painter summed it up yesterday - Utah State is good and is well-coached.....can't be looking past them, and it's going to be a dogfight. Hopefully, they are ready to bring the fight.
The Boilers took the first step Friday - can they take another big step today and get to Detroit to play next week? We shall see, starting in a few hours.
Boiler Up, my friends....
Projected Starting Line-ups:
Utah State - Isaac Johnson, Great Osobor, Mason Falslev, Ian Martinez, and Darius Brown II
Purdue - Zach Edey, Trey Kaufman-Renn, Lance Jones, Fletcher Loyer, and Braden Smith
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Utah State upended ninth-seeded TCU 88-72 in their first-round matchup Friday night, and Purdue used a strong second half to eliminate 16th-seeded Grambling 78-50 in their first-round matchups Friday night. These two schools have met once previously. Purdue picked up an 85-64 win in a game played at the Hard Rock Hotel in Riviera Maya in Cancun, Mexico on November 22, 2016.
The Aggies come into this contest 28-6 overall and went 14-4 in conference play in the regular season. Against TCU, Utah State trailed by as many as eight in the first half and was down one with 3:34 to play in the first half before going on a 9-2 run to take a 43-37 advantage at the break. Utah State then used a 14-6 run in the second half to turn a four-point edge to a 12-point advantage. They weren’t seriously challenged after that. The Aggies shot 55% from the floor, including eight of 19 from three-point range, and forced 14 turnovers in the win to offset losing the battle of the boards 41-30 in the contest. Ian Martinez, a transfer from Maryland, paced Utah State with 21 points in the win.
Utah State is a solid, well-coached team. Danny Sprinkle has them in the tournament in his first year (coming from Montana State) while essentially turning over the entire roster. The KenPom ratings have them at 44th, with an adjusted offense rating of 29th and 67th adjusted defense. They have an adjusted tempo of 108th, so a little higher pace than Purdue. On the year, Utah State averages 80 points per contest on the season, putting them 40th in the nation in scoring offense. The Aggies are pulling down an average of 36.1 rebounds per contest while passing off 16.6 assists per game. They are 125th in scoring defense by allowing an average of 70.3 points a night.
Great Osobor is one of four players for Utah State averaging in double figures as he puts up 17.8 points plus 9.1 rebounds per contest. Matt Painter and others have likened his game somewhat similarly to that of former Boiler, Trevion Williams. Ian Martinez is contributing 13.4 points plus 3.7 rebounds a game, and Darius Brown II (12.4 points, 6.6 assists) and Mason Falslev (11.3 points, 4.4 rebounds) are solid secondary scoring options. Josh Uduje, Isaac Johnson, Max Agbonkpolo, Javon Jackson, Kalifa Sakho and Karson Templin are other pieces in Danny Sprinkle’s rotation.
Utah State shoots well overall - 49.5% from the field as a team on the year, putting them 7th in Division I. Utah State also makes an average of 6.4 three-pointers a game this season while shooting 33.3% from three-point range on the year. If they get hot from the outside today, that could be a big problem for the Boilers, as that will give even more space for players like Osobor and Falssev to operate. As usual, Purdue will also need to limit the second-chance opportunities - with a team like Utah State, those could be particularly lethal. On the other end, Zach Edey will be a tough cover for Utah State, and Edey is coming off a 30-points and 21-rebound performance in the last game - first time a player has done that in a NCAA Tournament game since 1995. Osobor draws fouls well - not quite to the level of Zach Edey - but it could also be a factor. I expect that Trey Kaufman-Renn will check Osobor initially, but we'll see on that.
How does the Purdue team respond to a step up or two with the opponent and pressure? If they can play with the focus and energy on defense similarly to the second half from Friday's game, they should be in really good shape. If it's more like the first half - with some coverage mistakes and careless turnovers, this season could end in disappointing fashion. The Boilers also need to get better production from Lance Jones and Mason Gillis today. As Matt Painter summed it up yesterday - Utah State is good and is well-coached.....can't be looking past them, and it's going to be a dogfight. Hopefully, they are ready to bring the fight.
The Boilers took the first step Friday - can they take another big step today and get to Detroit to play next week? We shall see, starting in a few hours.
Boiler Up, my friends....
