After an absolutely chaotic end to the Illinois versus Nebraska game the fans poured out of the United Center in what truly was a Windy City. Wind gusts up to 26 MPH made the walk to the arena chillier than the 50 degree temperature would have suggested. Once inside though it was going to be a battle with 40 minutes of basketball on the docket and a trip to the Big Ten semi-finals on the line. These two teams met in an all-time classic with a mysterious water spot on the floor being the difference
maker in overtime. What would these two teams do today in the United Center?
John Wooden Memorial Player of the Game (JWMPOTG): Fletcher Loyer earns this one with his clutch second half shooting. More than that though he caused havoc on defense on a number of occasions and got two steals and grabbed four rebounds. He did it all proving once again that he’s more than just a shooter.
Matt Painter talked yesterday in his post-game press conference and locker room scrum about how elite this Purdue offense has been this season. If you check the advanced metrics you’ll see that they are one of the better offenses since places like Kenpom began tracking this stuff. This came in a conversation about how the defense might be struggling but Purdue could always rely on their offense. They looked to do just that against the #2 seed in the quarterfinals.
Purdue started this one by getting Cecil Joseph Cox the ball where he made two threes in less than four minutes of play. He was interviewed at halftime when BTN put up a graphic showing that in his first three Big Ten Tournament games he scored a total of six points but tonight thanks to those two threes, and a set of three free throws as he was fouled shooting a three, he went into halftime with nine points. Sort of passive aggressive but I’ll take it. Add in some good early looks from Oscar Cluff and the Purdue offense was doing exactly what Matt Painter talked about. Purdue had jumped out to an early 13-3 lead which you all knew wouldn’t hold. This is Purdue and Nebraska we are talking about. There’s got to be a bit more chaos. So instead of running up a huge lead Purdue just kept fighting to keep the lead at 10+ points. Nebraska had some hot three point shooting to stay within striking distance as they were 6-12 from deep at one point before missing five in a row to finish the half 6-17 for a much more tolerable 35%. Elsewhere on defense though it was hard to be upset with the Purdue effort as they forced the stingy Cornhuskers into 8 turnovers and turned those 8 turnovers into 17 points. Purdue scored off all but one of the Nebraska turnovers.
While the half started with CJ Cox stroking it from three it ended with Fletcher Loyer doing it all. On one end Loyer got a steal and a timeout. On the other end it led to him draining a three pointer. Just 47 seconds later Loyer hit another three to finish the half as Purdue’s leading scorer with 13 points on 4-6 (3-5) shooting. Braden Smith scored exactly 0 points in the first half but had 7 assists and was in control of the offense. When Smith briefly went to the bench Purdue went on a 2:12 scoring drought. Purdue headed to the locker room up 41-28. The first time these two met we went into halftime with a Purdue lead 40-24.
With Purdue heading into the second half with a comfortable lead that little itch started up in the back of my head. That worry that we’ve all had all season long. That Nebraska was going to come back. We saw it when these to teams faced off the regular season. Purdue was up by 16 at halftime and still had to head to overtime to take down the Cornhuskers. We’ve seen enough of Purdue of late to be a little worried no matter what. Well, we had some reason to worry. As beautiful as the first half was, the second half was just as ugly for big stretches. Thankfully, it was ugly for both teams. Purdue opened the half on a 7-2 scoring run before things sort of settled back into a groove. Purdue pushed the lead up to 50-33 with 14 minutes to go and everyone was feeling good. Nebraska would score a quick 8 points to stay in this one and make it a 51-41 ball game. A Gicarri Harris three pushed it to 13 and gave Purdue some breathing room, but the Nebraska surge wasn’t over yet. A quick 7-2 run brought the lead down to eight and this was the moment all the Purdue fans feared. The thing was, Purdue was taking good shots they just weren’t falling. A number of Purdue looks rolled around the rim touching basically every inch of it before falling harmlessly to the floor.
With the lead stuck at 10 a crazy possession with a missed Loyer three, rebounded by Smith, led to a CJ Cox three and put Purdue back up 13. I think it was the play of the game. With just 5:37 left in the game Purdue had extended their lead. Nebraska would not get another chance. Fletcher Loyer made sure of that as he scored five points in the span of 30 seconds to close the door on Nebraska completely. Remember when I said the second half was some ugly basketball? Well, Purdue shot 4-16 from three in the second half while Nebraska shot 4-14 from three. It just felt worse since that had that quick moment where they made two threes in a span of about 45 seconds. After that though the Purdue defense did it’s job.
Here’s some quick hitters for you as I wrap things up in the United Center:
- Omer Mayer has really found another level these last weeks. He is like a completely different player.
- CJ Cox continues to be a huge asset on both ends. He finished this one with 12 points and IMO the play of the game.
- Smith had 10 assists to go with his 16 from yesterday. He entered today’s game needing 31 assists to tie the record. With 10 today that magic number is now down to 21 with at least two games left guaranteed.
- Loyer was Purdue’s leading scorer with 19 to go along with 4 rebounds, 2 steals, and 1 assist. A great game from the JWMPOTG.
- Purdue outrebounded Nebraska 37-29.
- Purdue has looked like a completely different team here in Chicago. If this is a sign of things to come…
That’s gonna do it for us tonight from the United Center, post-game video will be posted shortly and Casey and Jed will be working on stories for later on.
Just a scheduling update, Purdue will face the winner of the Michigan State vs. UCLA game that game is the second of the session with tipoff scheduled for swiping 3:30 ET. Join us right back here.
