Expectations coming into this season were that Purdue would compete for a Big Ten title, a trip the Final Four, and maybe, just maybe, bring home Purdue’s first NCAA Tournament Championship. The loss to Iowa State halted the runaway enthusiasm and brought things back down to a more manageable level. Tonight was the chance for Purdue to get back in the win column and show that the loss to Iowa State wasn’t going to define them. Well, if that was the goal heading into this game, and I have to think
it was at least part of it, the first half would have to go down as a disappointment.
John Wooden Memorial Player of the Game (JWMPOTG): Obviously giving this one to Braden Smith. The guy hustled his ass off in the first half and kept Purdue in a game where they struggled to be efficient on offense and made numerous mistakes on the defensive end. He would finish the game with 15 points, 6 rebounds, 12 assists, 2 blocks, and 5 steals. That’s one hell of a night.
Just again want to take a moment to appreciate the things that Braden Smith can do on the court. A great dish here to Oscar Cluff for a thunder dunk.
There was just something off about the team in the first half. The Purdue offense was, minus Braden Smith, just a step off. Smith was aggressive and found his shot, but he continuously tried to set up his teammates who could not finish. Smith was extremely frustrated with the play of Daniel Jacobsen who on one end of the floor missed an easy alley-oop dunk and then allowed a bucket because of poor positioning on the other end. You could see Braden talking to him on multiple possessions. Purdue has made a living this season being a great three point shooting team, but no one other than Braden Smith hit a three pointer in the first half. Smith was 2-3 while the rest of the team was 0-3. That number though was astonishing. Purdue took just three additional threes including one from Trey Kaufman-Renn that was ill-advised at best. Fletcher Loyer had just one three point attempt and that was his only shot out of the half (technically). He did get fouled and headed to the line where he made all five of his free throws, but that’s no way to run an offense.
On the other end of the floor Purdue did a decent job forcing Minnesota to shoot poorly from three, going just 4-15 from deep in the first half. The problem though, was that Purdue continuously found themselves out of position on the defensive end which led to numerous backdoor cuts that allowed easy buckets for the Golden Gophers. Purdue also put themselves in bad positions on defense resulting in four and-one opportunities for the Gophers. Finally, with the half winding down and Purdue with their first double digit lead of the game Purdue allowed a 7-0 run to bring the Gophers back within three. The teams would trade buckets to end the half and Purdue would go into halftime up just 35-32. Not exactly the boot on the neck performance we were hoping for coming into this one. But that’s okay right? There were still 20 minutes to play.
In just 2:15 Purdue had come out on fire and pushed the lead to 10 again. Just 25 seconds later they pushed the lead to 13, their largest of the game, when someone other than Braden Smith, CJ Cox, hit a three pointer. All it took was 2:39 seconds for Purdue to remember who they were and what they can do on offense. It took four minutes of game time for Purdue to push the lead to 20 points. Minnesota did not score during that same four minutes. It was strange to sit in nearly the exact same place as I did while watching the Iowa State game and see Purdue do to a team what Iowa State did to them. That game got out of hand so fast that you looked up and Purdue was down 4 and then suddenly down 25. The same thing happened tonight. A 21-0 run to start the half changed the entire complexion of this game and left the fans around me feeling much better with this team. After nearly 9 minutes of action in the second half the lead had been pushed to 30 and Minnesota had still managed just two points in the half. It was a true showing of what this team could be on both ends of the floor. Everyone was contributing from Loyer hitting a three, Cox hitting a three, Cluff and Jacobsen banging down low, TKR hitting his floaters and rebounding, to the JWMPOTG doing everything from grabbing steals, rebounding, scoring, and setting up his teammates to score. It was a master class.
With just over 9 minutes gone by in the second half, TKR came out and wouldn’t come back in. That tells you how in hand this game was. It was nice to get him the rest especially after he had a tough fall earlier in the half. Smith would stay in the game for a little bit after but couldn’t find any more rebounds to get that elusive triple double.
