What is the story about?
Since losing at home to Iowa State 81-58 it seems Purdue has played some really pissed off basketball. It has since won four in a row, holding all four opponents to 60 points or less, while winning all four games by at least 20 points. That includes a win over a Big Ten team, a tournament team from a year ago, a top 20 team, and a decent mid-major.
Yeah, they’re pissed, and I like it.
Through 13 games this year we know that when the Boilermakers are like this offensively they are really difficult to
beat. When they ratchet up the defense and crash the glass too? That’s the receipe for never losing again.
Here are some thoughts from the final non-conference tune-up”
- Jack Benter. My goodness. 20 off the bench, 6 for 6 from three, and he was aggressive on the glass? Not bad for the backup of an All-American (who had 15 and 12 himself) in Trey Kaufman-Renn. With Benter, Purdue has an nine man rotation where any of them can score in double figures on a given night. That’s before you consider Liam Murphy (who can be a sharpshooter in his own right) and Aaron Fine as quality players deep on the bench.
- Only eight assists for Braden Smith tonight, slightly below the pace he needs for the record. He is now at 881 career dimes. With 10 more on Saturday at Wisconsin he can become the Big Ten’s all-time leader in that category. He moved to 22nd nationally all-time tonight, and should easily get into the top 20 on Saturday.
- Fletcher Loyer had 19 tonight and didn’t even shoot that well.
- Daniel Jacobsen was 7 for 7 from the line tonight, which is huge for as much as Purdue tends to use the post.
- Purdue had 45 off the bench tonight. It seemed like coach Painter was fine with letting the bench get some extra run and the starters some rest during a long season. If you can do that and still win by 40, why not?
- Omer Mayer was hidden in the box score with five assists. Since he is probably starting next season for Braden that is a good number to see.
- It feels like Gicarri Harris has stepped up a level in the past few games with his aggressiveness and shooting. Again, when looking to next year, this is fantastic. Next year’s potential starting five of Mayer-Harris-Cox-Benter-Jacobsen are all looking really solid.
Braden Smith, Jack Benter, and Fletcher Loyer
Matt Painter
