Purdue survives a scary Duck.
After going 0-3 in a Big Ten swoon, Purdue righted the ship against the lowly Terrapins and then had the lowly Ducks from Oregon heading into town. It was as favorable a schedule as you could imagine for Purdue to get back to their winning ways in conference play before heading to Nebraska.
John Wooden Memorial Player of the Game (JWMPOTG): You’ve got to give this one to Fletcher Loyer. He didn’t have a phenomenal staff stuffing game, but he made the plays when it mattered. With Purdue down one and a minute to play Loyer hit a deep three to give Purdue the lead what would turn out to be for good. He then made 3-4 free throws down the line to put the Ducks out of reach. This game wasn’t pretty, but Loyer’s 18 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 assists were the key to this Purdue victory.
Just a quick reminder that Oregon came into this game shooting 32% from three on the season. No one on the team (except for one guy who had shot one three all season) shot over 40% from deep. So what do you think happened in the first half? That’s right, Oregon hit their first two threes to jump out to a quick 6-2 lead. They didn’t have a high volume of threes in the first half, but they did hit them at a 60% clip (3-5). Purdue on the other hand struggled to stay consistent on both ends of the floor. It’s a problem we’ve seen rear it’s ugly head for far too many games this season. After pushing the lead to as high as nine it fluctuated back down to as few as just two points at halftime. What was the cause? Well, Purdue shooting just 3-11 from deep certainly played a part. Seven first half turnovers certainly played a part. Poor defense on Oregon big man Nate Bittle certainly played a part. Bittle was a monster in the first half for the Ducks scoring 14 of their 34 points after finding favorable position on far too many possessions. Right at the end of the half he Ducks found a way to get Bittle down low, reminder that he’s 7’0”, against ONLY Braden Smith who is, as a reminder, generously listed at 6’0”. That’s one hell of a height difference. The remainder of the Boilermakers swarmed but it was still an easy bucket for the biggest Duck on the court.
But let’s focus on some good things shall we? We all know that when this Purdue offense really gets moving they’ve got some of the best ball movement in the country. It was so apparent in this first half play with around 5:40 to play. Just watch this masterpiece:
How can you watch something like that and not love this team? Absolute poetry in motion. What else went right in the first half? Well, Fletcher Loyer appears to in fact be back. He was 2-3 from deep in the first half after having a bounce back game against Maryland it’s time we got the Loyer we all know and love back. Purdue also won the rebounding battle, even if it was by just one. Those are all good things, but would they be enough to power Purdue to a consistent second half and another Big Ten victory? We would know more in just 20 basketball minutes.
The second half was just about as ugly a half of basketball as Purdue has played all season. Don’t believe me? I mean, did you watch? Oh you didn’t? Okay, in the second half Purdue was just 7-20 from the floor. That’s right, they made just 7 shots in the entire second half. What else did they do? They were 2-7 from three. They turned the ball over another 7 times to match their first half total. They had just 4 assists which was emblematic of the way the offense played for the final 20 minutes. No cohesion. No ability to find the open man, timid, hesitant, and seeming to lack leadership. Something is wrong with this Purdue team and I am just not sure how to fix it.
Just take a look at Braden Smith’s game. He started out great offensively in the first half before struggling to get everyone else involved, not entirely his fault to be clear. He finished this game with 4 assists, just one in the final 20 minutes, against 6 turnovers. I’m sure it’s happened, but I can’t remember the last time that Smith had more turnovers than assists.
It wasn’t all bad though right? Well, mostly bad but still. Oregon wound up shooting 5-25 from deep in this game to actually shoot lower than their season average. This despite starting the game going 2-2 from distance. So that’s something to build on right? Right??? Give me something here.
A win is a win, and all wins are beautiful, but unlike men, all wins are not created equal. This will go in the win column, but it continued to expose the large number of flaws in this Purdue team that absolutely have to be fixed before the season comes to a close. If you want to find more positive maybe it’s good that Purdue won this one despite going 5-18 from three and 7-20 from the floor in the second half. Maybe it’s a good thing that Jack Benter continues to find ways to draw the ever elusive charge call. But, what you can’t deny, is that something is rotten in Denmark and if Purdue doesn’t figure it out quickly, heading into Lincoln is going to get ugly.
Category: General Sports
