Purdue Basketball – Fast Break – Three Point Shooting – Big Ten Schedule

Some quick thoughts.

Trying out a bit of a new article here. There’s a bunch of things popping around in my head that I can’t flesh out to an entire article but that I think are worth noting. So instead of devoting an entire article to them I’ll be jotting the down here.

Three Point Shooting

Before I start this section let me be clear that there is no ONE reason why Purdue lost to Ohio State. Three point shooting was certainly one reason though. Let’s take a look. I’m going to start with the Nebraska game where Purdue exploded for 19 made threes. Yes, I know it’s arbitrary but it’s clearly the high water mark of Purdue’s shooting so far this season.

Nebraska – Purdue – 19/33 from three

@ Washington – Purdue – 3/13 from three

@ Oregon – Purdue 2/12 from three

Ohio State – Purdue 3/9 from three

So, after going 19/33 against Nebraska, in their next three games Purdue has gone a combined 8/34. Fletcher Loyer, Purdue’s most consistent three point shooter, went 5/6 from three against the Cornhuskers. He’s since gone 3/10 meaning that in the next three games, the remainder of the team has gone 5/24. Those aren’t winning numbers for at least two reasons. First, shooting 24% from three simply won’t get it done against high level competition. Second, it’s just not enough shots over a three game span in modern college basketball especially when you have shooters like Purdue does.

To make matters worse, after holding Nebraska to 6/27 in that victory Purdue’s next three opponents have combined to shoot 27/74 for 36%. While that’s not lights out by any means it’s far better than the 24% Purdue has shot in those three. Some on Purdue, namely Fletcher Loyer, need to be more active in hunting for their shot because they are damn good when they get it. Could the poor shooting be a result of Purdue’s tired legs?

Big Ten Scheduling

From January 9th (or more likely the 8th when they left for the Rutgers game) to the 21st when they played Ohio State at home, just 12-13 days, Purdue went from West Lafayette to Piscataway, NJ, back to West Lafayette, to Seattle, to Eugue, and back to Mackey. They’ve played five basketball games with a 4-1 record. Pretty great I’d say. However, you could see the fatigue in the game against Ohio State.

Purdue plays Michigan tonight and then does not play again until next Friday the 31st. Purdue will appreciate the rest, but couldn’t these games have been spread out a bit more? I understand there are rest periods (basically byes) built into the Big Ten schedule but it seems like there has to be a better way to do this scheduling. During that same span, current team atop the standings Michigan State has competed in four games. Purdue will play their sixth game tonight while MSU will play their fifth tomorrow. Perhaps small potatoes but for a team currently sitting undefeated in conference play it may make a difference.

NIL and Matt Painter

You may have seen before Purdue’s game against Ohio State that Jalen Rose was talking about Purdue and NIL. If you missed it, here’s a good synopsis:

It’s a scenario where people who don’t know what they are talking about should maybe keep their thoughts to themselves. Purdue basketball constantly has players atop the NIL store. Purdue is clearly doing something right with NIL and basketball as they were able to convince the reigning National Player of the Year to return for another season last year.

NIL is a black box. No one can truly know who is getting what and from where. It’s a nightmare. However, one thing we do know is that Matt Painter knows how to build a team. Team, that’s what’s most important to Matt Painter. Grabbing stars and paying out millions, or perhaps only hundreds of thousands, for players who may not fit with your team and who may not produce is what Ryan Walters did for the football program and we all saw how that worked out. Painter is meticulous about maintaining team chemistry and fit with any and all offers. We saw that just this offseason when Catchings left and then wanted to come back and Painter simply told him no. Catchings is a hell of a player there’s no doubt, but Painter judged that he wouldn’t be happy and decided to move on. It would be great to have his talent on this team but at what cost? We just don’t know.

Perhaps one day Purdue will have an NIL problem in men’s basketball, but right now I think Matt Painter has things under control.