Purdue’s defense adjusted well and has fallen flat. What can be done for another round of improvement?
The loss of Zach Edey was going to be a big one on both sides of the ball. Everyone knew that coming into the season but the hope with a big freshman class and a returning set of veteran guards who had seen it all over their previous two seasons was that it could be offset. Freshman big man Daniel Jacobsen had impressed early on and was primed to have a big role inside for the Boilers but a broken leg on a fluke play early in the season derailed that. Suddenly, Purdue went from having one of the best potential shot blockers in the conference to zero interior rim protection as that isn’t part of the skillset for TKR, Furst, Berg, or Burgess.
That lack of interior presence was on full display early in the season with struggles against Marquette, Penn State, Texas A&M, and Auburn that saw Purdue give up easy bucket after easy bucket on the inside. Following a solid win against Toledo, Matt Painter inserted Caleb Furst into the starting lineup as a matchup against Minnesota and Dawson Garcia and a light seemingly went off. Purdue suddenly started communicating on defense, jumping into passing lanes, tipping passes, grabbing steals, and not allowing drives into the paint.
The eight game stretch that followed was Purdue forcing an average of 17.25 turnovers per game and turning those opportunities into points. The defense was connected, communicating with one another and forcing drivers into help from teammates and rotating quickly to prevent easy shots from behind the arc. It is what drove Purdue’s defense on Kenpom from the 90’s nearly into a top 20 adjusted defense but the drop-off since has been severe.
In the last six games, where Purdue has gone 2-4 with four straight losses, Purdue is generated just 8 turnovers per game and are not converting those into scoring opportunities. A -9.25 change is at the heart of what is happening to the Boilermaker defensive struggles and when you compound that with having little to no rim protection, Purdue is nose diving heading into March. So what can be done?
First off, a team doesn’t need an elite rim protector to be good enough on defense to win games. Purdue made that case through the best stretch of basketball they have played this season, although the stats say they still gave up way too many buckets inside the arc (worst in the country since January 1st). However, you can watch teams like Nebraska that lack an interior defensive presence and see they have the ability to defend at a high level. Look at what they did to Michigan on their home court defensively in a 49-46 rock fight. Yes, Michigan’s offense looked disjointed and out of place and of course Purdue blew Nebraska out several weeks ago in a game where Purdue could have put up 120, but the fact remains that Nebraska has held consistently in the 20’s on Kenpom’s adjusted defensive efficiency during the season for a reason.
Secondly, Matt Painter spoke early in the season about the team’s lack of communication on defense as being a reason for their struggles. He also mentioned that too many guys are playing on the court like their personalities off it. This team has a lot of quiet, nice guys when they aren’t playing and that is wonderful to have when working on the culture of a program and public relations. You aren’t hearing about situations at local bars and players aren’t lashing out at fans online but at players can’t be quiet and reserved on the floor when it comes to playing connected defensively.
Guys like Braden Smith, Fletcher Loyer, Myles Colvin, Cam Heide, TKR, and Caleb Furst just aren’t very demonstrative. They don’t have the big personalities like the ones that left following last season in Ethan Morton, Zach Edey, Lance Jones, and Mason Gillis (to an extent) but, as Matt Painter said, the personalities off the court can’t determine what happens on it. It just seems this team relies too heavily on their opponent to determine their own effort level physicality but they aren’t don’t seem to be built very well to counter punch once they are on their heels. It’s a reason why this team has lost big leads in the second halves of games and seem unable to claw their way back into games.
With a limited roster and Matt Painter obviously trying to push different buttons as evidenced by Will Berg getting first half minutes in each of the last two games, what can the coaching staff do moving forward? What can they do to help a team that has lost four straight and could very well be staring directly down the barrel of a seven game losing streak to end the season with games against UCLA and with two teams in Rutgers and Illinois fighting for the tourney lives?
It is unlikely to happen but a shake-up of the starting lineup again may be necessary. That lineup adjusted and changes often in the first several weeks with ten different Boilers making starts this season with only Raleigh Burgess has been a regular contributor not to start a game this season. It may be a tough task but getting Burgess into the starting lineup for the first several minutes would help protect Furst from an early foul that hampers him later in the first half and into the second half.
Also, the much discussed use of a zone defense is also there for Matt Painter. His response to this has been short and direct over the last several years, essentially saying he would rather focus on getting really good at one thing rather than splitting prep time to be ok at two things. It is something many Purdue fans have asked the head coach about for more than a decade, simply believing they can just throw two big men on the block and prevent interior shots. Although that works in theory, there is a lot of nuances to that many who don’t understand the game from a depth perspective can’t see nor do they understand.
I would agree that a defensive approach that saw Purdue start a possession in a 2-3 zone and modified into man to man would force the team to communicate to be effective, they can’t communicate now on a basic level on some very basic actions opposing teams are just running right in their face. A shift to something new like that could very well end in disaster more so than what we have seen lately.
What this team needs is for a player’s only meeting without coaches and for everything to be put out into the locker room. When I say everything, I mean EVERYTHING. Every piece of dirty laundry that is floating around that locker room needs to come out from frustration about effort level, lack of support on the bench, and even the possibility of strained friendships off the court. It is very apparent that this team is lacking the cohesiveness and communication they have had in years past and even in the midst of their great streak during this season.
It appears at though this team lacks the self confidence and mental toughness to weather the storms within a game and allows the officials, opponents, and fans dictate their response. Someone needs to step up into those leadership roles and be more of a vocal leader on the floor and stop running to the head coach when a guy is out of position or not doing his job in the manner in which he needs for the team to be successful. In years past that was Chris Kramer, Keaton Grant, Rapheal Davis, PJ Thompson, Dakota Mathias, Zach Edey, and Lance Jones. It’s time for someone, even if it is a freshman, to take this team and make it their own and forge the path forward. If it doesn’t happen this year, Purdue could be looking at one of the most disappointing ends to a season in program history. It’ll also likely mean Matt Painter will be looking into the transfer portal for more impactful players than many of us believed would be brought in just a few short weeks ago.