The Rebound: Purdue 99 Texas Southern 67

In their first game as the #1 team this season, Purdue routed Texas Southern in convincing fashion.

The Purdue Boilermakers took care of business against the Texas Southern Tigers 99-67 following their amazing run in the Maui Invitational. Let’s jump into how the Boilers fared from ‘The Three Pointer!’

1 | Take Care of the Ball

Purdue did a great job in taking care of the ball for most of the game until it was evident that the backups and deep bench players would finish up a long portion of the game. Even then, the team only had 10 as a team which is right where Matt Painter wants to have his team at. On top of that, Purdue didn’t really have any bad turnovers of the ‘pick 6’ variety that lead to easy points for the other team in any major.

Grade: A

Overall, this was a good game for the Boilers in terms of taking care of the basketball. Against teams like this Purdue has had a bad history of being too loose with the ball and allowing teams to stay in the game. Ten turnovers, against any team, is a number Purdue can thrive with.

2 | Leverage The Advantage on the Glass to an Overwhelming Obstacle

When you outrebound a team by 17, that is a dominating game on the glass. When you add in that Purdue did not allow a single second chance point while scoring ten of their own, that is an overwhelming obstacle.

Grade: A

When you don’t give up any second chance points, outrebound a team by 17, and only allow 6 second chance points, that’s a good night. Those are things that will lead to victories more times than not.

3 | Have a ‘Kill Shot’ Run

Purdue started the game with a 13-0 run and that really sealed the game even though Texas Southern largely played even with the Boilers after than initial in the first half. Purdue ripped of a 34-11 run from 18:35 to 8:04 in the second half. That is a massive run in the span of just over 10 minutes of game time. That would be the definition of a kill shot type of run as Texas Southern was a bit of a scrappy team hitting tough shots and making a it a bit more interesting than many thought in the first half getting the Purdue lead to 9 points with just 3:331 left.

Grade: A

A run of 34-11 just absolutely crushes opponents and although those types of runs aren’t likely to come against better opponents, hopefully the Boilers can string together more 10-0 runs through the season to stretch leads further and further.

And 1 | Let’s See Some Young Guys Get Minutes

This went really well as Matt Painter was able to get some extended minutes for Brain Waddell (8), Will Berg (8), and Myles Colvin (15). Colvin likely would have had more if he hadn’t smacked his head hard on the Mackey Arena floor and needed to come out. He did return later in the game and made some shots so there doesn’t appear to be any long term effects. Getting those guys minutes following a grueling set of games and the travel back and forth to Hawaii was a great thing to see as no Boilermaker other than Braden Smith (26) saw more than 22 minutes of action (Lances Jones-22).

One thing to point out and I know that it has come late in games in garbage type of minutes: Will Berg continues to be impressive. He just does what the coaches need him to do and doesn’t try to do things he shouldn’t or can’t do. He rebounds, he sets good screens, he hits his shots inside, and makes his free throws. He won’t be the player that Edey has become but he can develop into one heck of a big man for Purdue. He also continues to impress in his development from a mobility standpoint. At 7’2, he can really get up and down the floor.

Grade: A+

This one deserves the + behind it because when you can score 99 points and nobody plays more than 26 minutes, that’s a big deal. When you include the fact your 7’4 big man didn’t have to play particularly hard on top of his lack of minutes, that bodes well for the next four games against high quality opponents.

Prediction:

Purdue: 92
Texas Southern: 58

Real Score:
Purdue: 99
Texas Southern: 67

Well, Purdue got out to a 13-0 to start the game and led 26-15 with ten minutes remaining in the half. Edey didn’t get the double-double in the first half but Braden Smith ended up flirting with another triple-double this season. The sophomore guard ended up just one rebound short of the second triple-double in program history.

This was overall a great game for Purdue leading into a tough four games at Northwestern, Iowa, Alabama (Toronto), and Arizona (Indy). This will be an important four game stretch as Purdue could really solidify themselves as the clear overall #1 heading into the heart of the B1G schedule.

Overall Grade: A

Player of the Game:

Pretty easy one here as Braden Smith went for 19 points, 10 assists, and 9 rebounds. Just one more rebound and Smith would have grabbed just the second triple-double in program history. Smith has clearly made a massive jump in his development and his play this season has raised the ceiling for Purdue exponentially.

Play of the Game:

This is more of a ‘plays’ of the game that feature Braden Smith pushing the ball in transition to find Edey and Heide on back to back dunks that really buried Texas Southern. This is where Purdue has grown so much this season and really makes the Boilers so difficult to defend.