Well listen, we knew this game was going to be super tough. UConn is currently ranked #4 in the preseason rankings and Purdue is unranked. I don’t think we expected it to be quite this ugly though. It’s probably a good thing that most of you couldn’t watch this game. My TV has a UConn+ app but I couldn’t buy the game on that app I could only listen to the radio feed (a radio feed that at one point called Matt Painter Matt Pointer). So instead I had to go to their website, buy the game, then try to find it on their website. It did not take me right to the game and I had to login multiple times before ultimately I was able to find the proper way to watch. It was not a good time. And, the streaming quality was terrible and the announcers weren’t good. Other than that Mrs. Lincoln how was the play?
John Wooden Memorial Player of the Game (JWMPOTG):Not sure anyone from Purdue truly deserves this one in a game you lose this badly, but CJ Cox fought valiantly out there leading Purdue with 18 points. Cox also played 34 minutes. He gets the nod today.
I expected Purdue to take a beating in this one. I truly did. We all know that Painter doesn’t always put 100% into scouting these exhibitions, but the team at least goes out there and works their asses off. In the first half of this one Purdue had a number of flaws exposed. UConn plays some great perimeter defense and because of that the three point shot simply wasn’t falling in the first half. Purdue didn’t hit their first three until a little over 2:00 to go in the first half. Jack Benter finally found the bottom of the net. Purdue finished the half 1-14 from deep with lowlights of West, Mayer, and Cox all 0-3 in that first half. Rebounding will also be a struggle all year with UConn easily outrebounding the Boilermakers 20-15.
UConn has athleticism at every position and it showed in the transition game. Purdue simply couldn’t keep up with the pace of play that UConn put out and it allowed the Huskies to have 9 fast break points to Purdue’s 0 over the first 20 minutes. While Purdue has size on the roster it’s not the same type of size that Purdue has had in the past. There’s no Zach Edey on the court. There’s no Oscar Cluff. No true defensive stopper at the rim. UConn scored 35 points in the first half with 20 of those 35 points being scored in the paint. It was just a completely ugly first half for the Boilermakers. However, it’s important to remember that this game doesn’t count and is ultimately a glorified practice. Now, there’s still things to learn, but you have to take all your lessons with a grain of salt. Going into halftime down 35-20 was humbling but Purdue had 20 minutes to improve.
Unfortunately, UConn was just too much. Despite getting the lead back down to 10 early in the second half by the 11:00 minute mark the lead had swelled to 55-31 for the Huskies. Antione West fouled out and Purdue’s shooting struggled continued. While Purdue only shot three three pointers in the first 10 minutes of the second half they made exactly none of them. They sat at 1-17 from deep. That’s not a winning formula I don’t care who the opponent is but it certainly isn’t a winning formula against a top flight opponent like UConn.
Here are some final stats that stood out in this one. None of them good.
- Purdue’s three point shooting: 2-25. Oh my. 1-11 in the second half.
- The rebounding margin: Purdue gets outrebounded 40-34.
- Purdue’s overall FG percentage: 32.8%
- Points allowed in the paint by Purdue: 38.
- Fast break points allowed: 17.
- Purdue’s FT percentage: 11-16 for 68.8%
- Gicarri Harris played 24 minutes and scored just two points, both at the free throw line, while going 0-2 from the floor. Purdue must have more from him.
If you’re looking for positives in this one I’ve got a few:
- Daniel Jacobsen really showed a lot of improvement being in the right place on defense on a number of possesions in the second half. Now, was he perfect? Absolutely not, but this is an exhibition and you want to see improvement from your big man.
- Caden Pierce looked good on the boards finishing with 7 rebounds.
- CJ Cox shot the ball poorly from three finishing 1-5from three but overall he looked okay offensively going 7-14 overall and finished Purdue’s leading scorer with 18 points. He was the only Boilermaker in double figures.
- This team faced real adversity for the first time. Now look, I know that doesn’t sound like a great thing, especially considering the UConn lead continued to build, but getting punched in the mouth can be quite humbling. These Purdue guys will have to take this in, sit with it, and Painter will make them better as a result.
Ultimately as I said, this game doesn’t matter. It won’t go down in the record books, the stats don’t matter, and Purdue fans don’t need to worry about how this will impact Purdue’s tournament seeding. However, this team has real flows which we knew going into this season. The quesiton is, will this team became greater than the sum of their parts and play like a gritty Purdue team of the past, or will they falter under the bright lights of the regular season? It’s time to find out. The exhibition games are now over and Purdue finished 2-1. But now the record is 0-0 and Purdue looks ahead to opening the season in Las Vegas against Gonzaga.