Boiler Behemoths Blast Bumbling Badgers 66-55
DID YOU SEE THAT ALLITERATION IN THE TITLE? GIVE ME PROPS NOW.
Starters: PJ Thompson, Carsen Edwards, Dakota Mathias, Vince(nt) Edwards, Caleb Swanigan
Finishers: PJ Thompson, Ryan Cline, Dakota Mathias, Caleb Swanigan, Isaac Haas
Feature image from @PurdueSports.
What happened?
#20 Purdue beat #13 Wisconsin 66-55, in a game that contained four acts:
Act 1: We So B1G
If you were confused by a Purdue team that played fast, small, put up a ton of threes and scored 80 points a game...have we got a throwback performance for you! Through the first 13 minutes, Purdue and Wisconsin combined to score 27 points and roughly an infinite amount of turnovers. WE SO B1G.
The matchup I thought would dominate, Vince Edwards vs Nigel Hayes, was somewhat neutralized from the start. Wisconsin is built to defend really well against a wing-heavy smallball team, with Hayes/Vitto Brown/Ethan Happ matching up really well against Purdue’s starting lineup of Mathias/Edwards/Swanigan.
Swanigan and Mathias were forcing some particularly awful passes, and finished with a handful of unforced turnovers each (8 and 4, respectively). Vince made a few awful entry passes, but really was solidly contained by Wisconsin’s clever shading defense that collapses on wing cutters really effectively.
Act 2: The Bigs Dominate Alone
Painter deserves credit (see The Good, below), for spotting Vince’s relative ineffectiveness. He began by getting Haas in the game quickly, and during the two minutes Swanigan was on the bench he found that Wisconsin was glad to let him play one-on-one. This, usually, ends poorly for other jabronis.
To be fair, they tried throwing everything at Swanigan. It’s just really hard to stop the best forward in college basketball. Purdue started to pull away with 4 minutes left in the first half.
Act 3: Hey Don’t Forget Wisky Is Pretty Dang Good
It turns out Greg Gard is pretty good at his job. With Painter not committing quite yet to the dual-big lineup, they constantly attacked Biggie Swanigan in side pick-and-rolls, and Biggie really struggled to recover. This was as much on Vince/PJ/Mathias, as they were usually guarding the ballhandler (Bronson Koenig, who is unbelievably only a junior) but didn’t communicate with Swanigan on the shade-and-recover PNR defensive scheme.
Wisconsin got a ton of easy looks at the rim, and every single time was via side PNR/pick-and-pop (big shouts to Happ, who would be one of the B10’s best centers if Purdue didn’t exist). They constantly attacked Biggie, and closed the gap with 15 minutes left in the game.
Act 4: “Screw it, Unleash Both Behemoths”
My personal favorite act of any play. With 15 minutes left in the game, Matt Painter completely committed to the 2-in/3-out lineup. PJ Thompson, Ryan Cline, and Dakota Mathias flanked Purdue’s ogres inside, and the decision absolutely changed the game.
Swanigan was rolling from everywhere on the court, and Wisconsin has to respect his presence near the perimeter. That left room for Haas to work in complete isolation, and left plenty of room for Purdue’s snipers to launch a barrage of threes.
This game was really the payoff of Purdue’s multi-year strategy seeking an infinite amount of shooters for the roster, paired with some of the largest humans on the planet. PJ, Cline, and Mathias couldn’t miss, and put any thoughts of a Wisconsin comeback on ice with an absurd amount of time left. Purdue only won by 11, but this felt like a blowout and it’s all due to that lineup.
The game was over when…
…Ryan Cline hit a corner three with 11:28 left in the game, extending Purdue’s lead to 14. Within that three minute stretch leading to that splash, Cline grabbed a rebound and splashed a three, stole the ball and splashed a semi-transition three, and grabbed ANOTHER REBOUND AND SPLASHED A THREE. We didn’t know it then, but the game was over.
Player of the Game:
At this point, we can just pencil First Team All American Biggie Swanigan (18 points on 7-10 shooting, 13 rebounds, 2 blocks and 2 assists) into this category every single game. This was his 8th straight double-double, and 14th of the year. God bless Biggie, the perfect college basketball player.
But as for the non-Swanigan category, Isaac Haas has to take it home. Haas’ solid return (13 points on 4-6 shooting, 4 offensive rebounds, 1 block and 1 assist in only 18 minutes) happened after a few strugglefest games (that had less to do with Haas forgetting basketball a lot more to do with Purdue’s offensive sets putting Haas in awful spots).
The Good:
- Biggie’s hustle is seriously off the charts. Check out the Moving Picture Thingy of the Night, Biggie closed out hard on a three point shooter from the paint, caused the miss, ran back inside to box out, and secured the rebound. I love Biggie very much and am very glad he’s playing college basketball for the Purdue Boilermakers.
- The Return of Haas. Touched on this a little bit earlier (and I’ve been saving the post-ND tape breakdown for this Haas game), but a solid amount of blame for Haas’ struggles can be placed on Purdue’s offensive decision making. Purdue would often try to set up Haas during the first couple of plays, forcing the ball inside to him but not changing any of its typical motion sets. That would often lead to Haas with the ball on the block, Biggie at the free throw line, and Mathais/Vince cutting through the strong side. It’s a little easier to describe with images, but that leaves three to four defenders collapsing on Haas as the entry pass is being thrown. With Wisconsin refusing to throw a double team at Haas, Purdue was able to properly exploit their Ent and capitalize on his incredible touch near the basket.
- Coach Painter’s substitution patterns, which are typically reserved for the Bad/Ugly sections. Over the last month, Purdue has gone away from the dual-big lineup (as defensive gameplans were often solely directed at Purdue’s interior offense). Painter starting a frontcourt of Vince/Biggie alongside three guards will continue to be the correct call for the remainder of the season. But after seeing Vince semi-contained by Nigel Hayes and Vitto Brown, Painter’s decision to double-down on size and shooting with Vince on the bench was the call that completely changed the game for Purdue. Great in-game call by Painter.
- Mackey Magic is real. Friendly rims, loud students (*ahemOSU* they’re still on break) who decided to be loud and boisterous and reckless, and the return of Purdue’s defense can all be attributed to the lovely confines of Keady Court. I love that building.
- Dakota Mathias is a metronome. He’s never the star, he’s never the primary ballhandler, he’s never below average, he’s never a no-show. All Dakota Mathias does is *exactly* what Purdue needs, whether it’s a smooth jumper to stop a Wisconsin run or a key steal in the post or a wonderful high-low pass to Swanigan for a dunk or a “screw it” three that swishes in after 30 seconds of bad offense. Mathias’ consistency is beautiful.
- 92% shooting from the free throw line (though only 12 attempts), particularly in a B1G low-possession game like this one.
The Bad:
- TURNOVERS. Good lord, the turnovers. Talked about it to start the post, so no need to harp here, but good lord the turnovers. The first 13 minutes felt like a dose of the old Purdue, and I really never want to see that again.
- I feel bad saying this but woo boy is Spike Albrecht either not recovered from his injury or solidly mediocre against Big Ten competition. I’m sure he’ll have a game-saving stretch sometime in the near future that will make this bullet point look stupid, but he’s been pretty flustered after coming back.
- Carsen Edwards had a “bad” statistical game (4 points, 2-6 shooting, 2 turnovers and 0 assists/steals/blocks), but he’s still unbelievably fun to watch. Offensively he was ok, just missed a few decent looks (and launched one particularly awful look from near-halfcourt). But the defense is what gets him in this “Bad” category today. Carsen made a ton of freshman mistakes with his off-ball defense, letting Zak Showalter launch a couple of wide open threes while Carsen was ball-watching or going under screens. He’ll learn to constantly fight through solid screens with enough B10 reps, but today he wasn’t great.
The Ugly:
- Vince didn’t have a bad game, but he wasn’t totally effective today. That might be because Wisconsin is a team built to stop players like Vince, but can’t handle a two-big lineup that Purdue can uniquely throw at them. Purdue’s lineup versatility minimized Vince’s semi-struggles ( His effort was great today (which is a little different than the usual ugly-Vince games), so it’s a little unfair to put him in this category.
- Wisconsin’s sideline without Bo Ryan just doesn’t look right.
- Basil Smotherman played 4 very confused minutes, and turned an opportunity to match up well against Nigel Hayes into an absentee performance.
Moving Picture Thingy of the Night:
Hahahahahahahah Caleb Swanigan is the best forward in America and he plays in Mackey Arena. Don't take him for granted, but woo boy we might not see another one like him for a while.
Tweet of the night:
