Do you know why JJ gets coffee this morning?  Because coffee is for closers.



Yes, I realize some of you are too young for a Glengarry Glen Ross but it amuses me nonetheless and we all know that's what is important around here.

JaJuan got the ball on the game's critical final play last night (well, the final scoring play anyway) and he drained a jumper in calm, assassin-like fashion. It seems to me that the entire team is getting more icy-veined by the game. We used to feel that way about E'Twaun primarily... and then, I think we began to feel that Ryne Smith was capability of similar assassin-like calmness. And now here is JJ draining jumpers after he jukes away from his man. See his complete performance against PSU here, courtesy of the Paint Crew. (Nice work, guys.)

One thing I did want to mention that I was a bit concerned about was something that has been an issue in years' past. And that is the Boilers being horridly outrebounded. It was 26-14 last night, in favor of the Kittens. That's just... weak. And it will be Purdue's undoing if they continue to be so lax on the boards. JJ and DJ tied for the team lead with....3. Three? Seriously? JJ should accidentally get three rebounds -- per half! I was concerned about this last year, but had recently begun to actually think Purdue had solved their rebounding woes, as there hadn't been many (if any) complete lopsided rebounding battles like this one so far this season. Ah, but here it is, back again. Are they not working on it in practice? Are they somewhat....soft? I surely hope not. We'll learn more in the coming weeks...about every aspect of Purdue basketball you could ever want to learn about.

Other observations from last night....

Tim Doyle is a putz. I mean, seriously, I think we all knew that but what a doofus. In the opening, he and Collins are talking and Doyle is gazing lovingly at Collins and someone must say something in his earpiece to look at the camera...and Doyle's head snaps towards the camera hard enough to strain a muscle. Check it out if you've got the game on DVR. Other Doyle-isms included him referring to Jackson of PSU as "pretty young thing," and saying "Jeff Brooks has been Brooks Brothers tonight...fantastic!" I guess we know where Tim gets his sport coats.

Travis Carroll Isn't Advancing. I know the guy has potential and he must impress in practice because Patrick Bade has basically been buried on the bench. But it's not translating. He had one shot attempt last night and I remember it clearly because it was so awful. The PSU defense was collapsing down on JJ and JaJuan dished to Carroll...it reminded me of when you'd let the really bad guy at the co-rec have a shot at an easy layup. Carroll proceeded to hammer it off the bottom of the rim, or so it looked like. Just a terrible, rushed, nervous shot. Maybe I'm reading into things and am way off (wouldn't be the first time), but I think Travis just needs to settle down. Maybe the Big Ten games are moving fast for him...I don't know. But having two rebounds and two fouls (and a turnover) in 11 minutes (and no points) is just not cutting it. Bench production is needed.


E'Twaun Moore is Back...Sort of. Smooge got back into the groove it seemed, scoring 16 on nearly 50% shooting, BUT....still no free throws. E'Twaun is now at five games since he got to the line. That is, frankly, astonishing to me. How can a guy this good not get to the line at all? Like, literally, at all? His last free throw was December 31 against Northwestern. Goodness. No attempts in 2011. I'll be brutally honest, as we try to be here: This is not what a potential All-American does. You must get to the line, as that is where many of these games are won. If Smooge is getting to the line at all, he's easily averaging 20+ PPG...but he's not. In other 33 news, his three-point percentage has dropped below 40% for the season. If three-pointers aren't falling and free throws aren't happening, that's not a good combo. But you know that. Let's hope last night's mini-resurgence is an indicator of things to come.


Speaking of Free Throws... The Boilers actually had the free throw advantage last night...at 10-8. That's just...silly. But hey, whatever. At least it was called evenly.


Next up, as Boilerdowd very calmly mentioned, is a big Saturday night game against Sparty. The ESPN GameDay crew will be in Mackey all day. We'll have more about this event later today.